Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1906-06-07
AN UNALLOYED
ROMANCE
tOriginal. IL

word romance is u fictitious story TIE
converse is true Romance is some
thing real though it may be put into
effective shape by story writer's just as
a landscape is reproduced by the art
ist There are very few romances but
need to be added to or subtracted from
that they may impress those who hear
them. because they are usually min
gled with the commonplace. Occasion
ally we hear Of one In which the ro-
mantle features are SO perfect, so UNI
alleged. that the story may be given
exactly us it occurred. Here is one re-
corded IN at least two histories of the
American Revolution. 1t is nugget OF
pure romance:
The bitterness existing between Wing
and Tory during the war for independ-
| ence was equaled in America only by
| that between the Unionist and seces-
| sionist during the civil war. In the
| Carolinas this rancor was especially
marked. In 1910 Martin McGarry,
twenty-five years old, who owned
| farm on the Catawba river, married
Betty Crawford. Il niece OF Andrew
Jackson, afterward the hero of New
| Orleans and president of the United
| states McGarry was Wing ana was
especially hated by the Tories. After
| his marriage he joined the command of
| General Sumter In the spring OF
| 1850 the British Colonel Tarleton. with
| 800 of his own troops and as many
A..t 81,
| on the settlement where the McGarryS
| lived. attacked Colonel Buford's Cont
nentals and militia and defeated and
massacred them, giving no quarter.
Soon after this raid Il new light
| shone in the McGarry cabin, emanating
| from the tiny person OF newborn
| babe. The father. being notified, deter
| mined to make flying visit to his
| wife and the child that had come to
| him in his absence. II WAS danger
Gus thing to do, for Tarleton's raid had
given the Wings control of tie settle
ment and if McGarry were caught by
| them he would be murdered, probably
| hanged But his love for his wife and
| his desire to see and hold in his arms
| the little stranger. bit Of innocence
| that seemed to have come to shame
| those who were numbering one am
other. prevailed, and he made the trip.
OF the meeting between husband and
wife and the introduction of the father
| to his child history is silent Bnt
| there are features OF a story that the
skillful story teller prefers to leave to
| l,n ~ thi.
| does not suffer by the absence of an
| attempt to give what no artist can
| paint except clumsily. While the lit
| tie family were together the Tories
| got wind of McGarry's visit ana were
| organizing Il force to go TO his cabin
| and capture or kill him. At the dead
| of night they surrounded the place
| and demanded the surrender Of the
| man they wanted. The negro nanny
| who was taking care of the mother
| who had been confined only three
weeks before and the newborn child
went to the door and assured the
| Tories that her young master was not
there She was not believed The
| house was searched from top to bot
| tom, but they did not find McGarry.
| An hour before he had taken his de-
parture and was well GA his way to
| Sumter's command, thirty miles away.
| When satisfied that he was not at home
the Tories helped themselves to food
| and drink and departed.
| 1t was no time for this woman to
| have men in her house searching for
| her husband TO kill him. The next
| day Mrs. McGarry died from spasms
| brought on 10y the inhuman treatment,
and her babe dill not survive her TWEEN
| ty-four hours
Taking a double barreled gun, one
| barrel Of which was long range rifle,
| the other smoothbore for buckshot
| at close quarters, the bereaved hus-
| band and father left Sumter's army
| and set out on hunt for Tories If
he met one alone he would give him
some chance for his life: if he met sew
eral together he waited tn they had
separated. then waylaid them. As the
war went on the number of Tories he
shot ran higher till, when peace came,
| at least twenty of them had expiated
| the crime of the indirect murder of a
woman and Il newborn babe
| When the end of the war put a stop
| to this punishment the bereayed man
could not 70 back TO his desolate farm.
| He sold it and, taking his negroes
went TO Tennessee, where he took up
| land and cleared plantation.
Loves may endure weeks, years or
for lifetime. Nee arry's was for his
| whole existence. Had he married
again, though it might have been bet
! ter for him to do SO, the romance Of
! his story would not be virgin pure.
| But he did not marry. No woman. no
| child. ever stood in the same relation
! TO him as those he left in his cabin ON
| that night in May. 1850 never to see
| again on earth One year a husband.
three weeks father, he spent the
| years from twenty-three TO seventy
alone Yet WIS be qlonaf There ago
{ hose who can continue q bodily Gem
| lauionship III spiritual one, and may
not Martin McGarry during the half
| century he lived alone have felt spir-
itual commuion that was not con