The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-03

I to gain respite while his wits were at
 work, he formed his plan and it was a l daring one.
 Burke, still nudginl his horse with his
 knees to make the steed appear restive.
 drew himself up in his saddle let loose
 great Irish oath and cried: "Ye spal- l pheens, what do yese mean, putin thim l earabines in the face of Generil Hob-
 sons courier Drop thim. ye foolsl'
 The first part of the scheme went well; 1 1t was known that General Hobson was l somewhere in the vicinity, and the troop
 CTS thought that perhaps the stranger l might really be one of his couriers who l had just completed a dangerous mission
 to the Confederate camp. However, they
 still held Burke covered with their guns,
 and it was not until the officer, impressed 1 by the lrishman's air and manner, issued
 the necessary order, that they grounded
 their weapons.
 | It's drilling ye are, is it?" began the
 lrishman, in easy, careless tones, .gittin
 ready for the Johnny Rebs, eh? Well, 1 the Rebs have already gone back aerost
 the river into Kentucky, and ye won't
 see thim. soon, but sthill ye need to dhrlll
 an ye want to step an carry thim car
 abines betther than ye are doin now begorra, or yell be pie fer thim woild l fellers frum the south"
 The officer, who had come to believe | that Burke was really a Union courier
 and possibly man high in the councils Of 1 the commanding generals, at be- 1 came very polite, and listened attentively l to the Irishman, the latter delivered ] a dissertation on the manual of arms l from his high seat on his saddle. l 'AS Oi wus tellin ye," Burke went on l with his lecture to the men, there's lot
 ye young fellers must larn before yese l thry a ruction Wid thim Rebils an as b1 hn fnfr ra;., l through some fancy steps, wid yer off i cer's koind permission" The officer was
 delighted with the proposition, and turned 1 his whole company over to the crafty son
 of Erin.
 Attention, therel cried Burke, assum- ] ing an upright boise in his saddle, fall ini' and the unsuspecting lads in l blue compiled and formed in the field two
 long lines, with their carbines held close 1 to their sides Burke rode up and down | the line inspecting the men critically, and l he paused several times to point out to l this man or that man how he should carry himself, and on a whole made his stall l good.
 | After the inspection Burke broke the company up into columns and marched
 the soldiers about the field, drilling them l Tor 10 or l5 minutes, and putting them l through good part of the manual And | While this was going on, from behind the l fringe of trees skirting the road beyond l the bend sounded the musical call of 1 bugle. Burke knew what the sound meant; MorganS men were coming up, and he 1 began to get little nervous fearing that 1 the Tanks would discover his trick, per- 1 haps shoot him, and get away into the l forest before the Raiders arrived. The
 soldiers heard the bugle call and stood
 still to listeu, and the officer walked up
 to Burke's horse with an attitude that | r, | quick wit, took hold of the situation cool
 ly, and casually glancing toward the road, remarked: Hurry, boys, General Wallace | hlmself is coming; get into fine shape now 1 to receive him." The soldiers took the
 false couriers word for it, and continued 1 their drill with earnestness, doubtless 1 wishing to earn the approval of the gen. | era1
 The comedy-or rather drama-was played to the final curtain, and that daring Irfshman led those men about that l field just as though he really was their commanding officer or some instructor
 sent to school them, and all the while the
 Irishman's sharp ears were listening for the sound of hoofbeats beyond the turn in the road
 Its well we're doin', boys," com-
 mented the Irishman, drawing the con- pany up at the edge of the road ''NoW
 ye can stack yer arrums and take rist' The soldiers quite willingly stacked their 1 arms, and the majority of them sank wearily to the grass at the border of the held and mopped their perspiring brows And just then the heavy thud thud of galloping hoofs sounded behind the point of trees, and as the sound drew nearer Burke, drawing his sword again. yelled:
 Attenshun there. yese fellers; fall in'' There was a mighty scramblng, and
 soon the soldiers were lined up again, and Burke, riding up and down, yelled: Pre- sint arrums, and git ready to receive the gineral. The troopers obeyed the order
 and as they did so a squadron of gray horsemen their carbines ready on their knees, galloped round the bend and drew rein in front of the Federals, who were taken entirely by surprise.
 "Ground arrums!' ordered Burke. and the soldiers, in their bewilderment, obeyed, and all the while the road was filling up with the terrible gray horse
 men, and it was not long before the Yankee troopers awoke to the fact that they were trapped When the Confed- crate squadrons were halted and the raid CTS facing the federals with the muzzles of their deadly carbines swinging idly in their direction practically had the enemy at their mercy, Burke wheeled his horse, faced General Morgan and said with a smile General I wish to sur rinder me troop of buckoesi" General MOfSdn was at HfSC dStOn1SneO, put he saw through the joke in a second or so, I and laughed heartily. The laugh was
 taken up all down the line, and even
 some of the federals themselves got over
 their sheepshness and laughed. too, at
 the ludicrousness of the whole situa- tion.
 Burke managed the thing so very neat ly that. the federals had no chance to offer resistance. The reputation of Nor gans raiders was a wide one, and the moment the cavalrymen turned the bend in the road the Union soldiers recognized
 them from descriptions given and real
 ized that resistance would be useless against such a force.
 The arms were taken from the fed erals and the carbines the raiders didn't
 take with them were broken to pieces against trees Then the whole band was paroled. and the Raiders galloped away
 on their daring venture, which finally
 ended so disastrously weeks later, the
 small force being surrounded on every hand by big Union armies and compelled to surrender But Morgan gave up only
 when his force of POGO had been reduced , to 300 by fierce battles against over whelming odds, and when he saw that
 further resistance was useless.