The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1908-05-14
A Life Hung on
q Thread.
COriginal.l

u i nTe8O.
CoriginaI.l
A good many years ago. when Indian
lighting was the chief occupation Of
our then diminutive army, I was serv.
Ing In the -th cavalry at a western
post. We had man In the ranks who
had been brought up by refined and
wealthy parents. but who was a per.
feet devil. Egbert Carol was the
name he enlisted under, and l believe
It was his real name. The only trou.
BILE with him was that he was too full
OF fight. One would suppose that q
soldier can't have too much fight in
him. and SO he can't when there is an
enemy to contend with, but when there
isn't he is liable to turn upon bis
friends. Carol was in Captain Cava.
nagh'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
Carol committed some slight indiscre.
ton his captain. to speak fguratively,
put the screws on" This made Car.
rol rebellions. with the result of more
discipline. till at last he mutinied and
struck his captain. He was put in the
guardhonse to await trial. but one dark
night he escaped and disappeared
1t was not long after this that we
had brush with the Indians. We
were getting the better of them when
one Of their number led them on a
savage charge which for a time broke
through our lines. never saw such
savage Indian fighting under so saw.
age leader. 1t was only a question
Of time with them. however, for we
outnumbered them and were better
armed and equipped. We took a lot
Of prisoners, among them their leader
Who should he be but Egbert Carol!
OF course there was but one fate for
him. A court martial was convened;
he was tried and 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 1t to come round and carry out the
sentence. But there was some sympa.
thy for the condemned man. First, the
commandant of the post believed there
was not only stuff in him for soldier
but 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 a gentleman born. The
men of his company partially excused
him because many Of them had suf-
fered 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 200 miles eastward of the
one where Carol was held a prisoner
received an order reprieving the rene
gade. Selecting q good rider. the colo.
mel gave him the presidents order and
told him to ride with 1t posthaste. But
In the army there are many officers
who would scorn to communicate the
contents Of an order to a private. The
colonel was ono Of these. He sent bis
messenger away without any knowl.
edge that life hung on its prompt de.
livery. Two days after the messenger
departed be returned to the man who
sent him. confessing that he had stop.
ped BY the way to drink with some
soldiers and had lost the order. He
had returned for duplicate.
The colonel blanched. "You scoun.
drel! be roared. "You carried Car.
rors reprieve. No power can repai,
the damage you have done. Before an.
other message can be sent be will have
been executed"
Now. It happened that I had been
sent with q party to relieve the garri.
con Of the station where the messenger
had stopped. and 1t was with some of
our men that the messenger drank and
lost his order He did not miss It till
he had left the station and ridden some
distance. Then he returned, hunted
high and low for 1t and, not finding 1t.
returned for its duplicate.
The day after the loss of the order !
went to inspect gang Of men who
were doing some work was in charge
Of. While walking along the road !
saw dog chasing bit Of white pa.
per which the breeze whirled before
him. As the paper was blown past
me I picked 1t up, held it over the dog
and let 1t go again in the wind. The
dog caught it and brought 1t to me for
more play. 1t was then that saw the
word washington" printed on 1t.
read 1t and knew that 1t was Carols
reprieve.
Within ten minutes I was mounted
on the best horse at the station and
riding to save life. So much time
had been lost in its transmission that
I knew 1t was an even chance whether
I arrived in time or not. I rode my
horse to finish in few hours, secur.
cd another, exhausted him in about the
same time and repeated the process a.
often a. could 6nd horses.
I knew the day that Carol was to
be executed, but not the hour. It "a
singular that a soldier will drive the
men under him up to be shot down I'M.