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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (April 3, 1904)
of the Civil War r far- Vrft 5V Romance and Tragedy ' -: :- jyt-. i ? , ,. . r- . JACK. SKETL.TVT. From a rhotngraph Mado ANY thousands of tragedies belong to the civil war. as yet unwritten except In the hearts of those whose anguish yet lingers with the keenness of their tirst sorrow M when the long delayed word came of the death of some loved ore. Kvery battle had Its tragedy repeated In a hundred homivs, but to Gettysburg be longs the mournful distinction of a greater number of these tragedies than p s.-dl.ly any other buttle of the war. Same of them were of national Importance- and will ever occupy the most absorbing pages of Amer ican history. The awful tragi dy of Pick ett's charge on the third day of the bait la will forever mark the acme of human cour age and human bravery. It has been the theme of poets and orators since that memorable 3d day of July, 1SG1, where the courage of Americans was put to Its su premest test. Whllo leO.Ooi) men were watching the advance, charge and repulse of the confederate hosts through th" smoke, grime and rear of nearly 'Jul can non, anil thrilled or appalled by the yel's of dellince, i heers of victory, the gn an and shrieks of the frightfully wound. d, an other tragedy was being cnacb d l:i the little town of Gettysburg, In which a fa'r young woman was tin- chief and pathe:Ie actor -Jennie Wade, whose sad and sudden death furnishes one of the most mournful Incidents of the multitude of sitl events count t ied with that day of ca range. Jennie Waile was nne of the very few Women killed In battle during the civil war. She lived W illi lu r mother on l!i ei k.-.u g street. Gettysburg, nt:d at the Cine of ih battle was but L'O years of ag Sae ln-.d "When the Sword Flushes (Continued from Page Two.) cited Turk. "Homebody has killed your namesake, old Tassel" "Is that soT' exclaimed young Tasse. "And I thought so much of birn!" t om the town of Palank.i in the provlnco of Seopia, comes the story of a daring tight against heavy odds in which Madam Ar naudova, Macedonia's Jean d'Arc, ligurca prominently. A band of twenty insurgents crept down on a Turkish garrison Just at dawn, their object being to dynamite the barracks. Mad. un Aruaudova, was with them. Somehow, they alarmed the. town too Boon, and the Turks en me out. The in eurgents lay down to avoid detection. The Turks have a custom of carrying tort In s with them ut night so tti.it- tin y may not mistake each other for the enemy. There are ubout two torchbearers to each com pany, and, of course, they always l.iko to heller. Madam Arnaudova's band saw the Turk ish torches darling here and there, first In front, then to the right and left. Jty thq light of the breaking dawn they saw sev eral regiments of Ttirka. "Come, jump up, men!" said the leader, e must retreat." But uut a ni.ui budged. Then they even luw torches to their rear. They were en tirely gurrouuded, In 1SG2. been engaged to bo married to Corporal Jack Skelly of one of the Pennsylvania Ilucktall regiments, who lost his Mfe the previous September at the battle of Antle tam. Kike the Spartan women of old, Jm slck In the midst of the awful turmoil of one of the greatest battles of the world's history. The llrlng between the two lln. s kept up continuously during the second day and on the morning of the third (lay, July 3. Vl.b out serious injury to the occupants of the MiClellan house. In the tm-niiwhl'o Jennie, nle bore her sorrow with sib nt and b role fortitude. Her lover hail been brought home "on his shield" and was burled in tho cemetery at Gettysburg, and hls'grsivi- w.is her shrine. The memory of her dead hero was ever with her, and her patriotic heart was Mlrrrd anew when the urlon army came to Gettysburg to hurl baik the invad ing hosts of I.ee, and she determined to remain at her home to do what t-he could In her woman's way for the aase that sho lovd and for which her soldier boy had died. Jennie Wade's sister, Mrs. George Wade MK'lellan. was lying sick In her little home on P.altiniori street, near the ci tin tery. ai d although the houses In the Imme. illat" vicinity of the one In which Mrs, Me ridian lived were occupied by union sharp shooti is. who bad advane d from the lino of battle on t'einctery irir up n continuous with the line of ci.nfi Sern tiil on the slope bill, and were keep nnd ib adlv ci nlMet h rale shai pshnoicrs of the hill and tho low ;:rninsd at the south of the town, yet .leiu !" and her mother determined to take evTv chance of d. inter and so left their e v. n home on I'.reckenridge stiect and took At this Juncture the woman jumped up. "If you are men, you will follow inel" she cried. K'f ry man jumped up. They tl. t itled to break through on (heir right, w lit re the tort lies fci-eini.il fewer. The Turks opened tire when they saw the Maoedoi.iai'.s. but the latter charged, hailing their fticks of dyr.amito as they ran. Although the Turks were several hundred Urong at this point, they broke and ran, while the store i,f Macedonians ami tlie one woman not only escaped, but also dynarniW the banatkn, Willi only a loss of three killed. Corstantlne Stephanovp, a Macedonian delegate now in New York, tells the story of a daring scape made by a Mac. (Ionian prisoner of which he was an lidual wit ness. Mr. Sicphanovc war. himself am sled some iii' iitlis ago. "There were three of u.s," he said, "ami We w. re marcht d on font from M bomia to Seres, where wo were to be tried befure the tribunal of the kh.ilmakain, a Sort if district governor. The distance Is a .lay travel, our arms were tightly bound he Mnd us, and two mounted troopers guarded us. "The country through which we inarched Is Just between the mountains and the lowlands. At noon we reached n wax side Inn which was situated on a rojd cut along the side of a steep Mil. On oi.o ride was a precipice, on the other a rock wall. Tha buslilry wai built on the outside of I ha A4 JZL j K.N N I K W A I) K.