Evening journal., 1905-03-25
HOLDING THE
LIGHTHOUSE
rcopyrieht. 1904. BY T. c. Mcclure.l


Carolina coast and one evening during
the last year Of the war 1 was driven
inside by seven Confederates, who had
landed from a sloop near by and whose
mission was to destroy the light.
was well provided with arms and am
muniton. and as they came within
shooting distance opened fire and
wounded one Of them. All OF them at
once moved to the left to get out Of
range, and five minutes later there was
a demand that I surrender. In case Of
refusal they would burn me out
As the lower door was a stout one
and loopholed for musketry and as
there was no drift stuff wfciin mile
Of us to make fire, 1 was not greatly
worried over the appearance Of the
men and their threats. / made the door
secure and then climbed to the top Of
the lighthouse, and just as / got there
the sloop from which the soldiers had
landed ana which had been left to take
care OF itself was foated OF the beach
by the rising tide and soon passed be-
yond recovery. The situation now pre-
sented was a rather curious one.
was prisoner inside the lighthouse,
but the gang were prisoners outside as
well. We were on an island, and there
was no escape for them without
boat
expected to be fired on when light
ed the lantern, which was in an ex-
posed position, and, sure enough, they
opened on me with their muskets and
shaved me pretty close three or four
times. / got down safely, however,
and then had only the door to look
after during the night 1 got another
demand to surrender, but only laughed
at It. though two of the men crept
softly up and gave me several bullets
through the loopholes, which might
have finished me had I been standing
1, erect
The fellows could not tell whether I
had been hit or not, and about o'clock
I heard them crawling up again to lis
ltsu4 As Ollt VI lutll IuONtu uEuAncA
the door I fred through a ioophole, and
the yell which answered the shot was
proof that / had wounded another.
What the unwounded would do during
the night could only guess at and be
on the watch to checkmate. The two
, wounded men must have suffered a
great deal but the leader was a deter
mined fellow and bound to carry out
his orders.
Soon after the wounding Of the sec
ond man 1 heard the whole party NOV
ing away, and It was matter OF two
hours before they returned. They had
searched the shores for driftwood and
brought back loads Of it,
OF a sudden, while / was listening
with the closest attention. the loop
holes were stopped up with sticks
, thrust into them. and then the supply
Of firewoOd was heaped against the
door. There were three men engaged
in this work, and all at once / threw
the door wide open and blazed away
at them with my revolver. All wenf
down, and before the others could come
up I had the door shut again. 1t wal
not until two hours later that 1 knew
whether l had killed or wounded th'
n three. I had managed to clear the
loopholes and was on the alert for any
further move when one of the ganl
crawled as near as he dared and shout
ed:
"say, you in there. we want to sur
renderr'
'How many of your 1 asked in re
ply.
'sseven, and FIVE are wounded ant
suffering The sergeant will be deai
man unless we can get help prett
soon.'
n "Where are the two unwounde
menT'
ssThey swan off to get the sloop an
have either been eaten by the shark
OF drowned. Say. sergeant, for heaH
ems sake don't go back on u.s. W
were sent to capture and destroy tn
lighthouse. but we have got the wors
OF it and are ready 10 surrender
you"
looked on 1t as a plot to take me ol
my guard and refused to open the dool
Twice more before daylight the sam
man came and again appealed to ms
but he received the same answer. Th
ones feared were the two unwount
ed ones. I believed they were in an
bush instead of going of after the boa
When daylight came went upsteir
and looked down from the parapet an
soon made out that there was one ma
dead and no others about except th
n wounded. Before descending and ope1
ing the door made them disarm, an
y. Just as / was going out TO them N
4 assistant, who had been away svt
since the morning before to secul
fresh supplies, ran his boat upon th
beach. We took the wounded IN han
s. together. The sergeant ia command (
the squad had bled to death during II
night Of his wound. and some OF Il
others wero in very weak conditio'
q We bound up their hurts and mad
them as comfortable Hs possible az
that afternoon Federal craft was si
nailed, and she ran in and conveyed Il
4 living TO s3eorgetown an prisoners
81 war.
About the same tine the Ccnfedera
sioop came driving back with the tx
81 and ives ea0ty secured. Several Sc
81 prising discoveries awaited Us. she hs
about $4,000 OF ConreGernts none