The Topeka state journal., 1902-11-18
SHOT FIRED IN 1912.
Has just Struck a LabOrer and
Broke His Leg.

Washington, Nov. 1s.-An old rusty
cannon ball. fired from a British field
piece al the attack on Bladensburg by
the English force under General Ross
and Lieutenant Wainwright during the
war of 1872 hit a laborer working a
short distance outside of that town yes
terday and broke his leg. The ball,
when examined, was found to inclose
roll of parchment addressed to 1.-The
commanding officer of the American
force defending Washington" and con-
tanning a 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
ganS."
John Key. the man injured by the
cannon ball fired 90 years ago, was oEe
of gang of colored laborers engaged
in cutting through a road near Rlad-
ensburg. He was working at the bot
tom of steep 80 foot slant when TIE
/ pick of a Ia borer at the top of the ele-
walton dislodged from the earth where
/ it had lain for nearly a century the
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 a train for Washington the fore
man of the gang rolled the cannon ball
| to a nearby creek and removed some
| of the earth and rust. He noticed thai
! the ball was hollow. and not knowing
1 that explosive shells were not in use
| during the war of 1912, curiosity i'm
! PEELED him to dig into the interior of the
relic with a knife to see, as he explained
i later. how the powder in the shell had
4 withstood the raVageS of 90 years Al
ter he had cut away the dirt from the
two-inch hole in the ball. his knife
brought out a roll of parchment. yellow
and diScolored with age, but which
when unfolded proved to be the COM
munication referred to. A considerable
portion of the writing was illeglble. hui
enough could be read to make fairly
connected whole
The communicati ton signed by How
ard, who. from the character anc
phraseology of the document, was q
man of some education. explains that
he had been impressed into the British
service shortly before the beginning Ol
the war and had since been compelled
to serve against his country. While
acting as orderly to Admiral Cockburr
he had learned that the British COM
mander-in-chief intended to sack and
burn Washington and lay waste the
surrounding country. A portion of the
writing says:
with the aid of God Almighty let ali
patriots rally to Washing
ton and Marauders who are
| coming rapine and murder !
defeated in former years regain
: through naval supremacy
press gang outrages lost be
fore
postscript to the note explains that
Howard WI ote nearly one hundred of the
warnings. and knowing that the Amcri-
cans made a practice of using over AGAR
, the cannon balls fired at them by the
British, had slipped the papers into shells
taken by the land force which marched
= / on Bladensbarg in the forlorn hope thai
at least one of the notes might be dis
covered.
The cannon ball and the roll of parch-
ment containing the record ofthe patriot:
futile en6eavcr to aid the country against
which he was compelled to serve were
brought % Washington last night by
Thomas A. Byrne of Bladensburg and
will be presented to the National museum
/ as addition to the already large collec
ton of relics of the war of 1872.