The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1897-06-19
AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE,
by AMnRosE B1ERcn.

into the swift waters ~ teeb below.
The mans hands were behind his back,
the wrists bound with a cord. A rope
loosely encircled his neck 1t was at
tached to a stout cross-timber above his
head, and the slack fell to the level Of
his knees. Some loose boards laid upon
the sleeper supporting the metals of the
railway supplied a footing for him, and
his ezecutioners-two private soldiers
of the federal army, directed by a SER
geant, who in civil life may have been
q deputy sheriff. At a short remove
upon the same temporary platform was
ar. officer in the uniform of his rank,
armed. He was a captain. A sentinel
ns each end of the bridge stood with his
rifle in the position known as support,
that is to say, vertical in front of the
left shoulder, the hammer resting IN
the forearm thrown straight across the
chests formal and unnatural position,
enforcing an erect carriage of the body
1t did not appear tt be the duty Of these
two men to know what was occurring
at the center of the bridge; they merely
blockaded the two ends of the foo5
plank which traversed it.
Beyond one of the sentinels nobody
was in sight; the railroad ran straight
away into the forest for 100 yards,
then, curving, was lost to view. Doubt
less there was an outpost further along.
The other bank of the stream was open
grounds gentle activity crowned
with a stOckade of vertical tree trunks,
loopholed for rifles, with a single en-
brasure, through which protruded the
muzzle of a brass cannon commanding
the bridge. Midway of the slope be-
tween bridge and fort were the spec
tators-a single company of infantry in
line, at parade rest" the butts of the
rifles on the ground, the barrels inclin-
ing slightly backward against the right
shoulder, the hands crossed upon the
stock. A lieutenant stood at the right
of the line, the point of his sword upon
the ground, his left hand resting upon
his right. Excepting the group of four
at the center of the bridge not a man
moved. : ~
The man who was engaged in being
hanged was apparently about thirty
five years of age. He was a civilian, if
enc might judge from his dress, which
was that of a planter. His features
were good-a straight nose, firm mouth,
broad forehead, from which his long,
dark hair was combed straight back,
falling behind his ears to the collar of
his well-itting frock coat. He wore a
mustache and pointed beard, but no
whiskers; his eyes were large and dark
--~.-. ,,l lnl ." "1-s111r nvr,raCSiOn
which one would hardly have expected
in one whose neck was in the hemp.
Evidently this was no vulgar assassin,
The liberal military code makes pro-
vision for hanging many kinds of peo-
pie, and gentlemen are not excluded.
The preparations being complete, the
two private soldiers stepped aside and
each drew away the plank upon which
he had been standing. The sergeant
turned to the captain, saluted, and
placed himself Immediately behind that
officer, who in turn moved apart one
pace. These movements left the con-
demned man and the sergeant standing
on the two ends of the same plank,
which spanned three of the cross-ties
Of the bridge. The end upon which the
civilian stood almost, but not quite,
reached a fourth. This plank had been
held in place by the weight of the cap
tain; it was now held by that of the
sergeant. At a signal from the former
the latter would step aside, the plank
would tilt and the condemned man
would 60 down between two ties. This
arrangement commended itself to his
Judgment as simple and effective. His
face had not been covered nor his eyes
+ ~bandaged. He looked a moment at his
-"unsteadfast footing then let his gaze
wander to the swirling water Of the
stream racing madly beneath his feet
A piece of dancing driftwood caught
his attention, and his eyes followed ii
down the current. How slowly it APP
peared to move! What a sluggish
stream!
He closed his eyes in order to fix his
last thoughts upon his wife and chill
dren. The water, touched to gold
by the early sun, the brooding mists
under the banks Mt some distance down
the stream, the fort, the soldiers, the
piece of drift-all had distracted him
anu INV AG OCCan1C COASClOuS VI d nSN
disturbance. s4.
He Enclosed his eyes and saw agar
che water below him. IF 1 could FIRE,
my hands" he thought, II might throw
of the noos and spring into the stream
BY diving l could evade the bullets, and
swimming vigorously. reach the hank
take to the woods and get away home
My home, thank God, is as yet outsid,
their lines; my wife and little ones ar,
still beyond the invaders farthest adj
vance"
AS these thoughts, which have her,
to be set down in words, were flashed
into the doomed mans brain rattle
than evolved from it, the captain nodded
to the sergeant. The sergeant steppec
aside.
II.
Peyton Farquhar was a well-to-d,
planter, of an old and highly-respecte,
Alabama family. Being a slave owner
and, like other slave owners, a poll
fician, he was naturally an original Sc
cessionist and ardently devoted to tn
southern cause. Circumstances of al
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