Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-05-23
In q Berry
[Original.l

with a belfry. 1t stood there during
Dan Harkaway, a young man whose
father was a deacon in the church,
used to go up into the belfry daily and
sometimes on moonlight nights to take
! a look up the turnpike. which was
plainly visible FOR some miles north
ward. hoping to catch the first sight Of
Yankee troops that were expected to
occupy that region. Harkaway set
great store by this vedette system in
vented by himself and promised to
warn his neighbors in time to set their
houses in order and put their silver
spoons in the we'll before the arrival OF
the enemy.
Harkaway was in love with Nancy
/ Durbin, girl who found it difficult to
decide between him and Tom Nolan.
One day Nolan overheard some ne
groes talking together about the prox-
unity of the Yankees, some caying that
they would come within few hours.
Nolan thought to get ahead Of his rival
and climbed to the belfry for the pur-
approach Harkaway had placed
ladder on the highest floor, to be reach
ed through a trapdoor. By climbing
the ladder one could look out through
the top openings. Nolan mounted the
ladder and Harkaway, passing below,
saw him gazing up the pike.
Harkaway determined to punish his
rival for assuming a privilege that he
reserved for himself and that night
went up to the belfry and creased the
ends on which the ladder stood. Nolan
thought over the matter of the Yam
KEGS approach and concluded that II
they occupied the city they would like
| ly endeavor to surprise it in the early
| morning before the people were awake.
| Therefore at the first sign of dawn he
entered the tower. intending to watch
till after sunrise. He climbed the lad
der and. looking up the pike, saw the
Yankees coming.
He was about to descend to give the
alarm when he felt the ladder slipping
away from him. Catching the window
sill, he chung to it for a few minutes,
then dropped, hurting himself severely.
The first thing he did after getting his
breath back into his body was to ex-
anime the ends of the ladder. finding
them creased. At the same moment he
heard some one enter the building be-
low and knew that Harkaway was COM
ing.
'I'll pay the rascal for this" NUT
tered Nolan, and, dragging himself to
the trapdoor, he put the prop to the trap
in a position that one coming into the
belfry could scarcely help knocking it
away. Then be lay down on the floor
near the wall and waited. Harkaway
came up and when his head got above
the trap saw the fallen ladder and No
Ian lying on the floor. Thinking he had
killed his man, he withdrew hastily.
knocking away the prop. The trap
closed with bang, and Nolan heard
his rival tumbling down the stairs.
Harkaway on the head, and if it had
not killed him his fall doubtless had
| finished the job Nolan pulled open
the door, crawled down the stairs, pass
J ed what he believed to be Harkaway's
dead body and rushed frantically out
of the church. Harkaway had been
knocked unconscious, and when he
came to himself and thought of the
corpse of Nolan lying in the belfry he
fed from the place as rapidly as his
stunned condition would admit.
The same morning people living along
the line of the pike were awakened
from their slumbers by the clatter OF
horses hoofs and swinging sabers, fol-
lowed by the tread of men marching
and the rumble of cannon. Almost be-
fore the citizens could get on their
clothes the troops had passed, and soon
the booming Of guns could be heard be-
low.
"Whar's Dan Harkaway?' asked one
citizen of another. wonder eff he
hain't fell asleep in the belfry."
"Tom Nolan, he was a-watchin' that,
too" said another.
When the excitement had quieted
down and the sun shone as peacefully
over the undulating plantations as 1t
had set the evening before, the two
missing men not appearing, commit
tee went into the belfry. Finding the
ladder down, the ends creased and
blood (from Harkaway's nose) scat
tered over the stairs, they concluded
that the two men had been playing
each other foul and doubtless one had
murdered the other or both had been
killed. But what had become of the
bodies was a mystery.
Years passed, and neither Harkaway
nor Nolan appeared When stranger
came into the locality he was sure to
be treated to the story of the night the
Yankees came and the two young men
who were watching for them had dis.
appeared. Whether there had been
mutual murder or the Yankees had
carried them off was disputed point.
During the eighties camp OF Con-
federate Veterans was held in the vi
cinity, and one day a gray bearded vet
stood opposite the church, looking up