- Krom up tin lr abode in the little house on H i'ti more street. In order to give the neersary attention to the clear one who was 'yiivr so true to hi r Instincts of undaunted pat lo tlsm, vob;i:ti ered to lake bread gr. tu tously for the wnurded soldiers In the nearby Held hosplt.-b'. and did s during the lirst two days of the battle. About S o'clock, the morning of July 3. Jennie ws in the l.ltebi n with he;- iVnigii tray preparing a batch of bread for the oven. Though the battle waged without with unceasing fury and the hubcts were pattering ngalnsl the little brick house In which she was. she kept up a cheerful and brave fn tit, and with a song on her lips pursued her bablng. She had Just stooped to put the bread in the oven win n she was struck by a bullet ill the back, whit It came through the outer door on the north side of the house, killing her In stantly. She never uttered a word, but her lh'e blood spattered ever the bread dough, as an lite-ne to the noble work In which she was employed. The body was can led to the it-liar of the South side of the bouse, at that time occu pied by Mrs. Isaac !Je'le.iii. The Me Clellau bouse, where .boil' had met her death, was si closely watched by confed erate sharpshooters lluit in order to re move the body It was necessary to take It through a hule in the mi. idle wall, where a ten-pound Pa roll shell bail plowed its way the day before, and the body was carried thence down and into the cel lar, as H was deemed unsafe to come out of tltbtr of the outer doors. As they laid the piecious body down a smile was dif fused across Jennie's face, indicating that road, the bade part overlooking a deep chasm. "Our guards put us la a room In the middle of the ho ise. One guard then Went Into another room it the lower nd if the bouse. Anybody passing on the road that way he must necessarily see. The ether guard had takt n the two hoists up the road to the stables, and nobody could pass that way w ithout being st n by blm. " 'Cornratles!' said one of my fellow pris oners, 'now is our lime-b t us escape" "The oilier man and I both refused. "'We know we shall be acquitted any how.' we said, 'm why endanger our lives for nothing'." "Jlut the third man thought otherwise. " 'I shall be condemned to death If I am tried.' I f said, 'so I lot i d to make a breik now. Good-bye, t omradtti.' "He went outside and up the road to ward the stable. When he reached the end of the liiniv he turned and disap peared. We then went to a back win dow and saw blm creel lug mound tho house on a ledge bandy a font wide. I low be did it Willi bis arms bound I can never understand. A slip would have inetut n fall of a bundled feel on Jagged rocks. Ilut he eriw'ed safely around, and strut k the road below the bouse, so that the guard in the lower end room could not seo him. "We afterwards heard that he ran down the road half a utile, where he met soma -' ;.-r ' e" a Photograph Made in 1M12. her deatii was as painless as It was In stantaneous. Iter mother ami sister, anil the bitter's child, but 1! days old, were taken from the house by the same coursn to a place tif safety on the other side of the house. Jennie's body lay In the cellar until Mm evening of the Kotiith of July, and was then burled In a corner of the garden by some ladies, and was later removed to the graveyard of the German Kcforuicil church, and was finally taken up and re Interred In Kvergreen cemetery, where a handsome monument now stands, erected to her memory by the Woman's Itelief corns of Iowa. The bouse in which Jennie Wado wa killlcd wii.i strte k by about ITii) bullets anil one shell, and stand today exactly ns It was in 1Si',:i. with all the battle marks plainly visible. tine of the peculiar Incidents connected Willi Jennie Wade's tragic death was III tie fact that she was burled in a colllil which had I n constructed for a confed erate oflieer who bail been killed ill the third day's tight. The ilea Ih tif Jennie Wade possesses local Interest In Omaha, In lite fact that Mr". Santloe of Onuiba. mother of Mm. Charles 1.. Sanders of Teil North lOigbteenl ti street, was an Intimate anil close friend of Jennie Wade's mother, being at that time n resident of Gt ttslmrg. Mrs. Kanilon .new Jennie' Wade quite well and speak of her as a most lovable and charming young woman. Mrs. Sandoe distinctly re members the tragic Incident of Jennie's tie. tlh. as her lmuie was on lire ckcnri.lge stie.-i, but a short distance from the Wad bouse. native shepherd buys. They cut tha cords that bound his arms, and he struck: into the mountains. He was threo days on the mountain trills without a crust to eat, but Dually he got safely Into Itul garia." it is of the princl)il leader of the in surgent movement -Moris Sara foff - that tha Macedonian peasants tell reina I kablti stories of narrow escapes and daring deeds. !,,, many ears he has delicd tin) Turks to capture blm, although he min gles with them, sometimes as prle-tl or peasant, and even as a Turkish olllcer. In his younger days his favorite di.--gul.su Was that of a woman, for bis face was smooth und beardless. Ills followers tell a story of how his i uii-R resource save I f. band of his men from being entirely cat li. and t jpluicd. Almost a hundred insurgents were be sieged in an obi convent, surrounded on all sitlei by Turks, who were several thousand strong, hud.l.nly. in tbu midst of the tiring, a mounted Turk, with tha straps of an ollieer of high rank, galloiN-it up to the battalion besieging the convent on the aide toward tho mountains. He ordered the bugler to sound u certain move ment which sent the entire battalion swinging down to the right, leaving a largo opening in tho surrounding Hues. The besieged Macedonians saw their op portunity, made a desperate sortie, cut their way through and made for tha mountain. ANTON lu DAVOS.