Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1914-02-05

ultuc dSkeU.
Where's Williams?"
There was no reply to the question.
where's Williams?" the officer re-
peated, and, still receiving no answer,
asked where he had been posted.
"Ihlrd man to the east of the pike
replied the sergeant. between Rice
and Kimball."
Did either Of you men hear any
thing OF Williams during the night?"
asked the officer Of the men mentioned.
Both men replied that they had not,
How far apart were the men post
ed?' asked the officer of the sergeant.
y the west side of the pike l put
them a hundred feet apart; on the east
l q L fell short of men and made it
ABOUT two hundred. The ground was
bad for a picket line; scrubby trees and
bushes scattered irregularly."
Gone over to the enemy said the
officer.
The name of Private John Williams
was entered on the regimental rolls of
his regiment as a deserter.
Meanwhile Williams was huddled in
with other prisoners of wal in the rear
OF the Confederate lines, awaiting
transportation to Libby prison at Rich
mond. He spent some months there,
When, the prison becoming crowded, a
detachment of prisoners was sent to
a stockade prison situated in South
Carolina. Williams, with others in the
same car with him-a freight car
laid a plan to escape. One of them had
concealed a %caseknife on his person
n during the long hours of prison life
had occupied his mind %inventing ways
to make a saw Of it by nicking the
edge. He had made poor Roadway un-
til a fellow prisoner lent him a file.
After that the matter was easy.
Williams and his friends in the
freight a by means of the %improvised
tool managed to saw through a board
IN the floor Of the car. When the train
stopped during the night they removed
the board and let themselves down
through the aperture. OF three men
who made the attempt two succeeded
in getting away; the third was shot by
the guard. Williams was one Of the
men Who got away but he and the
other ran in different directions and
did not come together again.
An account OF the w%anderings of Pri-
vate Williams would be much the
same as other escaped prisoners Of
war from 81 to '65. He travelled
at night and was hidden by the ne
groes during the day. His compass
was the north star. He suffered terri
bly, from exposure and lived on ber-
ries, green corn and such other vegeta-
BILE food as ne could find except when
some kind negro gave him a little corn
pone.
Williams in order to escape detection
took often to swamp lands. There he
contracted fever, and when finally he
dragged himself into the Union lines
he was placed in a hospital.
1t was about this time that the Unit
ed States government was beginning
to pay bounties to those who would
enlist. This afforded an opportunity
for criminals to secure the bounty and
desert. Enough of this was done to
attract the attention Of the generals.
and they sought to put a stop to it by
trying the bounty jumpers for deser-
ton and shooting them in presence of
their comrades.
1t was reported to the colonel of
John Williams regiment that a soldier
was in hospital who had given that
name on being received there. He be-
came delirious. but was now better.
The colonel directed the surgeon in
charge Of the hospital to send Will
liams to him under guard as soon as
he was discharged.
What has been told here having Deer
briefly stated to the president. the wo-
man handed him a soiled letter to read.
1t had been dictated by her husband.
who was lying III at the time, to one
OF those self sacrificing women-both
OF the north and the south-who gave
so much comfort to the sick and wound
ed of the war. 1t recounted his cap
ture. his escape. his wandering and
prlvations. ending with Il pititful re-
quest for her to come to him.
81 was helped to go to him by
friends she added. and when
found him he told me that as soon as
he was we'll enough he would be shot
for desertion."
The poor oma had bee.I told what
was true. Her husband could at that
time get no proof of the story he had
to tell. His witnesses were all cut off
from him by a bristling line of bayo-
nets. And even if he could have been
free to go to them he would not have
been able to find the only witness who
could clear him, the man who had cap
tured him. His wife had appealed to
his colonel for mercy, but he had set
his teeth. resolved to stop desertion if
he had to shoot every man in the army.
Such was the situation that was
brought before Mr.. Lincoln by the cry
of a babe. And it would have been
even more pathetic had the kind heart
ed president known when he heard it
that the cry was an unconscious plead
ing for its fathers life. Mr.. Lincoln
had nc proof that the woman's story
was tr11a. no rno11iro6 ~ proof uo