Bridgeton pioneer., 1913-09-18

finding them and inducing them to at
! tack the British force and possibly
! rescue her husband.
Athol having been taken before the
officer commanding the British troops.
was searched. and a bit of paper
crumpIed into a hard ball was taken
from his pocket. 1t was opened and
found to be statement of the British
forces in South Carolina. 1t was of
course more OF surprise to Athol
than the British officer, who had been
informed by Pinckton that If he would
conceal his men on the Charleston
road that day he would be likely to in
tercept a man passing with informa-
tion for General Marion.
The first impulse of the officer was
to hang Athol without even a trial by
drumhead court martial. Then it oc-
Cured to him that the man should
have some time to make preparation
for death. and he concluded to go
through the form of a trial and leave
the time of his execution to the court.
hC NOlihdhN "oo q OAC, anu
there were but half a dozen officers
connected with it. These were all con-
vened to court, and Athol was
brought before them. There was no
doubt that he had been caught carry
ing information. the penalty for which
was death. but he was permitted to
make an explanation. He said that
he was on his way to Charleston when
arrested in answer 10 a summons he
had received from there; that he was
neither Tory nor REBEL that he had no
idea how the communication had come
into his pocket. He asked to see 1t
and was permitted to inspect 1t. The
handwriting was very like his own,
which added to his astonishment. Not
a suspicion that his friend Pinckton
had put 1t there entered his head.
OF course the case was plain to the
court that tried him. though since they
were convened to convict him this
made little difference. They brought
in a verdict Of guilty and sentenced
him to be hanged the next morning.
Meantime Mrs. Athol was riding to
the camp Of the Continental troopers
she had heard of. Reaching the place
where they had been. she found that
they had moved. No one knew where,
for troops in war time are not accus-
toned to tell where they are going.
But the direction they had taken was
known. and Mrs. Athol started after
them.
While riding she thought of the trap
that it was evident her former suitor
had laid for her husband and wonder
ed what it was that had been dropped
in the latter's pocket. This she could
not divine. She had no idea of the
depth of degradation into which Pinck-
ton had sunk. the treachery to one
who trusted him, implicitly and consid-
cred him bosom friend. Tears came
into her eyes as she thought of her
husbands unjust speech to her when
she had warned him.
Along the route she took she made
inquiries from time to time of the
troopers she was chasing and learned
that she was gradually drawing nearer
to them. Then they were but a few
miles ahead, then mile. and at last
she came upon them as they were
about going into bivouac for the night.
She sought the officer in command and
told him of his proximity to the Brit
ish troops.
The officer knew of this force and,
having superior numbers. was after
them to attack and capture them, but
he had been misinformed as to their
whereabouts and was moving in the
wrong direction. Mrs. Athol offered to
pilot him to their camp. but begged
him to send few men to Pinckton's
plantation to arrest him. To this the
officer assented. and it was agreed that
after supper and rest the command
would saddle up with a view to sur
rounding the Britishers before day.
1t was 10 o'clock when they started,
lighted by half moon and piloted by
Mrs. Athol. She described the loca-
ton of the enemy so that the Ameri-
can force might be divided and ap-
proach from different directions. Be
fore they reached the vicinity of the
British camp it was near moonset, and
the night had become dark from clouds
On reaching the place where her hus-
band had been captured Mrs. Athol
described three different routes by
which they might come upon the Brit
ish. The separate bodies started and
were each given an hour to get into
position. The signal for attack was to
be two shots in quick succession from
the troops accompanied by the COM
handing officer
When those two shots rang out on
the still night the British sentries gave
an alarm, and the redcoats sprang to
arms-too late. They were hemmed
in, and it did not require long time
for their commanding officers to real
ize the fact He was called on to sur
render and did so without firing a shot.
Athol not only found himself liberat-
ed. but by his wife's instrumentality.
She said nothing of Pinckton's treach-
cry. but in the morning the latter was
brought into camp. and Mrs. Athol