The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-09-06

dressed to him. 1t was agreed that
his explanations to Col. Dayton were
too weak to merit serious considera-
ton when compared with the straight
forward report of the sergeant, given
with great establishment of detail
The elaboration of the court was
brief. Ernest Travers was sentenced
to be shot in the presence of the whole
army.
There was no time to lose. The
safety of the force depended upon a
hurried advance. Washington's anx-
iety was depicted upon his martial
visage. But it was imperative that
the execution should be summary and
as imposing as possible, in order to
properly impress the troops with the
Nervousness of the offense and to serve
as a warning to the prisoners accom-
plices, for it was not doubted that
there were other traitors in the camp.
1t was deemed impossible for any
member of the rank and file to obtain
unaided the information that had been
sent to the enemy, and the court had
exhausted every means of inducing
Travers to disclose the names of his
fellow-culprits
The army was drawn up in three
sides of square, with the commander
in-chief and his staff in the center
space. The condemned man, after
being marched along the front of the
ranks, was placed against a tree. The
muskets of the execution platoon were
leveled at his breast and the officer
in command had raised his sword,
which, when lowered, would give the
fatal signal, when shrek was heard,
there was a commotion on one side
of the square and a soldier rushed for
ward calling wildly upon the men not
to fire.
The general held up his hand as a
signal to the officer commanding the
firing party to wait. Col. Dayton had
Immediately spurred his horse toward
the man who was the cause of this
sensational interruption. The soldier
clasped the officers knee and said
something to him as he bent from his
saddle Suddenly Dayton shook him
off, ordered sergeant to arrest him
and, CHASTITY pale, galloped back to
the chief, who was waiting with visi-
BILE impotence and annoyance at the
delay. A few minutes earnest con-
versation passed between them, while
the army looked on in breathless won
der at it all. The coloners report re-
suited in the postponement of the ex-
ecution and the immediate resumption
of the march to the Delaware. Mean
while the condemned man had tainted.
The army had safely crossed the
river and was quartered in large
village. Enthusiastic recruits were
pouring in from every direction, and
Washington was preparing to turn
back and resume the offensive in New
Jersey.
Travers, imprisoned in an upper
room of a farmhouse, had recovered
somewhat from the terrible emotions
through which he had passed and the
ill usage to which he had been sub
jected, but he was haggard and ema-
ciated. He spent most of the time
stretched upon his mattress. He did
not know why he had been respited.
None of the men who guarded him
and brought him food ever spoke to
him. He lived in hourly expectation
of being led out to die, and indeed
he would have welcomed death as a
happy release from his sufferings.
On the afternoon of the fourth day
of his incarceration the door was
thrown open and Col. Dayton stalked
in. Travers staggered painfully to his
feet and the colonel faced him with
folded arms. The prisoner stood at
attention, with lowered eyes and dog
ged, listless mien, waiting to be ques-
toned, but Dayton did not speak. Then
the former looked up YEARLY, and a
flush came into his white cheeks. His
uncle, with heaving breast and the
tears streaming down his face, was
gazing at him with an expression of
unspeakable tenderness and grief
"My boy, my poor, poor boy!!" he
cried, clasping him to his breast. my
old heart is broken. Can you ever
forgive me? Could l, as gladly would,
give my life for you, could not recon-
pense you for your noble sacrifice and
the suffering I and mine have caused
you. Oh, Ernest, Ernest, / am not
deserving of your pity, yet I need it
sorely."
Don't uncle; don't talk so; you are
killing me! This is the hardest of
all to bear" sobbed Travers, greatly
agitated
The old man sank into the only
chair in the room, and his nephew,
kneeling beside him and clasping his
hand, learned what had happened.
God could not permit the perpetra-
ton of such a crime as the ignoble
snuf1ng out of your life" said the
colonel. HE has surely marked you
for higher destiny. In His infinite
mercy He maddened with remorse
him in whose stead you had suffered
and would have died, forced him at
the supreme moment to confess his
infamy, and I, my pride justly hum
bled, thank Him reverently on my
Bonded knees for having saved my
wretched son from the additional guilt
of murder.
"The story of Georges undoing is
an old one-none the less pitiable for
the retelling. Unknown to me he had
been living fast life with debauched