Norwich bulletin., 1921-09-13
ODD INCIDENTS IN AMERICAN
 HISTORY
NATHAN HALE, A SPY.

Every kind of service necessary for the public good becomes honorable by being necessary There is a something that repels most men, with adelicate sense of honor, however, from perform ing the service of a spy. But if it bc honorable to die upon the field of battle ought he not be worthy of still greater honor who performs a distasteful ani contumelious service at the risk of an ignominous death?
 Certainly no man could make greater sacrifice for his country and ID mans name should be more highly honored by his countrymen, than that of Nathan Hale, who was executed by the British as a spy on September g, ITS. Nathan Hale was not twenty years If ge when the first gun of the Revolution broke upon the ears of the colonists. The pa triotic clause at once aroused his en- thusiastic love for liberty -anI iussice and without pausing for moment to question the prudence of such step, he threw himself into the ranks If his country's defenders. He was at once rendered a captains commission in the light infantry. He served in the reg iment commanded by Col. Knowlton and was with the army in it's retreat after the battle of'Long Island.
 While the American army was 3cst- ed on the heights at Harlem the com mander-in-chief, General Washington earnestly desired to be made acuuaint- | ed with the force and contempla.cd | movements of the enemy, and for tb:s purpose applied to Col. Knowlton to se- feet some Individual capable of per forming the hazardous and delicate ser. vice. Knowlton applied to Hale, who on becoming acquainted with the wish l 1S 1cI.t
 teered his services
 | Hale, disguised as schoolmaster crossed the sound at Fairfield to Hunt | ington, and proceeded thence 10 Brook, lyn. When he arrived there the enerly had already taken possession of New | York" He crossed over to the city, hi! disguise unsuspeeted, and pursued tn subject of his mission. He examined al the British fortifcations with care, an, obtained every possible information rei ative to the number of the enemy thei intentions. etcN Having acoomplisnet this he left the city, and retraced hi steps to Huntington. While here, wal. ing for boat to convey him across th sound, his apprehension was effected
 Hale had spent two weeks within th British lines and concealed in the sole of his boots the drawings and notes h made. When arrested he was sent [ New York and was taken before LOT Howe, the British commander. The ev | fdence was conclusive, and Hale confess ed the nature of his mission and 4ppar entiy win reluctance Howe ordered hi execution before sunrise the foilowir morning. He was turned over to th provost martial, coarse brutal kind [ man, addicted to liquor, who treate young Hale with great inhumanity. H denied him the presence of a minister ( even the use of a Bible, and before h eyes tore up the letters Hale had wrItte to his mother, sister and sweethear This act he explained later by sayin he didn't want the rebels to know the had men of such firmness and spirit
 The following day, in the early daw of beautiful Sunday morning, the ex. cution occurred in the orchard of Ca } Henry Rutgers. His body was burie near the place of execution. On il ground supposed to have been honort . by his death. in corner of City Ha f Park, New York, stands a monume1 by Frederick Macmonnies, erected 10 f,
 Sons of the Revolution.
 Hale's last words were q only r gret that I have but one life to gi, T for my country"
 (Tommorow-The Reign of Dolly Ma.
 ison.)