The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1905-07-14

D~PoSlts
United States flag from the mint,
the generals reply was: Il viii
make an example of that fellow
by hanging him. ;"
He was but a mere boy: car
ried away by the wild excitement
OF the time, the act was the
height of all that was foolhardy,
in its madness it could only be
ascribed to the irresponsibility
and ignorance of youth. Yet he
was arrested, tried by courtmar-
! tial and duly sentenced to be
hanged. He had insulted the
flag, and must be made an ex-
ample of. The people were hor-
rlfied, and every intervention
possible was attempted. The
fact that the city had not sur
rendered at the time the flag was
hoisted by the federals, or when
torn down by Mumford, should
have had its weight, but no plea
LIQUID ~ be heard in extenuation-
the boy must be put TO ueaTm.
He was hanged, some say on
a gailows just in front of the
mint: Though, if you go there,
to the mint itself, you will be
pointed to the space high up and
between the two center pillars
which support the front. Per-
haps the gallows was constructed
there. 1t would seem there can
be no doubt. There" they
will tell you, between those two
pillars, is where Mumford was
hung!" 1t is the more COM
monty accepted belief, and when
once you have known it, the
very mint itself seems to bear
the shadow of the gallows-like
the mark of Cain on it's frontal.
He was so young, so ignorant,
so pitifully the victim of the
monster who sacrificed him under
the merciless wheels of war. Yet
sadder, even, was the fate of the
boys mother. Her poor brain
tottered and yielded before the
cruel shock, and for twenty
years longer than the span Of
her sons life-she wandered
aimlessly, harmlessly through
the streets, her gray hair and
bent form, her innocent, simple
look exciting only pity-the pity
that goes out to those who in a
dark past have suffered great
and cruel wrong.
AS if her dimmed mind fingered
the thought of her own lost child,
she seemed to haunt the thor
oughfares most frequented by
the school children, who would
whisper among themselves:
THAT is Mumford's mother" "
And if one would maybe say:
"She only thinks she is," some
one older would say pityingly:
Eyes, children, she is Mumford' s
mother" They tell it so-and
some of them remember. 1t is
one of the stories every visitor
to the mint is told.
| The other is a striking evi.
enced of how curiously mems
minds will be wrought upon by
superstition, and how slight 8
thing can turn the carriage o1
! justice even in the face of un.
controvertible facts.
A CURIOUS INCIDENT.
II When a vault in one of thu
, government Offices was opened
one morning it was discovered
that a box which had held $26,
: 600 in bills now contained onl.
: ashes the money had beel
burned to a crisp. The bulb o
3 an incandescent electric lam
9 just two feet above was broken
> and the cashier claimed that h
must have unwittingly left thi
8 light burning the night before
that it exploded and a spar
T, dropping upon the paper money
s it ignited and was burned up.
el The government sent dow
VI from Washington lady expert
4 who examined the ashes under
: microscope and testified tina
there were only 81, 200 burned
{ make those ashes. The feder;
: grand jury then indicted tn
e cashier for embezzlement, an