The Richmond climax. (Richmond, Ky.) 1897-1914, 1902-12-10
AFTER MANY YEARS.
Cannon Ball Fired in War of 1872
Hits Man in Year 1902.
Interesting Historic Relic IL I'M
earthed Near BIadensburg and In
side a Message Saying That
the British Are ComInE.

An old rusty cannon ball, fred from
a British field piece at the attack on
Bladensburg, Maryland, by the Eng
lish force under Gen. Ross and Lieut..
Wainwright during the war of 1912,
hit laborer working a short distance
outside of that town the other day and
broke his leg. The ball, when exam
ined, was found to inclOse a roll of
parchment addressed to the COM
handing officer of the American force
defending Washington, and contain
ing detailed account of the plans of
Admiral COckburn, the commander in
chief of the British naval force then
in the Potomac, and of which the land
expedition was part, for his march on
Washington and the destruction of the
national capital. The communication
was signed "Timson Howard, mate of
the American merchantmen, General
Stone, and victim of the British press
gang"
John Key, the man injured by the
cannot ball, was one of a gang of col
ored labOrers engaged in cutting a
ing at the bottom of steep, 5O-foot
slant when the pick of laborer at the
top of the elevation dislodged from
the earth, where it had lain for nearly
a century, the big, rusty relic 1t
rolled down the hill and struck Key
with considerable force, breaking his
leg near the ankle.
After the man had been cared for
and put on train for Washington, the
foreman of the gang rolled the cannon
ball to nearby creek and removed
some of the earth and rust. He noticed
that the ball was hollow. and, not know
ing that explosive shells were not in
use during the war of 1912, curiosity
impelled him to dig in the interior of
the relic with a knife, to see, as he
explained later, how the powoer i'm
the shell had withstood the. ravages
of 90 years.
After the foreman had cut away the
dirt from the two-inch hole in the big
piece of iron, his knife brought out
roll of parchment. yellow and dis
colored with age, but which, when I'M
rolled, proved to be the communication
mentioned above. A considerable por-
tion of the writing was illegible, but
enough could be read to make fairly
connected whole.
The communication signed by Ho-
ward. who from the character and
Phraseology of the document was
man of some education. explains that
he had been impressed into the British
service shortly before the beginning
of the war and had since been compelled
to serve against his country. While
acting as orderly to Admiral Cock
burn he had learned that the British
commander in chief intended to sack
and burn Washington and Law waste
the surrounding country. a portion
of the writing says:
with the aid of God Almighty let
all-patriots rally to-Washiug tou
and--marauders who are coming
rapine and murder-defeated in
former years-regain- ough
naval supremacy-press gang out
rages-lost before"
a postscript to the note explains
that Howard wrote nearly 100 OF the
warnings, and knowing that the Arneri-
cans made practice ofusing over gain
the cannon balls fred at them By the
British. had slipped the papers into
shells carried by the land force which
marched on Bladensburg. in the for
lorn hope that at least one of the notes
might be discovered.