Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1901-11-21
D. Send reiniorcemsIsts inme


from General Boyle 70 CO., ,lel John
son, prisoner in Morgap hands
stating that a regiment - been or
dered to his assisfance Acting
upon that timely notice, u gan sen
out company of Texas R~4gers an,
destroyed the bridge ON ti,e Leban
on branch, preventing the Arrival 0
! the Federal troops.
Early in the morning ID opera
tor signing himself z uAamences
calling B, which had aeertaines
was the signal for the I skanon Of
fee. svilcresI sasssss slis ~. IAN
swered the call, and very interest
ing conversation we had.
z asked: What news? ANY
more skirmishing after your last
message 2
No, | answered. We drove
what little cavalry there was away.
Has the train arrived YETI
No. About how many troops
are on the train?
About five hundred.
MY curiosity was then to know
at what station z was and how far
away the train with the 800 enemies
was. ! began to gossip with z, and
finally said to him:
"A gentleman. here in the Office
bets me a cigar that you cannot spell
the name of your station correctly.
Take the bet. Lebanon juno
t-i-o-n. How did he think / would
spell it 2
He thought you would put two
BIS in Lebanon.
Ha, ha! He's green one.
Yes; that s so.
What time did the train with
the soldiers pass?' ! inquired.
"A $50 last night.
Very singular where the train
is.
Yes; let me know when it ar
rives.
We cut off for a while, and an
hour later z called me up and said
that the train had returned to Le-
banOn Junction after a skiranish with
the force Morgan sent to head 1t off.
In few minutes the ssa1 orator.
whose Office was a repeaf! .R6ne for
Louisville business, sent into my
ear despatch from General Boyle
to the captive Colonel Johnson, to
make no delay in driving Morgan
out OF the country. Still another
vigorous despatch in the same tenor
was wired to a Colonel Owen, who
was en- route somewhere to head off
Morgan near Lebanon. Morgan
then decided 10 leave, and in order
to allay suspicion in the mind OF Z.
AT the u1ction, ! wired him that |
was tired out and must have a long
nap.
"All right; don { oversleep your
self, he said.
We rode on 10 Midway, on the
Louisville and Lexington railroad.
and reached there before noon.
surprised the operator, who was sit
ting on the platform of the station.
little suspecting that Morgan was in
his vicinity. | asked him to call
Lexington and get the time of dav.
| wanted TO see his style of handling
the key. He did so, and confirmed
an impression | had drawn from the
fact that there was paper in the in
strument. To use a telegraphic
phrase, he was a plug operator.
and, adopting his style of writing.
commenced operations. In the of
flee found signal book very valu-
able to me. 1t contained the calls
for all stations on the line. Despatch
after despatch was going to and from
Lexington, Georgetown, Paris, and
Frankfort, every one containing
some reference 10 Morgan. / tested
the line. and found by applying my
ground wire il made no difference
with the circuit, and as Lexington
was headquarters, | cut Frankfort
OF. | should have stated that on
commencing operations | discovered
two wires on the railroad. One was
through wire direct from Lexing-
ton TO Frankfort, not entering the
way Offices. All military business
was sent over that wire, and as it
did not enter the Midway office. /
had the line cut, thus forcing Lex
ington business on the wire thai lid
come into the Office. Midway was
called, and / answered, when re-
ceived a message from some one
signing himself, Taylor, Conductor. ;
1t was addressed TO operator Wool
ums, of Midway, who was then my
prisoner and alongside Of me. Tay-
lor asked: viii there be any dan
ger in coming to Midway? Is ev-
erything right? Woolums admitted
to me that Taylor was a conductor
on the line. and reported the facts