Norwich bulletin., 1913-09-18
MOTHER BAILEY.
Brother and Lover in Battle of Groton 732 Years Ago-Peetiooat for Can non Wadding.

To many the name Of Mother Bailey i has been associated only with the war of 1912, but the older people of CrotOn i tell an interesting story which they i often listened to when children gath cred about the huge fireplace in the old Avery house at family gatherings and begged Grandfather Avery to tell ! them of the day Benedict Arnold burn ed New London and made the attack upon Fort Griswold, writes Mabel Cas- sine Holman. When the story was done
 some little voice was always heard to add:
 Please tell us about Mother Bailey
 when she was a girl"
 Well" Grandfather Avery would
 say, as he threw a log in the fire ] Mother Bailey was just a young girl
 ln those days, living with her married sister, and her name was Anna War
 her. On the morning of September s,
 17S1, when her brOther-i law heard
 the firing from the fort. he said, talk ing his gun: I think there is trouble and l am going to the village, Anna. I leave everything here Tn your care I snail be back as soon as l can. And,
 going to bid ris wife and week old baby goodbye, he started for the fort three miles away.
 All the morning Anna heard the sound of firing. A little after 1 o'clock it ceased, but the long afternoon pass ed away, and no one came to the lone Iy farmhouse. Anna cared for her sis ter, and fed and Watered the stock As darkness settled down Anna, after talking with her sister, who had be- come very anxious, started for the fort.
 With lantern she searched among the dead in the fort for her brother
 in-law, but found him dying in field nearby and begging to see his wife and baby again.
 After giving him a drink of water and raising his head, Anna hastened back to the farm, where she saddled a horse and helping her sister to mount put the baby in her arms, and leading the horse again started for the fort where they arrived in time for the dy- ing man to kiss his wife good bye and look into the face of his child. Leav-
 ing him dead on the field the little procession returned home
 All during that dreadful day Anna had carried great sorrow in her
 heart, for she knew her lover Elijah Bailey, was among those in the fort on the morning of the battle, but not for moment had she been able to try and learn what had become of him, trembling as she held fthe Ian tern before the faces of the dead
 while searching for her brother not
 knowing if Elijah had been taken pris- oneF OF where he was.
 Tine following morning, when a1- most every house in GrOtOn was filled with mourning, her lover came and from his lips she learned his story. Just before the enemy made their attack upon Fort GriswGld he had been ordered to spike the gun in a field near the fort. This he did, but was toe late to reach the fort before the gates were shut. Knowing theNe was no chance for his life, as the British were rapidly advancing, Bailey hid in d corn field nearby, where he lay until the battle was over and the British troops had returned to their ship; and to this day the spot where the gun stood is pointed out to visitors at Fort Gris- wold.
 Anna Warner married Elijah Bai- ley, but never recovered from the ef- fleets of that terrible day. During the war of 1912, when wad- ding was needed for the guns, Mather Bailey promptly removed her pettcoat and handing it to a soldier remarked very forciIoly she hoped the first bullet would prove a good sn0t. In later life she was heard t0 say; 1 could never be UniVersaHst, as there must be a hell for Benedict Arn- eld'
 Mother Bailey was very much oP- posed to modern improvement and was greatly disturbed when a stove was set up in her church. After ab- senting herself for number of weeks
 she appeared one Sunday morning and supposing there was a fire in the stove, she was heard to remark, as she famed vigorously: I can never worship God in this heat!
 .sNother Bailey lived t9 a good old age, and was burned to death by 8 spark falling upon her dress as she sat by an open fire in her home at Groton.''