Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1909-11-11

THEY SHAKE HANDS
THE UNIQUE EXPERIENCES OF
TWO SOLDIERS IN THE WAR.

Captain Christian and Captain Rauct
Meet For the First Time Sine,
| They Tried TO Kill Each Other.
Standing in the lobby of a hoteI
| during the late visit to Richmond
Va. OF the PennsyNanians who at.
tended the unwilling of a monument
| Cold Harbor. several days ago, was
Captain E. d. Christian, a well known
veteran of the Forty, first Virginia
regiment, who was entertaining a
number OF the visiting Federal vet
Grams with an account of duel he
had in 1862 with a Pennsylvania
near what is known as The, Cow
pens." now the Meehanicsville Pike.
I'm some way" said Captain
Christian. I'VE were coming through
a field cut apart by a long line of
rail fence. AS we approached the
fence we saw coming toward us a
line OF blue-coated soldiers Be
fore / knew II I was face to- face with
Yankee who was sending balls at
me. but luckily aiming wrong
loaded my musket time and again
and we had II there face to face.
Presently the Yankee mounted the
fence to get better whack at me
for ] was as bad n shot as he In
the excitement of that duel Well,
gentlemen, down came the rail fence
and down came the Yankee. sprawl
get up as my old musket banged
away. but the ball never touched
him.
wait a moment" Interrupted one
OF the visitors. "and I'll tell you the
rest OF the story" All eyes turned
toward the military form OF Captain
w. H. Rauch. a Philadelphia, who
was the centre OF the listeners to
Captain Christians story.
Well" continued Captain Rauch.
the Yankee just took TO his heels
at that and you after him. You
fred as long as he was in sight
and he ran as long as his legs would
hold him up. The only reason he
did not fly was because he was a man
and not a bird
That's about right" said the Con
federate and then the two men faced
each other with eyes glued on the
faces that had seen the changes OF
nearly half a century.
sstali CaDtoiD Donoh or;nJ
finally breaking the intense stiffness.
ARE you the Johnny Reb that had
that duel with me and came near
making me a prisoner or putting me
out for good?"
''If you are the man who Jumped
on that fence and fell. and then got
up and ran while a Confederate SOL
dier sent bullets after you to heap
move. l guess we have met before.
IF any other man had been in
my palce and had not put up q good
run" replied Captain Rauch, 'Aa
would have been a fool. Why tha.
old thing you were handling look ed
as big as a cannon and sounded like
two or-three OF them,
Following this the veterans III ork
hands and Captain Rauch took Cap
tain Christian in tow to introduce
him 10 his wife. Then Captain and
Mrs. Rauch had to get into Captain
Christians automobile and the end
was that Mrs. Christiani got ttls-
phone call 10 have diuner ready for
two extras. The party spent tao
evening In the handsome hoac Of
Captain Christian. who had to pom
Use visit to the Raucn home III
Philadelphia.
Before leaving Richmond Captain
Rauch declared that he would no.
have missed meeting Captain Chris
tian for all his worldly possessions
II have never forgotten that rebel. ="
said he. 'and l see him now in NY
minds eyes with his big old-time
musket plugging away at me as
though j were of no more good 10
the world than an ordinary animal. -