Mexico weekly ledger., 1897-09-30
WELL-KNOWN EX-BANDIT TALKS
OF THE FIGHT BETWEEN
THE GUERRILLAS AND
THE FEDERALS.
He Views the Field of Carnage and
Remarks Upon the Memorable In
cident OF Thirty-Three Years
Ago-Mr. James was With
Capt. George Todd,


AZ aAi
On the afternoon of the 9th of
Sept, 1864, there was fought u upon
the undulating prairie southeast of
this place n of the most bloody and
memorable battles in all the annals of
the worlds history-memorable be-
cause of the number slain in proportion
to the number engaged and on account
Of the unequal results of the fierce
clash of arms. Less than five hundred
men participated in this argument of
might and fully ninety per cent of the
combatants on the Union side went
down to rise no more.
Since that %eventfui autumn after
noon, a third of a century ago, many
versions of the bloody drama have
been given, but it remained for Frank
James, n of the most desperate and
daring participants, to stand upon the
gentle slope of the rich pasture land
last Sunday morning and give a
graphic description of the affair as he
remembered it after all these inter-
vening years.
Mr.. James came up from Columbia
Sunday in company with Editor Wal |
ter Williams. Through the courtesy |
OF Mayor Bush we were permitted to
join the party, and went out to the |
scene of the fight, which is located, as
everybody knows, on Mr.. s. l.. Gar
rard's farm, This gentleman joined
us at his splendid country home and
soon we were standing on the gentle
slope of prairie land that leads down
to the timber on V. Miller's farm,
where the famous line of battle was
drawn that swept like a whirlwind up
the hill that sanguinary afternoon.
Although it was Frank James fret
visit to the battle ground, or to Cen
tralia for that matter, since the war,
yet he located the spot of the carnage
and pointed out places of interest.
Frank James does not look the des-
perate history that cllngs to his name.
He is a pleasant spoken, intelligent
citizen Of 81 years, with a bright eye
and nervous disposition. One would
never pick him out of a crowd to fit
his reputation. There is nothing of
the braggart about him, and he tells
his story without making himself the
hero OF 1t. In describing the fight he
exploits the bravery of his brother,
Jesse, who, he says, killed Johnson,
and tells of the daring of Ande rson
and Todd and courage of other boys,
but not a hint as to his own intrepid
fearlessness. |,
Standing there at the foot of the
battle field, his eyes lit up with the
light of other days, he recalled the
vivid picture as it was painted on his
brain at the time of the fight. And
here is how he told it: |,
"There were two divisions of the
guerrillas, n under Capt. George
Todd, the other under Major Bill An I
derson, 225 in all. I was with Capt. 8
Todd. 1t vas Major Anderson and a 3.
part of his men that took the assiidiiers Z,
from the train at Ct~ssntralia and sbot =,
.o was NJ, present at the shoot I
SO, ao,sier was any of Capt. Todd's 8
men. About noon of the memorable
day word came to us that johnson |
with 800 men had left Centralia on a
search for us. Capt. George Todd sent q
out Dave Poole with ten men to recon- 6
noitre. These men o sighted the y
Federals and at the proper time rode y
up in plain view OF Johnson's men, ;
md thap hrnka opd rpn NJ bra,L n1ob
speed, as If frightened to death. The h
ruse worked admirably and johnson =
followed on towards the timber where h
we were preparing to eat our dinner h
about 2 O'Clock in the afternoon. All .
at once Dave Poole and his scouts q
rode down the sward shouting, here =
are the d-n Yankees Capt. Todd a
at once gave the order to mount and !,
form a line. In order to make as wide .
a range as possible for the enemy's a
fire, we were commanded to separate h
about six or eight PAGES. This we did 4,
and drew up in line Of battle. John n
son and his men were in full view then =,
still coming towards us. Capt.
A1ub ehCh khNc luc oTu6E luz US 10 ~
dismount and cinch our saddles, that !,
is, tighten up the girth. ~
johnson seeing us dismount evil
IDENTIFY thought we were going to fight :.
It out on foot, as he, too, had his men q,
to dismount and form in line of battle.
Upon seeing them dismount, John O.;
a serious German in Todd's n,
raised his hand heaven q,
ward and solemnly said, 'God pity n
'em.' And IL ever men needed help, :,
these unframed militiamen did. The 90
order given, WI Wanted into our m
saddles, frightened our reins with our n
left hand, drew a revolver with our p
right and at the word started towards a,
them on the dead run up this gentle III
each man riding well over his h,
horses neck. johnson had his men a.
formed In two lines, the one in front r.
kneeiing, and the n behind standing n,
with fixed bayonets to receive the n,
charge. When In about six hundred %
yards OF them the fellows on their A,
knees blazed away at us and the boys m
behind followed suit an instant after b.
wards. Both volleys went high above
heads, the Federals shooting down G.
bill, badly misjudging their aim. Three ty
our men wer killed by this volley, I'll
Frank Shepherd falling upon my right "
and Hank Williams upon my left, each o,
Todd's division, and both killed la
instantly. Mckinney, OF Anderson's D
men, was seriously wounded and died p
, few days afterwards in Howard N
county. Our answer to this volley. of n
lead was . yell that fairly hypnotized N
the Yankees. Strengthening mp In A
our saddles, We rode upon them like a v
Not . shot was fred until @
We were In ten PAGES OF their line. 10