The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1906-1907, 1907-01-05
She Was Not Up to War
toriginAll

3
uratively-by her sympathies. That
Isn't war. War. as General Sherman
said, h bell
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 a
red rag before a mad bull TO mention
one OF Is to Georgian to this day.
was out with foraging party one day
and got separated from the others. /
went into q potato patch and was dig
ging up the potatoes and putting them
into a sack when heard q woman's
voice say;
Hands upF
Looking up. saw a strappinG girl
about twenty years old pointing q
shotgun at me. n the muMmIa OF the
gum looked cold. tbs giEiG eyes looked
hot They fairly biased. dropped
the potatoes and held Mp both hands
mighty quick, for I feared she would
shoot me anyway. A man came out
o. the house and disarmsd me, then,
covered by two guns Instead Of one,
was marched TO a barn and told to
climb to the loft. | Obeyed and, look
Ing out Of window, saw the two
standing guard over me. My blood
ran cold az hearing the girl urge the
man 10 hang me In the barn. He
argued that II my body should be
found there by the Yankees II would
50 hard with them, and he was In
cilned 10 wait till the army had passed.
When evening came the girl brought
me my supper, took advantage Of
her coming to talk soft 10 her. I told
her had been married Just before the
war opened and had the lOvelIest little
boy In the world, just two and a half
years old. This was all made up.
was only nineteen and hadn't a sign
Of beard, and. as for a 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
hsr | knew they were going to hang
me ard asked her II she would let me
have something with which to write a
farewell letter to my young wife and
darling boy. My voice trembled. and
the girl put her handkerchief to her
eyes.
"That night they placed lanterns
1 eha 4
on guard. The next morning l heard
one OF the men say that the Yankees
would all be out Of the way by sun
down and they were going to hang me
70 one OF the beams OF the barn. The
girl brought me my breakfast. and
talked 60 her some more about my wife
and boy and got her crying In no time.
eat noon all the men except one
went into the house TO dinner. The girl
brought mo something to cat. and l
saw at once from her face that some
thing was In the wind she was white
as a sheet
They're going to hang you this aft.
ernoon. she said.
Great heaysnsi Can't you stop
'emr
"'No.
"she was looking round evidently for
some means OF getting me Of out OF the
way. but there was nothing In the loft
except hay. Then she went below, and
! heard her rummaging around pret-
~ soon she climbed the ladder and
beckoned me to come down. follow
| ed her. aud she showed me some
sheaves OF grain, Unloosening one OF
them, she told me 10 lie on the door
and, packing me inside. made a sheaf
Of me. tying a wlsp around my waist
| Then she picked me up and put me on
| her shoulder.
Il didn't weigh much more than
hundred pounds. and she was bigger
and stronger than was. she listened
/ TIL the guard lounged around to the
/ rear OF the barn, then opened the door
and carried me away.
"'wha' y0' gola'. NanT l heard the
/ guard call from short distance.
"Gom 10 the COW shed with some
! straw
That was all the interruption there
/ was. and pretty soon she had me In
/ tue shed. Luckily the open part didn't
face either the house or the barn. II
faced on a depression In the ground.
aud about twenty feet away there was
a thicket All l had to do was 20
/ crawl to the thicket and run for Il.
one would suppose that a man not yet
escaped from secret hanging would
light out az once stopped to tell the
/ glrl how much happiness she had given
% two people besides myself and asked
her u she hadn't something 10 send b
my boy. she hads't. and asked her
II might take him kiss. She said
might II thought my wife wouldn't
object, assured her that she wouldn't
and. putting my arms about her. gave
her a kiss loud enough to be heard at
| the house. Then rolled down the
/ incline aud. crawling into the tickee