Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1898-10-13
NEW VOL. 33.--NO. so.

with them. You don look Ike
lack wit, but you must have been not
to have taken the upper road. But
Clinton will be glad to get this Now,
boys, what shall we do with this fel-
low, hang him or send him away?
"Shoot him !" said the one whom
the messenger had struck. Its none
too good for him
We'll see about that a little later,
replied Smith. We've got to get
this letter to Clinton the first We do. -
Two were left with the prisoner as
a guard and the Others soon rode
away. For three days and nights
Montagnie lay in the hut, bound hand
and foot. Not for a moment were
the cords loosened, and each day his
guard told him they were about to
take him out and hang him and leave
his body on a tree by the roadside as
a warning to all Wings. The preach
er had fully resigned himself and ex-
pected daily the threat would be put
into execution.
On the fourth day Smith returned,
and, after hurried consultation with
the guards, rode away. The prison
ers hands were loosened and his ach-
ing limbs were rubbed by the guard,
but he had no other thought than that
he was being prepared for his e1ecu-
ton. Accordingly, when in a few
hours he was bidden to follow them
out of the hut, he glanced on every
side for the rope he thought to see
dangling from some tree. As he
walked on his thoughts were some
what bitter against Washington.
Why had he insisted upon his coming
through Ramapo pass? If he had
been left to his own devices, he would
have taken the upper road and never
would have fallen into the power Of
these desperadoes.
"Can you ride?" said one of the
men abruptly.
"Yes," replied the preacher. We're
they about to mount him on a horse
and then start the horse off after the
moose had been adjusted. He had
heard of that plan having been used.
But he had no time for meditation,
for they came to a place where three
horses were waiting. Almost before
he knew what had occurred, the pris-
oner found himself mounted and rid
ing rapidly along the road, with one
guard on either side.
What could it mean? He saw no
rope and not a word was spoken. On
and on they went, and gradually it
dawned upon the young mans mind
what the destination was to be. Nor
was he mistaken, for he soon was car
ried across the river and placed in the
old sugar house prison in New York,
one of the famous provost prisons Of
that day.
You're a great one, =" said the
guard to Montagnie the next day.
"Those letters you had were all about
Washington's plan to attack New
York. But Clinton can take hint,
and everybody in the city is getting
ready to receive the rebels" Then
he took from his pocket a copy Of
Rivingtons Gazette, which contained
a long account of his capture, the ma
ture of the dispatches he had carried
and the use Sir Henry was making Of
the information he had gained.
Suddenly, as the guard finished his
reading. Montagnie laughed aloud.
What are you laughing at?" asked
the angry guard as he left. 81 don't
see anything funny in that.
But the prisoner did, and all his
bitterness toward Washington had
vanished in a moment. Now he un-
derstood it all. Washington had In
tended all the time to have him taken
prisoner with those dispatches on his
person and thus to hold the British in
New York while he started for Vir-
ginia.
How well he held them we know
from the fact that when Sir Henry
next heard of him he was already be-
yond the Delaware, too far away to
be pursued, and it was too late TO
send word or aid TO CORVALLIS.
As for Parson Mcntagnie, be was
not long kept prisoner, for the war
was soon ended, but for years it was
his delight to tell the story Of his cap
ture. 81 had read about the Greeks
holding the pass Of ThermOpyla," he
would say, "and keeping out the en-
emy, but I kept the enemy in by fail
ing to hold the pass at Ramapo."