Evening star., 1928-11-04


reremoniousIy brushed Belle aside and
entered the house Bellies temper was
hot autocratic and obSessed with
sense of how much men owed chivatry
to her.
So that when an unromantic, un-
shaved. un.npressionable corporal dis
regarded lle1 naughty command TO
leave the house and without ceremony
started for the attic, she ran into the
next room.
AT the attic door he was confronted
bv Bellies mother. who refused to step
aside. The corporal had his orders to
pull down the flag that waved Ike
red rag and in its place to hang out
the flag of the Union. He had neither
the time ncr the tact needed to get
nast the barrier of the woman grace
fully.
When at his third request Bellies
mother still refused TO bulge he put
out his hand and grasping Mrs. Boyds S
wrist broke away her hold on the DOOR
knob.
DY this time Belle had run up to the
- garrett landing Just in time to see
her mother staggering back from the
violence with which the corporal had
forced open the door.
Belle raised the pistol she had
brought, fired and killed the corporal j..
Her act threw the whole burden OF
CONSERVATION on the Union ofncers IN
command of Martinsburg. Like the
me- sioritv of the men and officers in the
Civl War, these officers were amateurs
In warfare.
They mixed into the business OF
wholesale killing all sorts of extraneous
considerations. They tried to make
war hunanely. They tried to retain
cI1iyalry. Conventions of gallantry
paralyzed their fighting when it was
weman who opposed them.
Belle Boyd had to be tried by court
martial for killing soldier. But in
stead Of taking her to prison they let
her live In her own house. Instead Cf
treating her as a prisoner they asked
the privilege of visiting the Boyd home
as guests.
when it came to the trial itself. Belle
Boyd contended herself with a brief
statement.
"He laid hands on my mother!"
Braids of lustrous black hair made an
oval frame for face that had too
much character in it to be called merely
pretty.
How far of in temper and time that
court-martial seemed. when we learn
that Belle Boyd was freed. She was
allowed to live on with her mother and
their servants in their wn home, in the
state of comfort to which they had
been accustomed.
Courteously the Union officers gave
the Boyds the freedom of the camp.
Most gallantly many of the officers
danced attendance on the Boyd ladies'
Never we're fair enemies so completely
trusted Sentiment and sentimentality
on every side-except in the heart of
Belle Boyd.
This STRIPPING of a girl was more
! thoroughly a professional maker of
war than any of the officers there. She
did not mix war with sentiment.
True she demanded gallantry, chiv-
airy from others. sincerely believing it
her due.
But when the visitors left swords and
pistols out in the corridor-out of deli
cate consideration for the social ameni-
ties of their visit-she found some pre-
text for going out alone into the hall.
There she clannly appropriated Union
swords and pistols and hid them in the
cellar
Then she went back to her visitors
and resumed small talk and banter.
When the visitors missed their
weapons they were bewildered. The
men who did not have heart to declare
this girl guilty of murder could never
get themselves to suspect her guilty of
this act. So her movements in and
out OF Martinsburg were as free as
ever; and she made full use of her
freedom.
At first she used it only to deliver
GEfEPH n 1ao ,fol fe
lines, which were not more than two
hours ride from her home.
+ X X
WHEN the Confederates saw the girl
ride boldly from one enemy camp
TO another just to deliver a stolen sword
or two, Gen. j. E. B. Stuart summoned
her
Belle, these presents you bring us
are mighty useful and you are brave
girl! The South is proud of you. But
with that courage of yours YOU car
bring us something that will help our
cause more than 10000 swords and
pistols"
Tell me what, general" she said. 81
will bring it,"
The general hesitated. "Informa-
kson!' he said.
'I1l do it!'
This girl, still in her teens, there
upon organized sort of postal service
from Martinsburg to the Confederate
camp; these were the only points on
her delivery route She iirted Will,
homesick Union officers and got them
to talk. What they said she wrote
down in fine handwriting on thir
paper.
One of her slaves had a huge silver
watch presented to him by his master
Bells father
Belle borrowed the watch and hac
the bulky works removed In the place
Of cogs, wheels and springs thereafter
that watch carried written informa-
ton from oine camp to another.
When the information to be obtained
was of the utmost importance she took
the risk on her own shoulders. Such
an emergency arose when she was in.
formed by the Union Gen. Shields thai
her home would be taken over as head.
quarters for his staff. A small house or
the same grounds was given to thu
Boy5s as their new home.
Belle did not protest much. Her ap
pointment as a spy had called out {
certain quality of cold steel in hel
character. Her fiery temper of only
yesterday had now become a cool, fiex
ible thing on guard against her owr
impulses and ready at favorable mo-
ment for a thrust at the enemy.
She watched the come and go o.
officers in her former home She saw
that something of moment was brew
ing in the camp. She caught wore
here, another there. She pieced thei
probable meanings together and decided
that on the following evening thert
would be held council of Union officer
to decide something the Confederate
should know.
On the morning of the next day sh
drifted about the grounds of her hom
until she saw her opportunity to slil
unseen into the main house. She knew