The Yale expositor., 1905-04-07
STEALING
...H G "A r
[Original.1


Andrews capture of railroad train in
Georgia during the civil war;" said q
veteran, "but my runnin' away with
box car In North Carolina has never
been put in type
Half a dozen pipes were withdrawn
from as many mouths, and the smok-
ing comrades pricked UP their ears.
"Never heard o. that raid" remark
ed one of them.
Lets have It," said another.
"Aie and my friend Bill Acres tun-
neled out o. Andersonville prison pen
and made n successful escape-that is,
we escaped from the prison and had
the whole south to roam In. Gettin'
into northern territory was a far diff
ferent matter. / found a dead Confed-
crate that hadn't been buried and APP
propriated his clothes. There wasn't
much uniform about 'em, but they had
the southern cut, and the coat at least
was gray, with c. S. A. on the buttons.
"Well, Bill and l concluded to sepa-
rate. We wouldn't be of use to each
other and 1t might give me away as n
Confederate to be seen associatin with
miserable escaped Yankee prisoner.
So when we came to fork in the road
Bill took to one fork and to the other.
l didn't see anything of Bill for two
weeks, and in the meantime I'd gone
over a good deal of ground. When l
did see him 1t was this way:
zone night always Travelled nights
and hid in daytime-I struck rail
road. l was pretty near worn out and
determined to follow the track till l
reached a station and try to beat my
way on a train goin' north, relyin' on
my cheek and Confederate uniform
for protection. Fact is, 1 was so des-
perate that l was even willin' to run
the risk of bein' taken in for spy.
/ walked on the ties for an hour, when
came to a sleepy little station. A
freight train stood on a side track with
n locomotive headed south. l walked
along till came to the rear car, box
car and heard voices inside Of it. l
listened and soon learned from what
they said that they were lot of I'm
ion prisoners of war on their way to
Andersonville. But what startled me
most was hearin' Bill Acres voice
among the rest. There was no guard
about, which surprised me, and, call
in for Bill, l made myself known to
him. He told me of his capture and
said that the prisoners had all given
their parole to the guard not to escape
on condition that they be furnished
with first class meal the next day.
Then the guard had gone off to
dance in barn. There wasn't much
use takin' the prisoners parole, for
they couldn't git out nohow.
"While we was talkin' l heard
putin below and knew there was n
train comm up from the south. !
made up my mind to play desperate
keep still. Seem a lantern on the
station platform. 1 swung it and stop
ped the comm train. freight.
"'What d'y' wantT asked the con-
ductor, gittin' out o. the caboose car
in the rear and comm forward with a
lantern.
81 want that car coupled on to your
train
"'Got an order?'
"'Not a railroad order. The army
can't wait for railroad red tape. That's
what brought it down here when it's
wanted farther north. It's full of
ammunition
"This settled the matter, and the man
gave the necessary orders. had learn
ed from the men in the car that we
were between Raleigh, n. c., on the
south and Lynchburg, Va, on the
north. / told the conductor that
wanted the car pulled to Lynchburg.
When it was coupled on behind the ca
bose and we had started, the conduct
or invited me to ride in the car with
him, but 1 told him that l wouldn't
leave the ammunition out Of my sight
for a moment. 1 had my plans oil form
ed. My intention was when we reached
a convenient point to uncouple the car,
break open the door, free the prisoners
and all make tracks for the Blue Ridge.
"0f course the nearer we could get to
the mountains the better, but Of course
all the time we stayed with the train
we were at great risk and under terri
bic suspense. AS soon as we got into
Virginia 1 began to think of droppin'
away from the train. Luckily at
station where we stopped l was able
to steal crowbar for openin' the car
and laid it on the roof. Since all was
goin' well, 1 kept with the train till we
reached a point ten or dozen miles
from Lynchburg and as many from the
mountains; then L went to the couplin'.
The door of the caboose was right up
against the coupled end of the prison
car, but the caboose door was shut and
all the risk 1 took was of it's bein' sud
denly opened. couldn't pull the coup
lin pin, so l got my crowbar, and
this helped me out. After drawin' the
pin waited while the car fell slowly
back, not DARN to make n sound with