Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1913-07-16

LIVES OVER DAYS OF SIXTIES.
"Tlere Amt Nobody Can Take My
Sword But God Lord"
ATLANTA Constitution.)

A gaunt and wrinkled old man
potters about in garden out on
Cooper street. His step is faltering
! and his voice husky. The doctor has
already said that his remaining days
are few.
Physically, he is a wreck COM
plete. Mentally, he Is no better. Age
has clouded the brain and weakened
; the body, but in his eyes there Is al
ways a fiery CLEAN Of battle.
| He lives in the bloody sixties. His
mind sees none Of the present. 1t
! has reverted to the days Of civil
strife when he followed Longstreet.
The little garden in which he pot
ters to him is CORY battlefield. His
life Is one continuous campaign. The
doctors say there will be no end Of
conflict until he surrenders his sword
! to death.
Has Fine War Record.
| He is Robert Hightower, second
lieutenant in Company G, Twentieth
Georgia Regiment, Benning's Bri-.
| gade of Longstreet's Division, and
he lives at PAT Cooper street. His
war record shames the experiences Of
, the present-day soldier of fortune
He is the Rebel who started into the
ranks of the enemy at Bull Run,
shouldered the bullet-ridden body of
Z. Z. Fountain, and, in a deadly hail
Of shot, carried his burden to safety.
He was the famous leader Of the
Historical coffin crew" at Peters
burg, which, secreted in pine cas-
kets, smuggled a store of arms and
ammunition through a regiment of
Yankees. He volunteered to fire
the bridge at Petersburg, and, crawl
ing along ) side in plain view Of
the enemy set torch to it while a.
squad Of Union sharpshooters pep
pered at him with vengeance.
Weighted down with his eighty
years his mind has gone back to the
days Of youth and strife, apd now
his tiny back yard garden is Wis
ionary Gettysburg. He fought at the
famous battles of Bull Run, Gettys-
burg, Missionary Ridge, Lookout
Mountain and Seven Pines and is
fighting them all anew.
Doctors are Mystified.
Medical experts are inystified. They
cannot account for his case Their
only explanation is reversion OF
memory. Grady Hospital physicians
visit him daily, and they tell his
wife that the end isn't far away.
Yet, he still is active. He can pot
ter about and keep on his feet, and,
some times, when his fights are fast
est and the imaginary bullets thick
est, he drops his stick and becomes
abnormally strong-so strong that
he is left weak and exhausted by the
reaction. Then he totters to his bed
to sleep until the reinvigorating
dawn calls him again to war.
He lives alone with his wife, who
Is thirty years younger. She watches
his battles with moist eyes from the
kitchen doorsteps, and goes to assist
him back to the little cottage when
he has fought himself weak His
mind has been affected so long she
has grown accustomed to it.
Proud of His Record.
She is proud of his war record,
and she treasures the many relics
that are scattered for ornament
about the house. She INDUCES him
in everything, and often sits for
hours listening to his stories Of the
sixties that she already knows by
heart.
The aged fighter was born and
reared near Columbus, Ga. He en-
listed as a private at the opening of
the war, and was promoted to second
lieutenant. He was a valued men,
Der of Longstreet's corps.
Often he has told his wife:
There amt nobody can take nv
| sword except the God Lord!"
The old veteran has been victim
or this mental affliction for years. 1t
has grown upon him slowly, but only
of recent months has it overcome
him completely.