The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1903-03-04

4IA1
soon as it could be done, a hiding
place in the house, under q stairway,
was fixed up for me. Every few days
Col. Bob Smith soldiers were search
ing the houses. of southern sympa-
thizers. They came to our place sew.
eral times, but they never got onto my
hiding place.
Things were getting very warm in
the old town. It was under martial
law. An order was issued that no
man or woman should be permitted to
leave the town without a pass, signed
by the provost marshal and the officer
of the day, and in order to get such q
pass the applicant had to swear allie
glance to the government, and in addi-
ton, a personal description Of the ap-
plicant had to be written on the back
Of the pass.
~ had resolved to leave town, not
only because | was anxious to get into
the fight again, but because every day
| remained in my father house I was
liable to be found, and that would
have meant exile for my old father,
my mother and my sisters.
ut was easy enough to get a blank
pass, but it had to contain the sigma
lures of the provost marshal and the
officer Of the day to be Of any value.
My father, through a friend who was
regarded as q Union man, secured a
blank permit. l used up a bott'o Of
ink and made my wrist lame crying to
initiate the proper signatures. Final
ly [ mastered every crook and forma-
ton of the signatures, and writing
them on the pass, l filled out my de-
scription and signed u false name un-
der the oath.
II was to leave on a night train. 1
hau planned to go to the end of the
road, about 400 miles, and then l ex-
pectcd to board a boat on the Missis-
sippi and take my chances. The
night favored my leaving home. It
was dark and the rain was falling in
sluices.
II reached the train and took q
scat. On every train leaving the city
was an officer, who examined the pass
cs of all passengers. The train limped
along to the first station, about TWEEN
ty miles out, and then the guards re-
turned. l was sitting near the door
Of the car.
81 saw tho officer when he came in
at the front door with the conductor.
| saw that he scrutinized very closely
every passengers pass and then look
ed at the holder to see if the descrip-
tion Tailed. He looked at one mans
head very closely. That made me
nervous, for I had on a wig which 1
had got from my father. was afraid
the officer would get on to my false
hair, but what I mosu feared was that
he would discover that the signatures
on the pass were forgeries.
II left my seat cautiously and went
out on the rear platform. The train
was running about ten miles an hour.
There was. no brakeman about. I
caught the iron handle of the platform
and jumped with the train.
81 thought 1 should never touch
bottom. When I tried to pick myself
up, | found I had broken G leg. In
that condition, drenched to the skin,
In the most excruciating pain, I crawl
ed back to my fathers house. 1
think if I had had a pistol I would
have killed myself.
II must have crawled six or seven
miles-maybe more, I reached home
just before daylight. My fathers old
family doctor was called, and he was
sworn to secrecy, Of course. l shall
never forget how my old father told
him he would kill him if he betrayed
US. But, Of course, be never would
have done that. An operation was
necessary to save my life. I have
been lame from the effects of it ever
since.
Chow did you get away from home
aftcrward?'' asked o Virgiaian.
"That is another story yeplied the
banker veteran, "but it wasn't on q
forged pass."-New York Sun.