Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1906-05-05
a SONG FROM PRISON.
Story of the housing Fourth of July
Demonstration at Ander-
sonville.

should not be enough left to guard the
"a 900 union prisoners. He appealed
for reenforcements to Gen. Cobb, COM
mander of the district, but none were
to be had. On the Fourth of July Gen.
Cobb with several stan officers visited
Andersonville, and the general, made
an address to the troops of the post,
who had been formed into hollow
square facing the center. The follow
ing, taken from the Grand Army Sen
tinei, is graphic description of what
followed:
"'Soldiers of the confederate states,
began Gen. Cobb, what news is this
that has been borne to your district
commander from the commandant of
this post? Can it be possible that SOL
diers of the south-Georgians-h
been guilty of desertion-of abandon
ing the duty assigned them of guard
ing yonder horde of vandals, whom
your more valorous brothers in arms
have captured upon many a we'll
fought field?'
cat this instant, IL O'Clock, from the
center of the prison pen was heard the
sound of song. Turning my eyes in
that direction I saw that several thou
sand men had congregated, while 9TH
blage. Perhaps not more than so voices
were wording the first verse of the ia
miliar anthem. The speaker outside
was continuing expressions of aston
ishment at what he had heard, when
the chorus was reached, and with de-
donations like an explosion 5000 voices
pealed:
The Star Spangled Banner, o long may it
wave,
Ger the land of the free and the home of
the brave,
1.-The song-burst had startled the
speaker or drowned his utterance, for
he had suddenly stopped and turned
| his face toward it. When it had
! ceased, and only few score voices
were singing the second stanza, he
commanded Writ, Go stop that
noise!' Writ fastened away, and
Howell Cobb resumed:
would you see that horde turned
| loose within your state, to pillage and
burn your homes, with your wives.
| sisters and daughters at their mercy?'
The verse was sung and the chorus
reached again. The congregation num-
bered 10000 more than before. Heaven!
| what a swell of sound! The very air
seemed to CULVER with the conclusion
the stockade wall to tremble. The
| guards on mount stumbled with Won
derment. Writ, who had reached the
| great gate, stood stock still, as If para
lyzed. The soldiers forming the square
were all now facing the prison
1.-The storm lulled, the speaker
sought to resume, but his manner was
disconnected. Writ was moving ner-
vousIy about, but essaying nothing.
| OF
ing the lines of the third stanza, but
knew it only foreboded the return of
the tempest. And now it comes:
There are 10000 threats swelling
the call of the pennant under which
they had fought, and 5000 more Joined
| in the Invocation
% long may it wave
| Ger the land of the free and the home of
the brave
1.-The echo of the last word has but
struck the branches of the pines,
when they begin to repeat Higher,
wider, deeper, stronger, louder, the
SWELL 1t peals-it roars-it booms-
it thundersi 1t is an artillery of song!
The speaker outside stands transhxed
He has heard the anthem before, but
never as now. Perhaps it is remind
ing him of the high position he has
but lately held under the flag it de-
fines. The listeners appears almost
panicked. A guardsman's gun drops
from his hands without his missing
it
Again they repeat, and now the
scene grows wild. Thirty thousand
voices are changing the chorus-3O.O Ot
bosoms swelling with thought of coun
try and flag and loved ones from whom
they are parted. Men with but one les
Chamber up, and supported by thei
stronger comrades, wave their cap
aloft and join in the chorus:
2 The star-spangled banner, o long may 1
r
!, Ger the land of the free and the home o
the brave
"Once more they repeat, and now al
the prison is in the sky-rending peal
the very walls, the ground Poor
fever-wasted frames, within an hou
of dissolution from their spirits, hal
uprise AMI propping upon one han,
raise the withered fingers of the othe
aloft while they unite their cracke'
! voices in the refrain they will hea
never more:
= The star-spangled banner. o long may
wave
Ger the land of the free and the home O
: the brave
: Sells Secret of Armor Plate.
: r. T. Williamson, a resident O
Pottsville, Pa, has sold to the Gel
4 = he, ra4 Sc,