The Batesburg advocate. [volume] (Batesburg, S.C.) 1901-1911, 1908-10-09
a Life Hung on
a Thread.

y,
ing III the -th cavalry at western
post. we had a man in the ranks who
had been brought up by refined and
wealthy parents, but who was per
rect devU. Egbert Carol was the
name he enlisted under. and | believe
II was his real name. The only trou-
bic with him was that he was too full
OF hghi. One would suppose that Il
soldier can't have too much fight in
hiin' ana so he can't when there is an
enemy TO contend with, but when there
isn't De Is liable TO turn upon his
friends Carol was In Captain Cava-
naSh's company, man full of Irish
blood. and that means full of Irish
fight We called him the "black god
of war" The result was that when
CarroI committed some slight indiscre-
ton his captain, to speak figuratively,
put the screws on" This made Car
rol rcbcllions. With the result of more
discipline, till 1T last he mutinled and
struck his captain. He was put in the
guardhousc to await trial, but one dark
night he escaped and disappeared
1t was not long after this that we
he'd brush with the Indians. We
wcr" getting the better of them when
one of their number led them on
savage charge which for time broke
through our lines. never saw such
savage Indian lighting under so saw
age Il leader. 1t was only a question
of time with them, however, for we
outnumbcrcd them and were better
armed and equipped We took lot
of prisoners, among them their leader
Who should lie DC but Bgbert Carroll
OF course there was but one fate for
him. \ court martial was convened; /;
he WAS tried ana sentenced to be shot
The proceedings were forwarded to
Washington. where they were approved
by the president The day having been
fixed, there was nothing TO do but wait
for it to come round ana carry out the
sentence. But there was some synpa-
thy for the condemned man. First. the
cOmmandant of the post believed there
was not only stuff in him for soldier.
but a leader. which had been turned
away by his captain. who had never
learned to control himself. to say moth
ing OF controlling others Then the
women of the post all took TO him be.
cause he was Il gentleman born The
men of his company partially excused
nim because many of them had suf-
tcrcd as he had from their captains
unGovernable temper. Lastly and most
important. his family Interested them
selves TO secure pardon
One day the colonel commanding a
post some 2GO miles eastward of the
one where Carol WAS held a prisoner
received ~ order reprIcvlng the rene
gade. Selecting Il good rider, the colo
mel gave him the presidents order and
TOLD him to ride with 1t posthuste But
nm The army there are many officers
who would scorn 10 communicate The
contents Of an order 70 private The
colonel was one OF these. He sent his
messenger away without any lnoNl-
edge that a life hung on IT'S prompt de
livery. Two days after the messenger
departed be returned to the man who
sent him, confessing that ne had stop
ped 10y the way to drink with some
soldiers and had lost the order He
had returned for duplicate.
The colonel blInched You scoun-
drel! he reared. You carried Car
rolls IcprrNc. No power can repair
the damage YOU have done. Before an.
other message can bc sent he VIII have
been executed"
Now il happened that had been
sent with party to relieve the garri.
son of the alton where the messenger
had stopped and II was with some of
our men th"t the messenger drank and
lost his order lie did not miss it till
ne mad ieft the sutton and ridden some
distance Then he returned. hunted
nigh and low for II and, not finding il.
returned for its duplicate.
The day after the loss of the order |
went 10 inspect u gang Of men who
were doing some work was I'm charge
or. While walking along the road
saw dog chasing bit of white pa
per which the breeze whlrlcd before
him. KS the paper was blown past
me picked II up. held 1t over the do,
and let it 20 again in the wind. The
dog caught 1t and brought II TO me for
more play. 1t was then that saw the
word "Washington' printed on it.
read 1t ana knew that it was Carrots
rcpricye.
Within ten minutes l was mounted
on the best horse at the station and
riding to save a life. So much time
had been est in its transmission that
knew it was an even chance whether
! arrived in time or not rode NV
horse to a finish in few hours. sccur-
cd another, exhausted him III about the
same time ana repeated the process as
often rs ! could find horses
knew the day that Carol was 20
be executed, but not the hour 1t is
singular that soldier Will drive the
men under him up to be shot down m-
mcrcifuly, but when under other cir
cumstanccs one life is dependent on
his efforts he VIII labor under fright
fu! burden.
st last ! came in sight Of the flag
waving over the tops of some trees soy
oral miles IN advance of mt. Then ev
cry minute dreaded lest | hear vol
ley My horse was exhausted, ana
feared every moment he would drop
under me- IIc did so when within
quarter of mile OF the post ! ram
on, waving The order above my head
a sentry saw It, cd what IT was
and must have called out to those be-
low for l heard q cheer Then knew