Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-08-14
BY PRIVATE W. c. DoDsoN.

/
his chief scout, to him. He touched nm
on the shoulder with his hand, and said:
| Tt is not too late Give me the informa-
ton, and you Will be escorted to the Con-
federate lines That scaffold gentlemen
and ladies, doomed up, and was hideous
specter in his front, but he turned ana
said: Captain, give my thanks to Cen
eral Dodge for the interest he has taken
in me; but If I had a thousand lives,
would surrender them here and now before
would do a thing like that. CApplause')
Look at the gracious and sweet de-
meanor-no, bluff1ng, no bravado, no de-
fiance, and no truculence-of that gallant
young spirit on the verge of his grave!
He was a gentleman. He had the gentle
ness in him to thank his enemies Tor the
courtesies that they had done him he
asked Captain. Armstrong: How long have
to liver He replied: Fifteen minutes.
Davis said: The boys will have to fight
the balance of the battles without me.
Captain Armstrong said: I hate to do this
thing; would rather die myself.
STANDING around that .scaffold were the
stern phalanxes of the government under
orders, with their guns in their hands
This young man was alone. He was
twenty-one years and a few months OF
age. He had no counsel; he had no
friend; he had no hacker; that terrible
thing was before him, and the resolution
that he had was Of his own making. he
arose TO his feet and looked around. What
did he see? He looked upon the sun Tor
the last time Life is very sweet. II Is
particularly sweet when we are ABOUT
to lose it. The sun that had kissed his
cheek to tan for twenty-one years was
giving him her last kiss; the breeze that
waved his raven hair was blowing on II
for the last time; the hills of Pulaski were
| standing silent around him. Nearness 10
| death must have uuickened his facultles
and how he must have loved to live; how
4 Ia Iawy
| to die! Through his veins was running
| bl- - like quicksilver. singing to him the
| song of life. The earth was very beau
| tiful; the sky was very blue. He could
| almost hear the dropping of the tears OF
his mother; he could hear her low moan
! and the groan of agony that came from
! his father. Perhaps there was another
| somewhere In Tennessee who was on her
| knees at that tirne-somebody must have
loved that glorious young fellow. he
could look over toward the south, ana
there he could see the hard-pressed nag
| of his country, and he could hear the
shout of his comrades fighting for what
they believed was just. how he must
have hated to leave them to fight that
! battle alone-this gallant, glorious, and
devoted young soldier!
Ladies and gentlemen, If were to ask
| you tonight the question, What is the
! greatest passion of life? you would an
swer, The passion to live Men cast
, away at sea, when starving, eat their
| comrades to live. London swarms with
its hundreds OF thousands who lead life
Of Unreasonable misery, but who do not
want to die, though the Thames flows by
and kindly invites them to jump in and
end their misery. Men live in dungeons,
! away under the ground in slime, and yet
when they hear the tread of the turnkey
in the corridor their souls quake for fear
he may be coming to say, You must die
f,aI tY1c
4 TO live for, whose very soul was full OF
life-this splendid young knight of the
soul-said: If 1 had thousand lives to
give, would give them all before l
would do what you ask me to do
Ladies and gentlemen, the story of
Sam Davis will never die, and will never
cease to be told. Listening senates will
hear the grand, story; the camp fires will
repeat It In the armies of the govern
ment: the school teachers in thousands Of
schools will reeite the beautiful and pa
thetic story to the young boys and girls
who will listen with tender and wonder
ing eye. Some Livy like the Roman Livy,
will put 1t In imperishable history. Yea,
some Homer viii yet be born in these
southern states-when the south again
turns her attention to the things that are
really great-wiIl strike with fingers of
genius the harp to the great demand, and
will produce another Had, and in that
grand epic the brightest pages will be
the story of this young mans heroic
death (Applause)
YEA, he will never die, for he will be
enshrined in earth's grandest pantheon,
the human heart. and on its splendid
wall his chaplet of laurel and immortelles
will be higher than all the rest. Take all
the heroes who bed for the south in the
civil war; let them come from every field
of battle; call up the spotless and the
princely Lee. he that was made in Gods
| 10 TOVln
call up Sydney Johnston from the bloody
field of Shiloh who, like one Of Ossian's
heroes, with his finger pointed to victory
and with the fierce south cheering on her
sons call him up; call Stonewan Jackson,
the lightning bolt OF the battlefield that
man who earnestly raised his hand to the
God Of battles on the day Of battles; call
up Joseph E. Johnston, the darling of the
Tennessee army (applause); call up the
tall chieftain who sleeps by the banks
of the Mississippi, Bedford Forrest zap
=, plause). listening to the song of spirit
u kindred of his own; pass them in review;
let the world look, as the world never
looked before, at this splendid pageantry!
Who Is II that will attract every eyer
What is II that will bring the tears and
the look Of pity TO every face? Who Is
that riding by? Who is it, in his gray,
ragged JACKET that Is riding by, with his
whole neck and bosom wreathed with
chain of gold instead of a hangman's
rope? 1t Is Sam Davis, the most famous
of them all, for he died for principle and
that his friend might live. (Applause0
Yet Sam Davies will never die. His
magnificent act connected him forever,
linked him forever, with that greatest
One, who, upon the outstretched cross on
Calvary, discharged hi great trust, and
died for man. (Applause.)"
And when the speaker finished there
were few dry eyes in the audience.
Mrs Samuel Orr, who was a resident of
Pulaski when Sam Davis was executed,
says:
Never did there rest over people
darker heavier gloom than spread over
Pulaski that day The doors and windows
of every house were closed. All hearts
were sad, and all eyes were weeping. Well
do l remeber lying down on bed and
covering up my head with pillow, to try
to shut out the sound of the fife and drum
by which they were marching to the gall
lows. Many of the common soldiers and
officers boldly stigmatized 1t as murder.
| General Sweeny was extremely sympa-
thetic. In the afternoon after the execu-
: ton in the morning he made visit to
! Rev. Mr.. Caldwell of the Presbyterian
church, and expressed himself very freely
about it. He walked the floor with his