The Washington herald., 1913-12-29

Ine country ABOUT SdlTO anu INC hO5plldl
was surrounded by water. The patients
who were able to be moved were sent in
boats to Jefferson Barracks in st. Louis
1t was at this trying time that Sister
! Fidelis succumbed, and on Good Friday
her body was reverently rowed through
the woods by the soldiers to the railway
station, there to meet the Chicago train
en- route for st. Mary's.
The doctor who attended her, probably
to divert her, had made some remark
| about the fine appearance of the front OF
the building. to which she replied that she
had never seen it. as she had arrived in
the evening.
What" said he, "you have never seen
the outside OF the building in which you
have lived six months?'
A Distressing Incident.
Mother Angela wrote Interestingly of an
incident in which Sister Josephine, one of
the Holy Cross Sisters, figured.
| In June. 1862, there were received at
the hospital a number of men who had
! suffered fearful wounds from scalding.
| They were from the Federal ironclad
Mound City, which in an engagement,
June Il, with batteries near St. Charles.
on the White River. Ark, had been
struck by a shell that penetrated the
steam drum. Nearly eighty of the crew
ed, had jumped into the river, where they
were fired on by the Confederates.
Among the wounded brought to the hos
| pital was Commander A. B. Kitty, of
the Mound City, and Capt. Joseph Fry,
who had commanded the Confederate
fort.
Capt. Fry was thought to be danger
ously wounded. Capt Kitty was so badly
burned that the scalded flesh was falling
\ - IL t.
cottage away from the main building.
was put in a front room on the second
story OF the hospital, under the immediate
care OF Sister Josephine
The day after the patients arrived the
report spread that Capt. Kitty was
dying. Excitement prevailed among the
guards at the hospital and the rough
sailors at the navy yard near by. They
declared that Capt. Fry had given an
order TO fire on the scalded men.
The excited soldiers and sailors built
a rough scaffold in front of the two
windows of Capt. Fry's room and
mounting 1t with guns in their hands
declared they would shoot Capt. Fry,
the instant they heard of Capt KiItys
DEATH
The surgeon in charge Of the hospital
ordered Sister Josephine to leave the
patient in the care Of a male attendant
and locked the door.
The sister begged that the surgeon
prevent violence. His reply was that
the captain of the guard was absnet
and he had no control over the soldiers.
Sister Josephine then told him that
she would take her twenty-seven sis
ters from the hospital and march with
them to Cairo, or she would remain on
ma hat ~.
key of Col. Fry's room. The doctor
declared that IL she returned to the
room 1t would be at the risk OF her life.
II have too much faith in the natural
chivalry of every soldier, be he from
North or South OF Mason and Dixons
line" said the sister, Ito fear that any
one would shoot a wounded man while
sister stood near him"
Seeing her determination. the doctor
gave her the key.
Heroism and Faith.
Capt. Fry lay with one broken leg
strapped to his cot. Both his arms were
broken and in splints. He watched the
open window. through which he could
see the menacing faces Of the men who
threatened his life.
Very quietly and gently Sister Josephine
spoke to him, moistened his parched lips
and assured him that she and another
sister would not leave him.
All through the long afternoon and far
into the night they sat beside the wound
ed man and prayed that Capt. Kitty
might live.
Meanwhile it was learned that Capt |
Kitty was a Catholic. Father Welsh was
sent Tor. but as the captain was de-
liriOus he could only give him extreme |
Uuction. Soon after he fell into a gen. |
tie sleep, from which he awoke perfectly |
conscious. He then made his confession !
and received communion. AS soon as he |
learned what had taken place he de- |
clared Capt. Fry to be guiltless of the |
barbarous charge made against him. and |
Sister Josephine became the bearer of |
the delicacies which he insisted upon |
with the Confederate commander. |
As soon as he could travel Capt. Kitty |
was taken to his home in Baltimore. He |
was manned for life, his right arm and |
hand being shriveled.
Capt Fry, after much suffering, was
paroled and returned to his home in New
Orleans, where he became a Catholic,
saying that Sister Josephine's bravery
and devotedness were sermons whose elo-
luence he could not resist.
Sister Josephine passed to her reward
twenty-three years after and is buried
It st. Mary's not far from two cannon
captured at Island No. TO- which at the
End of the war was presented to Mother
Angela by Commodore Charles H. Davis.
Who commanded on the Mississippi at
he time of the White River expedition.