Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 231, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 September 1914 — War Conductor Dead. [ARTICLE]

War Conductor Dead.

William Gaston Smith, veteran railway conductor of 54 years’ continuous, service with the Southern Railwajf company and a trainman during the Civil war, died at'Anderson, 8. C., after an illness of four months. “Captain Billy,” as he was called by his thousands of friends In that section of the country, was seventy-five years old. He was retired on full pay by the railway company on January 1, 1912. Captain Smith had many thrilling experiences as conductor during the Civil war. After Lee’s surrender he hauled two-thirds of the Confederate forces under Lee and Johnson. When Richmond was evacuated the treasury and records of the Confederacy were shipped from Richmond to Winston, N. C., and thence were carted to Alston. At this point Captain Smith, with one other railway employe, kept guard over the records and valuables, which were packed in ammunition boxes, marked “ammunition” and consigned to Gen. Kirby Smith. “Captain Billy” and his companion delivered the precious property to Abbeville, 8. C., but it never reached Washington, Ga., its destination, for the train was held up and raided in the darkness.