The Nome daily nugget., 1935-07-09
The Heroine By LARRY ALLAN e. Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate
 wNIT Service

rivals in the public square would permit.
 All Hartwell, all Hart county, all that section of Georgia, were there on that day to take part in the eel ebration Incident to the unveiling of beautiful monument to Nancy Hart, Georgia's Joan of Arc, the brave American woman who had killed her share of Redcoats in the Revolution and had inspired her men folk to go and do likewise.
 The governor made long and well-gestured speech extolling Nancy Hart and her brave deeds. The lady representing the Daughters of the American tevolution read the paper on Revolutionary Heroines" she had so carefully prepared. Sev- eral patriotic songs were sung. Mrs. Juanita Floyd, 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 cove. ing.
 The governors speech extolled Nancy Hart's heroism in resound.
 g words and grandose phrases in a typical patriotic display of verbal pyrotechnics, but sitting next to me was 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- tion, and eventually married husky young mountalneer 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.
 
 Georgia called on her sons. Among the first to 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 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 poor lone woman In the wilderness, but all of these pioneer women were spunky. She hated redcoats and, being an extremely finicky 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 busied herself about the fireplace without word Of protest. It was while she was 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 it was then that she noticed that the Redcoats, their wig ilance lessened, had stacked their guns in a corner 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 rifle and fired point-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 sec ond gun and stood aiming 1t at them.
 "I killed one!" she cried fiercely, "and if you make a move I'll kill you !'
 Then she sent little Nancy scur- rying out to give the alarm. It so 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 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 CT explained.
 Just then the .ady pulled the cord, the canvas parted, and amid the ap- plause of the gathered Georgians the monument to Nancy. Hart was revealed. I was disappointed. It was an obelisk, ana not a statue of