The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1901-05-23

WIWt phHvekv " 0eHIu.
The Story or How . Captain Who Desert
ed Met the Punishm ment to which hs
Was Condemned.
Louisville Courier-Jo ournal
"In the four years / served in the
army of northern Virginia." said the
old Confederate, in reminiscent
mood. ~ saw more men killed
than I'D care to count. In the course
of the war, three out Of the four
men who were tent mates with me
were killed. Each one went down
within ten feet Of me, one with his
head torn away by a shell, the second
with a mimic ball that tore a great
hole In his jugular vein and the
third from an overdose Of bayonet.
When we got at close quarters with
the Yankees one afternoon at Seven
Pines my command lost So per
cent. in one battle, and AS we usually
came pretty near evening things up
"a ith the other fellows i have been
a witness at pretty fair share of
violent demises.
ain battle, after a man gets over
his first scare at going into the line
of fire, the brute in him usually
makes him forget that he Is a cow
ard. When he sees the fellow next
to him fall, he sOrter feels sorry and
has a pretty strong desire to come
to close quarters with the man that
did it and let a little daylight into
him. Fighting as we had to, / got
so that l could see a man killed in
battle with as little worry as if he
had been partridge.
"But there is one incident that
happened near the end Of the war
that keeps coming back TO mem
ory, and every time 1 think of it i
wish / had been somewhere else on
the morning it happened.
"YOu know, near the close of the
war the poor, half-starved devils
got to deserting pretty frequently.
1t was war and there was but one
way to remedy it-a wooden
cross, the deserter and the firing
squad.
Zone morning / left my command
and started over to talk to some old
friends in Mississippi regiment. ]
got about half Of the distrance when
l ran into little body of men. Two
of them had their eyes blindfolded
and their arms tied behind them
The first fellow couldn't have been
more than %. He was tall, straight
as an arrow, with dark, curling
brown hair, and his face was the
handsomest and the saddest 1 evel
saw. He was walking quietly and
steady. l couldn't see his eyes, but
not muscle of his face was twitch.
ing, and his feet were planted fairly
and squarely on the ground. no
ticed that he wore the uniform of 8
captain.
"The second fellow had. to be
held up by four men. Every few
steps he would fall to the ground
perfectly limp and, it seemed, life
less. When the men would gel
him up he would scream and crs
like scared child. He was a great
big, raw-boned North Carolinian
and his terror would have been dis
gusting if it hadn't been 80 pitiable
"I followed the little procession
for hundred yards to where the
line of crosses stood. The captain
was to be shot first. AS they placed
him with his back to the cross h,
said: Men, you know me. I'v'
led you in thirty fights, and you've
never seen me shy from gun muz
zle yet, have you? I just want 20,
to take this bandage off my eyes
and as long as pve got to die let MI
die like man. pve given you tn
! order TO fire many time, and II
like to give my last order, if you'll
let me- The lieutenant hesitated
and then he said: Jack, I'll do it, j
I get shot for it,
"They unbound his eyes. HI
Strengthened himself for a minute
took long look all about him, an
then facing his men said in as stead
a voice as 1 ever listened to: Ready
Aim! Fire!'
"They fred, and he pitche
straight forward his full length
dead before he struck the GROUND
Then they tried to bind the Tia
Heel to the cross, but he writhe
and mOaned and twisted away frol
it like a snake with broken bacl
They gave it up, and he was sht
while crawling along on the grount
screaming out prayers for mercy.
81 heard afterward that the Cal
tain, hearing that his old mother w,
dying, had asked leave to go to h
home, which was only twelve mil
away. We needed every man thel
and the permit was refused. f
9 slipped away, but before he got bat
, Grant made one of his attacks (
our lines. The captains compaI
went into action for the first tin
without him at the head of it. T
returned for a cOurt-martial. .
o serting had become too common f
any excuse to be taken for it, al
he was ordered to be shot the ne
o morning. By some chance det'
! of his own company was select
for the work. By another chance
!, happened to see him shot. wisl
hadn't"
Water Transportation Half That of r,
road Lines.