Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 9, Number 127, Decatur, Adams County, 30 May 1911 — Page 6

• - I 20th. Anniversary of my Business | | IMa !N DECATUR AA I m 20 years ago I located in Decatur, in the Jewelry Umbrellas, everything I have in stock. || O and Optical business I have enjoyed a steady in- in need or have anything in mm you . § B| crease in my business, I wish to take advantage of ford to miss this sale. The following price s g Ip this opportunity to extend my appreciation to all | how we have reduced our goods foi r g Sgg the people that have allowed me the pleasure of Rogers Knives & Forks the best se s .-o • > g ll| their liberal patronage, and I wish to assure you Rogers Teaspoons the best XII se J . -$ • H that I fully appreciate all favors extended me during these 20 year gold filled Watch case with a Walt am or g|n O 20 years. In order to celebrate my 20th. Business annivers- $11.75 higher grades in proportion, all are cordia y in v* S O ary I will for 10 days hold a slaughter sale of my entire to call and see our stock and prices, remember no g s g stock of Watches, Clocks, Jewelry, Silverware, Cut glass, sold at these prices after 10 days. g § This Sale Is Strictly For Cash I 1 Cf f+ENSLEY THE JEWELER I J REMEMBER WE ARE IN DECATUR TO STAY | Bgya •

STRANGER THAN FICTION „ STORY OF THE ESCAPE FROM DEATH * OF LN. GRANDSTAFF OF DECATUR AND ETHELBERT CROUSE OF PAULDING, OHIO.

“More strange than fiction," is the I true story ot tne miraculous escape I from the “jaws of death" of L. N. Grandstaff, a veteran of the civil war > who is now serving as post commander of the Sam Henry Post, and of his 1 comrade, Ethelbert Crouse, of Paulding county, Ohio. These two union soldiers were shot by guerillas, left for dead on the field, and afterward re-1 viving, made their escape, the only ones alive from the party of twelve. | Each year they meet in reunion at the home of each in ♦urn and celebrate ; their wonderful escape. A year ago' last November, they met in this city,. the local G. A. R. tendering them a I grand reception and banquet, and last. November, the same compliment was ( paid in Mr. Crouse’s post. The No-j vember, 1904, edition of McClure’s> magazine, contains a very thrilling: story of the experience as written by | Henry Sheak, as follows: In the northern part of Ohio, at l Antwerp, Paulding county, resides a' man who has come through one of the most wonderful experiences in all human history. Just across the state line in Indiana is the home of one who shared the peril and whose experience ! is second only to that of his friend. He writes himself Lemuel N. Grandstaff and receives his mail at Monmouth, in Adams county, Indiana. I shall tell their story in as few words as possible. Crouse and Grandstaff, in the autumn of 1863, enlisted in the union army, and were assigned to Company F, 130th regiment, Indiana volunteer infantry. The former was only sixteen, the latter but turned seventeen. In the following March the regiment was sent to Tennessee and made a part of the 23rd army corps, at Charleston, that state. They went through the Atlantic campaign, but when Hood came back to Nashville, they followed

, I , him. Here the corp was divided, one part going to Columbia and Franklin, Tennessee, while the parts to which i the subjects of this sketch belonged, was sent to Johnsonville to reinforce a body of colored troops on the Tennessee river. They remained for some j time in camp here and had built winter quarters. On the 20th lof November five regiments in command oC General Coper started on a ’ forced mprch for Columbia, Terin. 1 Here is what happened to Crouse as he relates it himselff: “With the permission of my captain, while in line of march, I fell out of the ranks to get a drink of water. ■ My bianket and all my other accouti ments were very wet, as it was raining all the time. I did not catch up I with the command that day. At night ■ I fell in with five of my company. > Isaac Caston, Louis Hendry, Joseph King. Adam Humbaugh and Lemuel N. Grandstaff, and we all slept together in a corn-house. “We were out of rations, having eaten the last the day before. We I could not forage, for we had been told that guerrillas were in the locality and we found it to be so, all too soon. We looked for turnip patches along the road, but did not enter a house. "It must have been about 9 or 10 o’clock of the forenoon of the second day, Sunday, November 27, 1864, that we found the guerrillas were In pur- , suit of us. We started to run and ran until about 11 o'clock, and when with- , in about a quarter of a mile of our i rear guards, when they attacked us. : Our guna were loaded, but would not ' go off, the ammunition being wet. , Finding our guns were of no use, we • threw them away, and again started to run; but the first thing I knew I I was surrounded by nine or ten of the

