The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-05-19

should they so desire. The began pray |
ing, but their prayer was, Men, spare |
u.s.! Wall Sharpe said with an oath,
dom pray to US. Pray to God. He
alone can ave you" Some of the men
still burning with rage began to ridicule
and mock them. Wall Shape said: Men,
we have given them time to repent, and
you shall not bother them"
Col. Sharpe then commanded every one
to be quiet. All was still. He, then
turned to me and asked me to pray for
them. l replied, Colonel, / cannot, foI
| never had such feelings as l now have"
feared to approach the throne of grace
just then lest l might come into His
presence without sincere desires. Rev.
Isaac Oxford, captain of the Caldwell
company, said to me. Hold my gun and
| will pray for them" 1 took his gun
and he thanked God that hone of us were
killed and that justice had overtaken
them at last, and this was about the
burden of his prayer, which was nothing
more than a thanksgiving.
We then moved on to the place of
execution and bound them to the stakes.
But before they were executed, l said,
Colonel, 1 feel a desire to pray for them
now" He said he would be glad for me
to do so. I tried to pray for their for
giveness and salvation with all the earn
l~estness Of my soul. In "a moment the
command was given to fire, and they
were in eternity. 1t may be interesting
to relate in this connection an incident:
In our Alexander company was a young
man whose name was Fony Rosemau,
who could shoot a rifle with great ac-
curacy. He was a devoted friend of
James Linney, who was killed there the
Sunday before. He had learned from one
of the robbers that Will Beck was the
one who killed Linney. They had dug a
hole into which they had thrown Linney's
body and covered it up. Taking up his
body it was seen hat the Minnie ball
had entered just above his right eye.
Roseman asked Col. Sharpe to make him
one. of, the detail to shoot Beck. This re-
quest was granted. He said, Nov,
ann going to hit him just above the eye
in the same spot where he hit my friend
Linney.' He did just what he said he
would do as though he had gone and
placed It there with his iin-erS. The
question then came up as to what we
should do with the house. Without
much discussion it was decided that il
shout be burnt down. There were sew
eral barrels of unshelled corn in the up
per story of the building which was all
thrown out through a window, and soor
the house was all in a blaze. When the
flames reached the basement the firing
of loaded guns was like a heavy
skirmish. How many guns and how
much ammunition they had stored ava
we were not able to tell.
Wade was seen by some one in thai
vicinity not many days afterwards. He
said he lay all day under the bank OF
the river, and some time in the nigh
he came out and walked around and saw
what had been lone and then went away
He said he should leave that part of the
country very soon. He has never beer
heard Of since. On our way back to AL
exander county we met Col. Cowan. o.
Iredell county with twelve or fifteen mel
coming to our assistance. We also me
some of the citizens Of Wilkes count.
coming with wagon loads of provision!
for US. When they heard what had beer
done their joy must have been as grea
as that which thrilled the hearts of GU
forefathers when they received news Q
the victory of Yorktown.
The next morning before starting to NJ.
school l saw coming down the road from
the direction of Fort Handy twelve mel
on horseback. They had on blue uni
forms, which all the robbers wore. M
only thought was that they were som
of the recruits who were expected a
Fort Handy and that they were ate
taking vengeance on all who had take
part in the work done the day before
AS they approached the gate 1 was board
ing in the home of Ellis Haynes, Esq
l went into my room which was on tn
first floor and locked myself in and look
ed to- the condition of several guns an
pistols which I kept loaded all the time
determined to sell my life as dear as pos
sible. They dismounted and came in an
| asked if they could get an
: their horses fed. Mr.. Haynes told ther
l they could. The took seats on tn
; front porch and entered in lively con
? versation with Mr.. Haynes. OF course
was listening. From all I could hear
f began to think that perhaps they wer
t not the men l had taken them to be.
5 walked out into their midst. They aske
? me if 1 knew anything of a band of rot
bers near Holman's Ford, in Wilke
2 county. I told them / did. Theyt sal
also that they had heard that the fol
D had been taken and the band dislodge
and wished to know if it were true.
\ told them it was true. They wished t
$ know if 1 was there and took part in i
: | told them I was there and took part i
;. it. Being still uncertain as to who the
e were and what their mission might be
: determined not to tell who else helpe
r take it, should they ask me. They the
Y asked me what we did unto those robbel
Y I replied that we tied them to stakes an
t shot them. The lieutenant in comman
said: 81 am glad Of it; you have ave
f us the trouble of it, for if we had take
: them we should have executed them" II
. then told us that the message which W
d sent while on our way to Fort Hamb
g had reached their headquarters and thu
!, they were on their way to settle all thes