The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-18

at some length. Seeing and nearing
 nothing they moved on, consuming the
 better part of the morning. The swamp, though not wet, was dense and shad-
 owy They stopped constantly to recon noitre Coming to a large log failed across another, one of the party climbed
 up t" get better view.
 There they are" said he, speaking
 in q low tene pointing his finger.
 Another climbed up to look. At that
 moment he crack of a shotgun followed
 by loud cry rang on the still air and
 both men feil, one dead, the other wounded
 The deserters, fully aware of their ap- proach, had only fit opportunity to put in their deadly work. Unnerved by the swiftness of the catastrophe, these elderly nler were paralyzed for few
 minutes-then railying they rushed for ward to find the enemy gone! There was the camp and all the appurtenances, but the willy birds had flown.
 The disastrous outcome of the hunt terminated all activities in that direc- ton for the time being, and the deserters
 were soon playing their old game again,
 boldcr than ever. The next victim was a man of proml-
 hence in the county, wealthy and a phy-
 sician of note. In a public speech he had
 denounced these men as brigands and
 declared they should be treated as such
 by all r1en. X few days afterward, rid
 ing in a buggy with his overseer along a stretch of isolated road, he was shot in broad daylight from ambush. The overseer was untouched but the doctor was fatally injured. The horse which they were driving, wild with fright from the close discharge of firearms, the
 blind which concealed the murders was insenuously constructed of the thick un-
 dergrowth, and was close beside. the
 boited and the wounded man falling across the overseer prevented him from stopping the animal until they were miles
 away from the scene of the disaster.
 Then finding they were near the home
 of another physician, he pulled up and carried the dying man in. There all that skill and love could do were done in
 vain for he lived only two weeks.
 The day he was buried the attending physician received warning that his time
 would come next. Considering discretion the better part of valor under the cir cunlstances, this physician quietly left home and returned no more except under cover of darkness. Creeping along the fence jan'hs, accompanied by his young brother who insisted on sharing his mis-
 fortunes, these two would visit their home ill the small hours of the night, leaving before dawn to take up their
 hunted life again, in the wilds or hide in
 s0no Earn or haystack. His premises
 were watched, and it was only luck that
 saved him from being shot down like . dog
 One night he slipped home to find the place deserted. The doors were wide open and the dog lay dead in the door way. Going out the back door he called Ben. the bn Wa want, in low voice. After sometime the negro emerged from an outhouse and hes itatingly came forward. FQ4
 Where Is your mistress, and what is the matter?''' asked the doctor. "Zerters done been heah shot Tige and de big lookin' glass, broke up ebertine and carried off all uh Miss Janies quilts Dey sho scairt us most to deat' 9 Going back in the house and viewing the havoc wrought by the vandals he swore solemn oath to avenge this last ! outrage. It seems that in the early after. noon a band of mounted deserters had swooped down on his home thinking to catch him there. In their disappointment
 and rage they shot the dog and commit. l ted such acts of vandalism as Woult ! have graced the time of Philip II O Spain.
 I furniture was broken, mirrors shot up l trunks and boxes broken open and pill laged and contents appropriated Final ! ly they rode off laden with booty l The negroes Of the plantation were of l in the field mile away at work excep for the cook and house boy, who f1et | at their approach and hid themselves il ! an outhouse. The mistress and a whit, companion, almost in mysteries, sough | refuge with a neighbor a half mile away
 All this occurred in one of the riches | sections of the county and within a shor distance of a small village.
 After this the doctor had his famil,
 moved to the county seat, 25 miles away
 leaving the place in care of the negroes A few months afterwards peace was es | abolished and the soldiers began to strag 1 gle home one or two at a time | The country was now in an unsettled state as far as the courts of justice swer l concerned for the United States garrison | had not yet been established at the coun | ty seat, so the doctor, not forgetting hi | oath, began to gather up a company o
 the returned soldiers to hunt down tn brigands who were now not in evidence but who had secreted themselves abou
 their homes or in the swamps nearby. l So, taking taking the law in his owl l hands. he soon had well equippe mounted company, aided and abetted b, all good citizens
 It was now the hunter being hunted The doctor would take his veteran com pany out in the darkness of night an, 1 search where they were most likel ! to be. Their homes were not spared the search even going among the loft | and down in the cellar, where in on house he found complete underground passage to safe exit some distanc
 away. Some of the booty carried ava, l that memorable afternoon of their raj on the doctors home was discovered ii 1 use in many of the houses. There wa no mercy shown these ill-starred offend ! CTS, when found, but quick justice mete I out by this averaging band.
 ] Some of them, the ringleaders and oth ! CTS escaped into another state, wher l they made their homes for number o ! years. coming back in their old age t 1 settle down good citizens near tn 1 scene of their former escapades. On | was 2 rich man, hut the odor of foi'me rascality clung to him. permeatiag the so 1 cal atmosphere and thus checking al
 aspirations toward responsibility, even un