villians. They were dressed in citizen’s clothes and were armed with shot guns, rifles, carbines, muskets, and revolvers. After giving them my pocket-book (I had no weapons) they told me not to be scared, for they intended to parole me and send me home. They got all of my companions but King. He ran into a deep ravine and out into a field, where a planter and several negroes were at work. The planter drew his pistol and ordered him to halt. He asked where he was going, and where he belonged, and he told him, supposing him to be friendly, whereupon the planter shot him and he fell dead at his feet. The colored men wanted to bury him, but their master threatened to kill them if they touched him. I never heard what became of the poor man’s remains. The guerrillas were on horses and marched their prisoners back about eleven miles, moving at a “doublequick” most of the time. All the while they kept telling their captives not to be afraid, as they intended to parole them and send them home. The scene of these stirring events was in Hickman county, Tennessee. A portion of the territory traversed was broken and hilly, but a part of their path lay through a beautiful valley. The guerrillas did not follow a public road, but crossed fields and woods, doubtless fearing union cavalry. Pine river poured its dark, cold waters across their way and was forded. The day was rainy, with flurries of snow. At last they reached a deep ravine in a large pine forest. By the time they arrived at this dark and lonely spot their prisoners numbered twelve. Here the guerrillas were joined by a small party -of their confederates, led by a lieutenant who had been wounded in the side. At this time, also, two old men rode up and said with a chuckle: "Yon have got some of the Yankee sons of , we see; we suppose you know what to do with them.” They said they did. They drew the prisoners up in line, then divided them into three squads of fo«r men each. One of the squads was next marched off Into a small ravine opening into the larger one, out of sight of their companions. They were all strangers to the subject of this sketch, except one, who was a sergeant of the 25th Michigan regiment. After they were gone a few minutes the others heard shots in the ravine. Caston said he felt uneasy, when one of their captors remarked that might, if they knew what he did. Grandstaff said:

“You took those men out to shoot them?” “We did,” he confessed, with a chuckle, "and we intend to serve you the same way.” “I wish to make one request,” said Caston; “that is, that you wrap us I three in one blanket, and bury us together.” He meant himself, Hendry, I who was his cousin, and Crouse. They said they would, but they did not. The second squad consisted of Hendry, Grandstaff, Crouse and a soldier unknown to the others. As the guerrillas started with the squads, the unknown man started to run. He was | instantly fired upon, seven balls • striking him before he fell. That* gave them warning not to try to es-. cape. Caston was then added to the squad. Crouse tells the story thus: “Imagine if you can, how we felt then! We offered to do anything for them; we prayed and begged of them to spare our lives; but all in vain. We might as well have prayed to blocks of wood or stone. They laughed at us and mocked us in our woe and misery, and told us that we ought to have thought | of the probability of getting into such trouble before we lefcour homes. “One man did moss of the shooting; he was a young fellow about seventeen years old, and he did his work as cheerfully as a butcher would in shooting a lot of hogs. He used a navy revolver. We stood by a tree, surrounded by the bodies of those already dead, while he loaded his weapon. Night was just falling. The day was rainy and cold. When he was ready he ordered us to turn our backs. Three of us obeyed, i?ut Caston said he had humbled himself to them all he was going to; then one of the villians behind shot him. "The yonng executioner shot Hendry. Then came my turn. I had often wondered, when reading of military executions, of hangings,, of death by the guillotine, how the condemned felt when they know that only a moment intervened between them and eternity. How I felt is beyond my power of telling. Suffice it to say, however, that it came to me very forcibly that I had done my utmost duty to my country as a soldier. Yet above all things was the thought of home and mother. I would have prayed, but no time was given for that. I immediately repeated* a stanza from an old, song, which all soldiers know. The chorus runs: ‘Farewell, mother, you may never press me to your heart again, But you’ll not forget me, mother, if I’m numbered with the slain.’

: ■ “And yet there was a feeling, a . faint hope, that I might escape • through a defect in the aim of the executioner. I prepared myself for the ' fatal shot by leaning slightly forward, , crossing my hands upon my breast and closing my eyes. The weapon snapped five times before it went off. When it did, the ball passed through my left ear, grazing my skull and rendering me numb and senseless. Grandstaff, who was on my left, said I received the shot without flinching. I fell forward on my face. | , “Grandstaff was shot next. The ball . struck him above the left ear, but it did not enter the skull. It ploughed | its way beneath the skin to a position above the left eye, where it lodged. (Continued on Page 11.)

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