Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1934-09-19
The Heroine
By LARRY ALLAN
@ Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate
WNU Service

NAV tht uttie ndmlel or hartWel
= that day came walking and rid
ing, living crOss-sectlons OF the hu
man countryside. all intent on get
ting as close to the shrouded mon
ument ms the crowd Of earlier ar
rivals In the public square would
permit.
All Hartwell, all Hart county, al
that section of Georgia, were there
ON that day to take part In the Gel
ebration incident to the unwilling
OF a beautiful monument to Name,
Hart, Georgla's Joan Of Arc, the
brave American woman who had
killed her share of Redcoats In the
Revolution and had inspired hel
men folk to go and do likewise.
The governor made a, long and
well-gestured speech extolling Nancy
Hart and her brave deeds. The
lady representing the Daughters OF
the American revolution read the
paper on Revolutionary Herolnes'
she had so carefully prepared. Sew
eral patriotic songs were sung. Mrs
Juanita Floyd, a great-great-grand
daughter of Nancy Hart, sat among
the guests OF honor or the platform
facing the shrouded monument. ner
vously awaiting the moment when
she would jerk the rope to loosen
the canvas covering.
The governors speech extolled
Nancy Harris her0ism in resound
..g words and grandiose phrases In
a typical patriotic display of
verbal pyrotechnics, but sitting
next TO me was a tobacco-chewing
Cracker who told me In words of
one syllable the story of Mistress
Nancy's heroic gesture.
Nancy was born in North Caro-.
lima some twenty years or more be
fore the outbreak of the Revolu
ton, and eventually married a husky
young m0~untaineer named Benja-
min Hart. Some time before the
Boston Tea Party they felt that that
section of North Carolina was get
ting over-populated and migrated
TO the wilder mountain regions of
Georgia.
When the Colonies rose In revolt
Georgia called on her sons. Among
the first 10 respond was Benjamin
Hart.
One rainy, muddy day when the
small handful of patriots left be-
hind to protect homes and families
were out on a scouting expedition,
and Nancy and her small daughter
were industriously preparing the
days food for the men, five Red
coats suddenly rode up and sur.
rounded the home.
A quick search by them revealed
that there were no male rebels on
the premises, but instead of going
on their way, the Redcoats, smell
Ing the fragrance of Nancy's cook
ing, demanded that she serve them.
Now, Nancy was just a poor lone
woman In the wilderness, but all
Of these pioneer women were
spunky. She hated redcoats and.
being an extremely fnicky house
keeper, she was mad as a hor.
net at the Redcoats for tracking
up her kitchen with their muddy
boots.
And so Nancy laid the table and
busted herself about the fireplace
without q word Of protest. 1t was
while she vas going to the bin for
more cornmeal the thought sudden.
ly came to her that the patriots
might return while the Redcoats
were there. Not realizing their
danger, they were quite likely to
walk right into trouble. With that
thought uppermost In her mind she
gazed around seeking some method
of escape, and 1t was then that she
noticed that the Redcoats, their Wig
lance ~lessened, had stacked their
guns In a rne of the cabin.
without exciting their suspicion
Nancy walked toward a table near
that corner of the room and reached
down for the jug of molasses
she kept there. Suddenly she
whirled, seized the nearest rife and
fired p%oint-blank at the unfortunate
Redcoat who had just gotten up
from the bed. The four others
jumped to their feet, but even as
they did so Nancy had seized a sec
ond gun and stood aiming 1t at
them.
II killed onel" she cried ~fiercely,
land II you make a move I'll kill
your
Then she sent little Nancy sour
rying out to give the alarm. 1t no
happened that the little group of
scouts had heard the gunshot and
had turned toward the cabin.
The four King Georges men, each
fearful that he would be sent to his
death If he made a move, stood
there helpless until Benjamin and
the Continentals arrived on the
scene.
"And there's the story just as
1t really happened" the old Crack
er explained.
Just then the .ady pulled the cord.
the canva parted, and amid the ap-
plause of the gathered G~eorgians