Bisbee daily review., 1903-03-18
A MYSTERY OF
 FORT FISHER

One of the unsolved problems of the storming of Fort Fisher related to Commander Hervey. It will be re- membered that there was naval at tack by bluejackets which was repuls- ed with considerable loss. Hervey's | body was found in depression in the sand in the extreme advanced position i reached by his men of the Juniata. A handkerchief not Heryey'sl had been used for tourniquet to stop the flow | of blood from the commanders left ! ankle. which had been shattered and the artery cut by rifle ball. The wounded man must have been killed | subsequently by fragment of a shell which had struck him in the head. Who had saved the captain in the first | instance? It must have been some one who had been killed in the action. for no one claimed the credit.
 Some time before the Juniata. which I Hervey commanded. joined the beet she was refitted at the Portsmouth navy yard. Commander Hervey's fam ! ily were there in one of the officers l residences. including his daughter. Irene, girl of seventeen. There was | petty officer-not commissioned. but an enlisted maintained Edgar Fori- , stall. who was cockswain of the cap tain's dingey. He used to carry Irene ! ill the dingey to and from the Juniata. on such occasions she sat in the stern of the boat beside the cockswain Though very young. she knew well the difference in station between enlisted
 hot becoming to have anything to say to the cockSwain. When any of her fam ily. associates or officers were in the dingey. she never made remark to |, young Foristall. but when none of these was present she waNed quite friendly. Later Foristall was in the action at Fort Fisher. was severely wounded and was promoted for bray cry.
 Ten years passed. One day Irene 1 Heryey was present at the launching , of United States cruiser. A su- perintentent of one of the depart ments of the works that had cdlit tie vessel stepped up to her ana asked her if she remembered him. She did not. and he informed her that he } was the cockswain who used to carry ? her in her fathers dingey to and from $ the Juniata. Irene's face lighted up l at once She was especially pleased at ? meeting Foristail as citizen and not l IS an enlisted sailor.
 "I have never seen you" she said.
 since the Juniata left us for the at
 tack on Fort Fisher. l saw the notice
 fnp l,p,t how f ever.'
 a "Oh. everybody was brave Oh that v occasion" said the young shipbuilder. n But it is pleasant to be singled out f from the throng."
 f At that moment the ship was , launched and the remarks were inter-
 ruptrd. Nevertheless they were the be-
 ginning of a renewed acquaintance on il different basis from that of blue U jacket and captains daughter. Irene ] had treasured q remembrance or tue Il black eyed boy who used to sing out \ | the orders to his oarsInen so iustily
 though be had changed so much III
 appearauce that she had not recog niZed him. The new man proved SC
 attractive to her that her heart slipped = into his possession. Then she was
 pleased that he offered her his own il
 exchange. But what was her delight
 when he opened the case of his watch . and showed her a little lock of hel ) hair that he had surreptitiously cut
 from her ''pigtail' one morning Whei
 she was on his dingey.
 They were engaged, and in time thu
 fo,
 fortunately, one evening when Irene
 was in a bad humor she let fall re :, mark indicating that she still had some
 of the feeling that captains daughter
 might have for a bluejacket. Foristal
 at once broke the engagement. lren'
 when she had cooled longed to recai
 him, but it is not an easy thing for 1
 woman thus to humble herself. So sh' pined and moped till her mother found something for her to do in getting III
 material for a biography of ner fathe
 to be published with those of othe = naval officers who had fallen in tn
 civil war.
 q She was thus engaged when she cam upon packet marked Papers foun'
 cn Commander Hervey's body" Open
 ing #, she took out several letters
 shudtiering that they had been drench
 el in her fathers bloed. and examines
 then in turn. Suddenly she came upol
 few scarcely iegible words on tn
 back of one of the letters rawied wit
 some blunt instrument, possibly fin ger tip:
 10 "Cockswain saved me. They will hi h. me yet"
 Like flash from heaven the secre
 attending her fathers death burst III 4 on her For years she had wonders U wbo was the man who had carried he father to less exposed position an \. had bound up his wound. Was Ii
 young or past middle life? Was h T dark or fair? Why had fate deprive is her of the satisfaction of taking hi
 hand and expressing something of whs
 she felt with her lips and her eyes
 4 nd now she knew that this man va