Year: 1875

sixth Ohio Volunteers" was the
response Of the chicken thieves as
they moved on.


The two arrived in Cincinnati
as the day began to break. At
that hour police waken, cats steal
! home, and at intervals milk carts
and meat wagons can be heard rat
Ting over the rough streets. The
few they met regarded them as
early travellers seeking the depot,
and unobstructed they found them
selves on the banks Of the Ohio.
The ferry boats were preparing
their daily rounds, but the two hesl-
tated trusting themselves to this
sort Of conveyance, for they saw
a squad of infantry under COM
mand Of a sergeant hurrying to
one Of the landings. They did not
know but what their escape had
been discovered, and were well
aware that in an hour the guard
would take their rounds through
the prison, and Immediately there
after the telegraph wires would
fairly hum with the news Of John
Morgan's escape. While they hest
tated and thought, small boat
rowcd by 4 boy shot in near the
spot where they stood. Morgan
approached the lad and asked him
what he would charge to row
them to the Kentucky side Of the
river. The boy eyed the two in
quiringly as we'll as he could in
the dim light Of the morn, and
then responded that be thought
fifty cents apiece would not be too
much. This compensation was
Immediately agreed to, o,and then the
money-getting gamin said he must
have it in advance. The shrewd
boy suspected the two men call
ing for rowboat when the ferry
boats were plying between the
shores, and the information that
he gathered cost subsequently
some money and no little blood
shed. The only track the authori-
ties had Of Gen. Morgan, after he
left the penitentiary till he struck
the Ohio River, was from this OBJ
servant little Yankee, and the
proof Of his shrewdness was in the
fact that ho collected his fare in
advance.


The boat was small, and the two
heavy men sunk it into the gun
nels, but it carried Caesar and his
fortunes, or rather, l should say,
carried Caesar to his fate. Could
the daring rider, who sat with
arms folded in the stern of that
trail craft, have had the present
darkness suddenly lifted and the
future revealed. | doubt if he
would have cared whether the
boat sunk or hoated. He would
have seen that his brilliant career
had already ended, and in the fu-
turo was only the applause given
. popular actor as he leaves the
stage, while the ignoble death
that began with treachery and
ended in few shots, and a body
thrown upon a wagoncr's horse,
would make that found in the
quiet waters Of the wintry Ohio
far more pleasant and dignifod.


While slowly breasting the
swift current the ruddy couriers
of the early dawn began to bright
en- up the east, while night hung
dark and gloomy in the west. In
this dim and cloudy quarter, high
upon the Kentucky bank of the
river, Morgan saw bright light,
and asked the boy what that was.


"That," answered the little boat
man, looking over his shoulders
without ceasing his efforts, "why
that's widow Ludlow'S; she keeps
her house lit up all night, cause
they say she's teard of ghosts.


"Land mo there and III give
you another dollar"


"Fork over" was tho brief re-
sponse, and getting his money he
turned his boat more with the
current, and in q few minutes
landed the fugitives near the
widows house.


Getting once more upon Ken
lucky soil, John Morgan drew a
long breath, filing his lungs With
not only to him free air, but giving
to bis heart 4 fresh impulse Of cour-
age for the cause he helped to make
immortal. He and his comrade
found refuge in Mrs. Ludlow's
house. What followed | have not
space to tell, nor is it my pro-
vince. [ sat down only 10 detail
the heretofore unknown history Of
his escape from the Ohio prison.
All that followed is already known
and belongs to the history OF our
country.


A Snowman whose notice called