The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-05-17
ROMANCE OF A $1,000 BILL.

colonel, when we had so little re.
gard for the North, or so much fol
ourselves, that we didn't think a roll
OF greenbacks was worth any more
than a roll of wall paper. Out oi
this feeling grew a very pretty little
romance which began in Holly
Springs, Miss, and ended at the Fifth
Avenue Hotel in New York city.
was young fellow of the en-
thuSastic sort that believed utterly
IN the final success of our cause, and
when in 1862 Van Dorm swung
round into Holly Springs and cap
tured Grants money and stores was
or hand with the boys, whooping it
up in great shape. Among the arti-
clss captured was a big lot of green
backs. two or three million dollars,
mote r less, and we had plenty of it.
II hid about $4,000 in my sad
die bagsthat was taking along with
me to gve away as souvenirs. 1t
wasn't god for anything else, in my
opinion, lut it was worth carrying
along for that, as part of it was in
thousand-ollar bills and didn't take
UP much rom.
II knewa pretty girl near Holly
Springs, and incidently l called on
her. We lad a good deal to say
about the Success of our arms and as
a little remenbrancer 1 got out one of
my thousand dollar greenbacks and
stuck it in her autograph album, wri
ting my name and the date below the
bill. l don't suppose there is pic
ture page in any of the best illustra-
ted magazines of today that represents
81 900 in cash, as did that illustra-
tion put in that girls album.
Later I rode out to our camp,
some miles away and putting up my
horse, I adjourned to the banks of a
little stream near by and was pouring
my soul out through a flute. There
was only small bunch of Our men,
and we weren't thinking much about
Yankee soldiers. 1 know l wasn't.
II wasn't even thinking about my
saddle bags full of money which were
lying under convenient tree, where
/ had thrown them. I was thinking
about the girl. Suddenly there was
row and a ruction, and a troop of
Yankee cavalry had swooped down
on us.
"There was no time given far prep
aration, and thinking only of how to
get away made grab for my horse,
and without saddle or bride, and
guided only by his halter, 1 cut out
through the woods. The saddle bags
I left under the tree also the flute,
and haven't played the flute since.
How I got away 1 don't know, but 1
did, and that was all I had in mind
just then. I reckon those Yankees
knew what to do with the saddle bags.
1.-THE next chapter begins long
asss aa5s1s ii the ffaTa Tara a8aa 8aalY ah0aHat ah0aHat
girl in all that time. One day 1 was
passing along in front of the Fifth
Avenue Hotel when a gray-haired
man, standing near the door, stopped
me. I didn't know who he was, and
he begged my pardon and asked if
my name wasn't Stuart. I told him
that was my first name, and gave
him my last name. Then he grab
bed me.
"'You saved me and my family
he said, putting his arms about me
and steering me toward the bar.
We'll have drink and I'll tell you
about it. You don't know how glad
I am to see you
81 instinctively felt that it was no
case of bunco, and went with him.
He had told me his name before we
reached the bar, and I knew he was
the father of the Holly Springs girl.
We had the drink, several, indeed,
and he explained how l had saved
him and his family.
"When the war was over he had
lost everything, and it was decided
that the family should gather itself
together and leave Mississippi for
some point in the West, to make a
new start. In the process of pack
ing up what was left, the daughter
came across the autograph album in
which I had pasted the thousand
dollar bill.
Thousand dollar bills of Uuited
States money had somewhat appreci-
ated in value to the Southern mind
by that time, and instead of tossing it
aside as waste paper, the girl made
a running jump with it to her father.
Very, very carefully, they soaked the
album leaf in warm water, and very,
very carefully they detached the bill.
1t was taken to the bank and pro-
nounced sound in every respect.
"There isn't much more to the
story. When a man hasn't cent in
the world, and the people around him
aren't any better off, 81 ,ooc is a great,
big pile, and the Holly Springs girl S
dad had it. He hurried off to Mem
phis, laid in stock of all kinds of
necessaries, and, coming back to the
old place, he braced himself and
held on.
He hadn't grown rich, but he had
enough to give me back the thousand
by little squeezing, and he wanted
to do it, but 1 was pretty flush myself
just then, and l told him to keep it
and make more with it to give to his
daughters children, for the girl was
married and had houseful.
RRRVIcRARIE ARTIGLE