The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-11-13

| ragged and worn by hard service, his clothes and head gear were weather | beaten and torn, and as he approached | Robert he wheeled his horse and passed close by him, looking with admiration at I his new hat. He made a graceful detour, | and as he passed near the negro, he jerk | ed his hat from his head and replaced 1t with his old one. Robert was too dazed and astonished to utter word of protest, but as he partly recovered himself, along l came the second trooper. and as he came near. he spied the chain. to which he, of | course inferred there was a watch at- 1 tached. Abruptly halting in front of Rob- | ert. he asked the time of day and as he | took out the watch to tell him, the sol | dier grabbed watch and chain and made off with them, Robert then realized what | was in store for him and beat nasty re- | treat with big disgust for Yankees, which has not left him to this good day. | There were many other such occurrences. | one among which was the hanging by the | thumbs of Mir Moses Wheat. a Union | man. during the war, and who was bold
 to make that fact known to the invaders. r but 1t did not save him from the disgrace of being hung by the thumbs in the ef- l forts to distort from him the hiding place | of his gold, which the negroes had told | that he had. If he had any gold, he did not give it up. but suffered much torture | and suffering before he was left by his | tormentors He had a right to expect immunity from such punishment on &C., count of his Union sympathies. but he did not receive any more consideration than the rankest secessionist. MT. J. C. Abercrombie who was the father of Judge Milo Abercrombie of Tus- kegee, was at home on sick leave and | just before the Yankees came he went out | to the Hills northeast of Tuskegee to con- ceal some fine horses. with party of gen | tlemen, and the Yankees hearing of their whereabouts doubtless through the me-
 groes. went out after them. When the Yankees came in sight in the valley, a l mile or two off, the party started out to seek place of safety, and 1t was urged | | upon them that they do no shooting. Mir. | Abercrombie was very impulsive. and | when he had a good chance to shoot a l Yankee who came near. he banged away, | bringing him off his horse. The other | Yankees were very angry that one of |
 their number had been shot and put off |
 after the man who fired the shot with a |
 d. determination to catch and punish him. l
 Mir Abercrombie ran with all the speed |
 his horse could command, but could see |
 that his pursuers were gaining on him. |
 Reaching an open field he saw an old |
 house standing beside a bunch of trees, |
 and he abandoned his horse at the edge |
 
 conceal himself, pulling up a plank and
 getting under the floor. pulling the plank
 in place after him. He was none too | soon, for the Yankees soon came in sight, | ard, catching his horse. renewed their | search for him with redoubled energy and | determination They went to the house | where he was concealed and stamped all over the floor and talked of setting fire | | to it, but they went off without doing so, | | being attracted by false trail, and the fugitive escaped. Talking of his close slave afterwards. he said he thought his heart beats would betray him, as they sounded like drum beats, while the Yam kees were standing on the floor just above
 him. The man he shot was badly wound |
 ed, and if he had been caught, he would no doubt have been shot. as he heard threats to that effect made by his pur- suers on all sides. He certainly made narrow escapa. I remember an incident which made | my hair stand on end and gave me
 mental fear of a Yankee which has con- tinued to some extent to this very day. for I never hear the name mentioned that I do not shudder. A few days before l Wilson's raid passed through Tuskegee | Grierson's raid had passed along-they were carrying large commissary supplies | and had a number of wagons. One night | I had gone into watermelon patch near my fathers home with a negro named Aleck, who had been Captain J. A. Lew 1 is's body-servant at Fort Morgan and who had walked home from there after | the fort was captured. and who was full | of war tales and very brave until the | Yankees came. The night was dark and we lay down in the middle of the patch on quilt watching for the thieves when we both went to sleep. About midnight the wagons of the raid reached the town and went down a side street back of my
 fathers house by mistake. and finding that they could not get out there they
 were filled with rage and made the air blue with their oaths and unearthly yells trying to get the teams turned around. All this occurred near where we were asleep and soon we were awakened by the loud yells and ran for the house frightened out of our wits. Reaching
 my fathers door knocked, and he hear
 ing the Yankees at the gate thought 1t
 some of them and refused to admit me, and that made matters worse, and I was so scared I could not speak when my
 mother finally discovered the situation and opened the door. Aleck never boast ed of his great exploits with Yankees af- ter that.
 In those days my father and MT. Cash. Smith were members of the town Coun- cil and on the night spoken of above when Yankees were expected. they were up with the marshal patrolling the town.
 Some of the mischievous boys to scare them, got around on one of the side streets and began to shoot their pistols in the air and hollowing at the top of
 their voices. The marshal and the Coun- | cimen took to their heels and at every | step yelled out: Town Council!' But l the boys continued to shoot and ran | them off the streets.
 remember that soon after this, when | a garrison of Yankees was stationed at | Tuskegee, there was big fellow in the garrison who was bully and who walked
 the streets with a strut and proud air | disgusting to behold. Pet Caffee was l fresh then from the war and with the
 other soldier boys who had returned | overpowered but not subdued, gave the | Yankee garrison much trouble and an- ! noyed them no little. Pet had confec- | tonary store on Main Street and one day while the big Yankee was passing his | door he was struck with slung shot and l felled to the pavement for dead. He re- | covered in little while. and with ruff 1 fled feathers retreated from the field with | a spirit suhdued. He never strutted on | the streets of the town again, and soon l after that the Yankees were removed.
 Judge Caffee, now of Birmingham, will