The Elbert County tribune., 1907-08-15
LEADER OF THE NOTORIOUS
ouERRILLAs IN CIVIL WAR
TELLS OF ESCAPE,
IS NOW 70 YEARS OLD
BONES OF BUsHWHAckER SUP.
POSED TO BE ON Ex-
HIBITIoN IN KANSAS.

"dr, WIN, dccorulnB 10 hstory, Qled OK
wounds at Kentucky hospital, after
his raiders were cut up, is alive and
well at Quatsino. on the northwest
coast OF Vancouver island, under the
name Of John Sharp. according to a
number OF people vino have conversed
with him.
J. e. Duffy, prominent timberman,
who recently became interested In tim
ber land at Quatsino, recognized John
Sharp. who is over 70, wiry and gray.
as Quantrell, Duffy having been a
member Of the Michigan troop of cav.
airy which cut up Quantrell's force.
Quantrell stated to Duffy that he
was correct in his recognition. Sharp
said he had been left as dead and in
stead of dying of his wounds at Louis
Vile. as history recorded, that he had
taken horse, ridden many miles and
disappeared. He made his way to
South America, living a number of
years in Chile, whence he went to
Texas. where he engaged in the cattle
business, making considerable money,
which he exhausted. Then he went to
Oregon, where he punched cows and
drove cattle over tn, mountains From
Oregon he came to British Columbia
nearly two decades ago and engaged
In logging at different camps of the
hOi thCdSL COdSL VI vancouver
until ten years ago. when he became
trapper of the northern coast
Six or seven years ago he went to
Quatsino, where he was made car
carer at West Vancouver mines
When j. E. Duffy landed at Quatsino
from the steamer Tees he met John
Sharp on the beach at Coal Harbor.
Duffy looked the OLD man over and
said: rs that you, Quantrell, you old
'rascal?"
Come into the house." said Sharp,
and for some hours the two men
talked. Sharp stated he was in reality
Quantrell, and he talked at length of
the raids in Kansas and elsewhere,
and eagerly listened to Duffy's tales
from the point of view of the cavalry
men of the Union men. He was most
keenly interested in the story of the
cutting up of his band. and when his
narrator told of how forty men had
been killed tears are said to have
rolled down the old mans cheeks
r. e. Montgomery, who is engaged
in business at Quatsino. and who knew
Sharp, or Quantrell, at Fort Worth,
Texas. and H. o. Berg, postmaster at
Quatsino, are two others to whom
Sharp has stated his identity as Guam
trell.
81 might as well admit It," Sharp
told both. '1t seems that cannot hide
the fact"
The story the old man told to the In
formant of the Associated Press was
that when his band had been cut up
he had been bayoneted in the chest
and had bullet wound through the
shoulder. The surgeon who looked
him over diagnosed that he could not
live more than a couple of hours, and
he had been left that others with more
chance of recovery could be attended
to by the overworked surgeons. While
they tended the others he got up de-
spite his wounds and disappeared
That night, he says, he rode seventy
miles. He took fight to South Amer
lea.
Kansas City.-According to local
history. Bill Quantrell, the guerilla
leader who played SO important a part
In the Missouri Kansas border warfare
Of the early days. died in the Sisters
hospital at Louisville, Kentucky. Rev.
Thomas Cobb, formerly pastor of the
Methodist Episcopal church of this
city, but now located in Oklahoma,
knew Quantrell in Kentucky during
the Civil War He was a cavalry re-
cruiting officer, and at the time camped
with Quantrell for two days and had
many talks with him.
Rev. Cobb said:
"Quantrell was then in Central
Kentucky. He was on his way to Vir-
ginia and Maryland to join Mosby He
had skirmish with the federal troops,
the Twelfth Kentuck cavalry, and was
seriously wounded. He was not known
as Quantrell during that expedition.
but went under the name of Captain
| Clark
81 was paroled in Louisville about
that time by Colonel Folsom. One day
| Colonel Folsom asked me II l knew
| Quantrell, and l told him l did. He
then asked me II l would identify him.
| and I said l would II he were dead.
Then you will not identify him If he
| Is alive?' asked Colonel Folsom. No.
replied. l was taken to view a body,
| but 1t was not that of Quantrell. But
day or two later several of Guam
| trell's men saw the dead body of their
leader in the Sisters hospital and at
tended his funeral in the Catholic
cemetery. This, l believe, is the true
story of Quantrell's death and burial"
Topeka, Kan.-Mention of the dis
covery of w. G. Quantrell being alive
In British Columbia calls to mind the
| fact that In the state historical rooms
here are two shin bones and lock OF
hair supposedly of the famous raider.
They have been there since May. 1888.
when the mother of w. C. Quantrell
and w. w. Scott of Canal Dover, Ohio,
opened the grave at Louisville, Ken
lucky.
Jacob 9. Choate and Miss Kitty
Hubbard Of Longmont were married
In Denver recently. Miss Hubbard is
widely known throughout the state, as
| she was at one time an officer of tho