Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-05-31

anu udu pTOceeuSu without QlSlurD-
ance to within about twenty yards
'of the creek when saw the head
and shoulders Of a "citizen" peer
ing out of the thick. underbrush, the
citizen had a shotgun in cne hand,
with the other he was pointing to
myself; naturally putting hostile
Interpretation upon these signs.
Immediately reached for my revolver
and then suddenly remembered with
alarm that l had forgotten to bring
it that day. AS soon as my friend,
the citizen, saw that l had discover
!, d him he sprang forward and yell
f.. Here's the yankee" to
MSN voice from the brush
proA%,l replied, "Shoot the -"
and II. IS than minute | was COM
pletely grounded by fifteen or
twenty gt' 'illas; two or three of
them could, have been more than
five or six fee Gom me. The situa-
ticn was by no means enviable, re-
sistance was of course out of the
question, unarmed as / was, but the
thought of capture by guerillas, to
be followed by a highly diverting
hanging bee or an eXhilerating piece
Of f~target practice in which / could
see myself contributing no insignifi-
cant part, made me low spirited
Then too, there loomed up in the
distance the hospitable entertain
ment of Captain Wirz of Anderson
vile fame. | could easily dispense
with all Of that and so, forgetting
under these delightful circumstances,
all about Bayard's constitutional an
tipathies, | let him have both spurs
at once and that made him forget
them too. He sprang forward with
prodigious bound and as | threw
myself fiat on his back and seized
his name with both hands, the dozen
or more shots that were fired, MISS
ed their mark and so amid bedlam
of curses and shouts of disappoint-
ment l escaped untirely unhurt. To
say that / was badly scared is to
put 1t too mildly; the hair has never
laid perfectly smooth upon my head
since that day, but then cowlicks
never do"
When Colonel Weaver heard of
my escape, he Immediately sent for
me and insisted on relieving me
from further service on the court
martial but l plead so urgently to
be continued, feeling quite sure that
no further attempts would be made
to capture me, that he finally as
sented to my continuance on the
court, on which l remained until it's
work was finished.
CHAPTER XIV.
We made ourselves quite comfort
able at the Bridge. The camp was
laid out on a rise of ground which
commanded view of the surround
ing country as far as the timber
would permit, and was located about
half a mile from the Bridge. We
built our quarters out of shakes as
was the custom in that section
among the poor whites and negroes,
and they were very comfortable. We
also erected a large building of logs
which served as a fort, church,
dance and concert hall and was used
on frequent occasions for these diff
erent purposes. The Chaplain of
the regiment came out from Corinth
on Sunday occasionally and preached
to us, and we had some very
good singers among the boys some
of whom were practical christians,
who were also reinforced by the ma
tives who seemed to heartily enjoy
those occasions. The religious SER
vices were of interest to us and l
think were also generally profitable.
One Sunday afternoon while the
Chaplain was preaching, firing was
heard at the river, the alarm was
given, and the boys were ordered
to get on their cartridge boxes filled
with ammunition, secure their guns
and re-assemble at the church,
ready for whatever might happen.
When this had been done all return
ed to the church and waited for re-
ports from our scouts at the river
while the services proceeded as
though no interruption had occur
red. 1t reminded me of the stories
that have come down to us from
the Revolutionary War and from
the early Indian outbreaks, where
the pioneers went TO church carry
ing their guns on their shoulders
The firing at the river was done by
guerrillas, who had chased one OF
our scouts sent out from Corinth,
and had overtaken him just as he
reached the Bridge. The poor fel-
low was badly wounded and died q