Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-12-17
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"Amazons!' saith the veteran.
whats that?''
Women soldiers"
women soldiers be hanged! There
never were women soldiers ana never
VIII be; not that ONE lack bravery
sometimes they are brave as lions
but you can never rely on Il woman
not being put TO route-to speak fig
uratively-by her sympatlIies. That
isn't war. War, as General sherman
said, is hell.
Il was one OF Sherman's bummers
myself. and you can bet your bottom
dollar the people of Georgia were hot
against us, and it's like Haunting Il
red rag before a mad bull to mention
one Of us to II Georgian TO this day. l
was out with a foraging party one day
and got separated from the others. |
went into Il potato patch and was dig
cling up the potatoes and putting them
into a sack when | heard a woman's
voice say:
Hands up!
Looking up, / saw a strapping girl
about twenty years old pointing n
shotgun at me. If the muzzle of the
gun looked cold. the girls eyes looked
hot. They fairly blaZed. I dropped
the potatoes and held up both hands
mighty quick, for | feared she would
shoot me anyway. A a came out
Of the house and disarmed me; then,
covered by two guns instead of one. /
was marched to Il barn and told to
climb to the loft. | obeyed and, look
ing out of Il window, saw tile two
standing guard over me. My blood
ran cold at hearing the girl urge the
man to hang me in the barn. He
argued that if my body should be
found there by the Yankees it world
20 hard with them. and lie was in
clined TO wait till the army had passed.
when evening came the girl brought
me my supper. | took advantage of
I lltI tUIlilus " lain sui W hti. L iOAh
her | had been married just before the
war opened and had The loveliest little
boy in the world. just two and Il half
years old. This was all made up. |
was only nineteen and hadn't II sign
Of Il beard, aud. as for Il Wife, I'd never
even been in love. But the girl swal-
lowed the story, and when | told her
some Of my boys smart sayings she
| said she loved boys of that age and
\ wished she could see mine. Then ! told
her | knew they We're going TO hang
me and asked her if she would let me
have something with which to write Il
farewell letter TO my young wife and
darling boy. My voice tremblcd, and
the girl put her handkerchief TO her
eyes.
THAT night they placed lanterns
around the barn, and | saw four men
or guard. The next morning | heard
one of the mel say that the Yankees
would all be out of The way by sun
down and they were going TO hang me
to one of the beams of the barn. The
girl brought NE my breakfast, and
talked 70 her some more about my wife
and boy and got her crying in nc time.
All noon all the men except one
went into the house to dinner. The girl
brought me something to eat, and |
saw at once from her face that some
Thing was in the wind. She was white
as Il sheet.
They're going to hang you this aft
ernoon.' she said.
"'Great heavens! Can't you stol
'emg'
mo
"She was looking round evidently fol
some means of getting me OF out of the
way, but there was nothing in the lofl
except hay. Then she went below. ant
I heard her rummaging around. Pref
ty soon she climbed the ladder and
beckoned me to come down. | follow
ed her, and she showed me some
sheayes of grain. Unloosening one OF
them, she told me to lie on the fiool
and, packing me inside, made Il shea1
of me, tying n wisp around my waist
Then she picked me up and put me or
her shoulder.
81 didn't weigh much more than {
hundred pounds. and she was bigger
and stronger than | was. She listened
till the guard lounged around to the
rear of the barn, then opened the dool
and carried me away.
"'Wha' yo' goiu'. Nan? l heard thu
guard call from n short distance.
"'Goln' to the COW she'd with some
straw
THAT was all the interruption there
was. and pretty Don she had me il
the shed. Luckily the omen part didn'
face either the house or the barn. l
faced on a depression In the ground
and about twenty feet away there wa
a thlcket. All | had to do was t
crawl to the thicket and run for i
a. --.I H..