Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1911-05-20
RAYMOND HALL
He Died For the Girl He Loved


story behind that epitaph," remarked.
THAT? Oh, no-only a plain incl
dent" Then, unconscious that he was
giving romance. he told me the incl
dent:
"Those were exciting days when we
fellows marched away to the tune OF
The Girl i Left Behind Me- and the
worst of 1t was that several Of us were
leaving behind the same girl. She was
the belle of the town, and we were all
In love with her. But there was no
chance for more than one, the one the
girl loved. though there were two who
led all the rest. These two were Ray
mond Hall and another fellow who
well, the other fellow was Jim Martin.
Hall was desperately In love with the
girl, but 1t was the other fellow who
had taken her fancy-nobody knew
why, for Hall was certainly the better
man of the two. He didn't know that
his rival had got ahead OF him till after
the regiment got down into Kentucky.
Then he saw letters coming In for Jim
Martin addressed in a hand that he
recognized.
"In some people love seems to work
like disease. mean those cases you
read about In the newspapers where
they kill themselves or the one they
love or sometimes rival. Hall suffer
ed like one of these. but he didn't kill
anybody. He exposed himself reckless
ly when we were under fire. and 1t
looked as If he were trying to get him
self killed, but no one knew whether
he was or not, for he was a reticent
fellow and kept his own secret.
"Two years passed, two years Of
campaigning and hard lighting, during
which the rivals fought shoulder to
shoulder. Raymond always seemed to
Jim to be resisting some terrible temp
tation, and in fight when Hall was in
his rear Martin felt uncomfortable.
You see, they were in the same COM
pany, and under FIRE men get excited
and sometimes kill a man In front.
"Well, in time the rivals were both
taken prisoner In the same fight. While
being transported south with other
prisoners In box car the whole car
load took up some of the flooring and
got out. OF course the guard went
after them In hot haste, not stopping
for a surrender when getting sight of
one of them, but shooting him down
as he ran. IL happened that the rivals
ran in the same direction and took
refuge in some bushes very near to-
gether. Presently they heard voice:
There's one Of 'em down in those
bushes
"'Jim,' said Raymond, speaking rap
idly. I'm going to run for it.
Don't you do it, said Jim. They'll
shoot you sure. II we lie low
1.-The chances are they'll kill us both.
They think there's only one here I'll
run and draw the fire. You live to go
back and make the little girl happy
There was no time for more words
nor for any sort of protest on Jim's
part. A Confederate was coming with
a cooked gun. Raymond jumped up
and ran like deer. There was shot,
and he dropped dead Then the Con-
federate went back to his comrades.
Martin lay low till. all was quiet.
then went out and found his rival
dead. There's no use trying to tell how
n man would feel at such time. just
think of him having suspected hts
friend Of wanting to kill him. and here
he was dead that the girl he loved
might be happy with his rival. Martin
buried the body In a fence corner with
big tree directly north. noted the
place to know IL again. then set or on
two weeks skullsing till he got into the
Union lines. Soon after the grave was
within our pickets, and Martin took up
Halls body and sent 1t north"
The man stopped speaking and. tax
ing his little boy by the hand, was
leading him away when asked:
who placed the headstoneT
'The girl"
-And what became of the man who
was saved for herr'
.Ie married her."
Thank you for your story. Mr.
gave him time to help me out.
Martin" he supplied. 'T'm Jim
Martin"