Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1901-01-31
A SOLDIER 3 VISION J;
BY NJ. Quad.
,9.0.e.0.W.oo.N.A.N.e

0s@.1s9.1sE.oos0..D.o.o.o.3
For period of three weeks along
the front of our brigade picket had
been murdered OH his post every night.
The front was a mile long, with the
posts within ten rods of each other,
and bushwhacker had crept UP on
the lone picket with all the craft of an
Apache and stabbed him to death. The
one assassin had killed % men before
any great stir was made about it. The
brigade was being equipped for the
spring campaign, many changes We're
taking place among the officers, and
the murder of n few pickcts did not
count for much in the general con1u-
sion. All that was done when the mat
ter was finally taken hold of was to
put two, three and four men on q post
in place of one and to send out small
scouting parties to look for needle in
q haystaci, as it We're.
That all these murders had been
committed by one single hand no one
doubted. a knife had been used in
every instance. The murderer had crcpt
up in the darkness, leaving a trail be-
hind him in some cases. In no case
had he struck over two blows, and the
surgeons said that lie had always used
the same knife. Sometimes his victim
had made brief struggle or cried out
or fired his musket and sometimes had
lived few hours after the attack. If
| you wonder that n soldier on picket
| l,,
done to DEATH let inc tell You that in
only a few cases We're the posts i'm the
| open. They We're under the trees, in
! the midst of a wood, on the edge of old
fields grown up to briers and weeds,
alongside of q creek, the babbling of
which would drown all other noises A
man was posted there to stand still,
not to walk to and fro. He might have
| participated in half Il dozen battles and
made record for bravery, but within
half an hour after being left alone on
| tine post his nerves We're more or less
unstrung. The very darkness and lone
illness would do that. lie might finally
| lean his back against tree or sit
down, and he might keep eyes and
ears on the strain, and yet he could be
approached.
On the night that the order WAS is
| sued to double the men on the posts
was i'll in my tent with Il sore throat
and fever My tent mates were on
guard or detail, and realized that
was light headed. l could not fall into
n sound sleep, but doZed at intervals,
and the noises of the camp were con
fused with queer dreams. OF sud
den this confusion cleared away, and
| had what you call either n dream or a
| vision. l saw q man in the uniform Of
Il federal captain, mounted on Il dark
bay horse, ride UP to Il farmhouse.
The face and form of rider and horse
were as plain TO me as il | had seen
them in my normal state OF health mt
monday. The captain was a man Of
about 30, blue eyed, with brown hair,
brown mustache and a front tooth
filled with gold. At the corner of the
left eye was q small scar from wound
| inflicted years before.
| AS the officer descended from the
saddle and hitchcd his horse tc the
| fence saw woman's face at the Win
| dow for q moment. The same face was
seen again for moment as she opened
| the door for the captain. She was
tall, dark haired woman, and the face
bore a smile 1t seemed TO me that
stood and watched the horse for the
next quarter of an hour. The animal
chewed at the fence rail, broke down
4 small bush with his hind feet and
paved q deep hole in the earth in lis
| impatiencc
| AS suddenly as the vision came it was
| time the captain was mounted and it
was night. II was the same horse, and
he wanted to speed too fast and was
pulled in. could not make out how
| followed on, but follow l did, and we
| had Just descended a hill and were
crossing a creek by plank bridge
when there came red flash, followed
| by the report of n fircarm. and the cap
| tain threw up his arms and lurched to
the right and fell out of the saddle.
The horse sprang to the left off the
bridge, which had no railing, landed in
| the creek and went off among the un-
lerbrush. saw that the officer was
being dragged along with his foot in
the stirrup. | also saw the man who
had fired the shot. He was tall, gaunt
faced, with long black hair and gilt
tering black eyes, and dressed in the
rough clothes of n farmer. He looked
the typical bushwhacker. He at once
started after the horse. and as he
leaped from the end of the bridge to
the earth below he struck in soft soil
] and pitched forward on his face,