Jasper County Democrat, Volume 7, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 January 1905 — IN THE DEBATABLE LAND. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

IN THE DEBATABLE LAND.

BY EDWARD S. ELLIS.

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Captain Oakman actually gasped for breath. Then with a rapidly throbbing heart he reread the precious letter. “Captain Trqpholm, her brother 1” he repeated. “How can that bet Impossible ! And yet that is what she writes. What can it meant” In his bewilderment and mystification he turned the letter over. Lo, on the other page was the inevitable female postscript: P. B.—lt has occurred to me that you may be puzzled by my reference to Captain Trenholm as my brother. When General Eldridge married my mother, she was the widow of a banker named Trenholm of New Orleans. Her only child was a boy, Wager. She therefore is the mother of him and me, though General Eldridge is my father, but not 'the father of Captain Trenholm. In law I suppose we are half brother and half sister, but you will agree that I am warranted in insisting that such a noble, brave man is my full brother and shall be such so long sa be and I live. A. E. When Captain Oakman finally grasped the height, length, breadth and depth of this momentous truth, his feelings were “peculiar,” and I am sure the reader will grasp the height, length, breadth and depth of that statement.

CHAPTER XIX. CONCLUSION. The wooing and winning of Miss Adele Eldridge by Captain Ledyard Oakman would form a delightful story of itself, bnt it is not onr purpose to dwell upon it. In due time he found the necessary pretext for journeying southward, and when he presented himself at the heme of General Arthur Eldridge he was warmly welcomed by the old veteran, his stepson, Captain Trenholm, the latter’s mother and lastly by the young lady herself. One piece of good fortune was in the hands of the ex-Union officer. He possessed abundant means. His southern friends, like the vast majority in that section, were impoverished by the war. Oakman could not offer them pecuniary help, but he di ' lersuade Captain Trenholm to join him in a business venture in which the knowledge and experience of the ex-Confederate formed a fair offset to the capital invested by Oakman. Then, too, a valuable iron deposit was located on the plantation of General Eldridge, which, being developed, the soldier, before he was aware, found himself in comfortable circumstances. And then the wedding followed in due course. But several years passed before the happy husband dared to tell the happy wife the secret of that first visit of his to the old plantation in Georgia. It is a fact which may not be generally known that among the most valuable epies in the south were numbers of northern women who went thither and engaged in teaching when it became clear that war would soon break out between the sections. This statement was made to me by General Sherman himself, and in my sketch of that great Union leader I have given a typical incident as it fell from his lips. One of the most daring and valuable female spies was Marian Harriman, from New England. As has been stated elsewhere, she secured an engagement as governess and companion in the family of General Eldridge, with the real purpose of gathering information for the Union armies. General Sherman knew her exact location, and when he started on his march from Atlanta to the sea and approached her neighborhood he detached Lieutenant Oakman and one of his scouts to communicate with Miss Harriman and bring back whatever she might have to send to him. Previous to the visit of the officer, Sam Borland, the scout, apprised her of the situation, so that she was expecting the visit of the lieutenant. The two knew each other when they met, and it will be conceded that they played their parts well. The woman was so bitter in her sentiments that she was rebuked by Mrs. Eldridge and her daughter. She refused to remain under the same roof with the Union officer, which was a convenient arrangement, since it gave her the opportunity she needed to carry out her farreaching schemes. She made her home with Mrs. Benware and her sister, they being the only two persons in that section whom she trusted with her secret. Thus located only a few miles distant, she was able to meet Oakman now and then secretly and maintain a perfect understanding with him. Her well known sympathies enabled her to gain the confidence of several of the Confederate leaders, from whom she obtained valuable information. She proved her nerve by riding a considerable distance to their headquarters, and through arts intuitive with her sex she wove together in the form of drawings and memoranda on the sheet of paper that which Lien tenant Oakman declared General Sherman would pay a fortune to obtain. The chief difficulty with the female spy was to get the paper to the Union commander. It was imprudent for her to undertake its delivery, and the visit of Oakman to that section, therefore, was to secure it from her. It will be understood that when he was captured in the home of Mrs. Benware the call was a close one, not only for himself, but for Miss Harriman. Had the all important document been discovered, it inevitably would have been traced to her, despite every effort of the young man, and it often happens in time of war that the sex of a spy doss not render her an “immune. ”

The legerdemain used on that occasion would have done credit to the late Herrmann. Lieutenant Oakman passed the document to Miss Harriman, and she, in the most natural manner conceivable, stood just behind and at his side, denouncing him in scathing terms. And the feat was accomplished under the eyes of the squad of irregular guerrillas, eagerly seeking an excuse for taking his life. Mrs. Benware, failing to see the lightninglike transfer, groaned in spirit over the seemingly fatal misfortune. When the moment came in which a donbt thrown upon the alleged handwriting of Captain Trenholm by Miss Harriman would have insured the shooting of the prisoner, she interposed by declaring unreservedly (though with painful regret) that the writing was his. That assertion saved the lieutenant for the time, bnt, as has beea made clear, his captors were “irregulars,” who manifested a determination to hit upon some pretext, as in the venerable incident of the wolf and lamb, for thrusting him off the earth. He was still in great peril, and only by a desperate rush could he gain a possible chance of saving himself. It has been shown what he did, and it remains to add that Miss Harriman took good care not to indulge in the privilege of her wx and scream until the signs of retura-

ing consciousness on the part of the half strangled soldier warned her that it was prudent to do so. “By this time,” said Captain Oakman, in recalling the incident, “I had begun to feel that I was the meanest man between the Atlantic and the Pacific. ’ ’ “And why?” asked his wife, turning her eyes reproachfully upon him. “They say all is fair in love and war, and I know that both sides employed hundreds of spies. I had no compunction in turning off to your plantation to obtain what Miss Harriman was preparing for ns. When, however, I saw how thoroughly yon trusted her and the advantage she was taking of yonr confidence, my conscience troubled me.” “Bnt can a spy be snccessfnl throngh employing any other means for gaining information ?” “I presume not. Such was the reply I made to the upbraidings of my better nature. I shut my eyes and kept at it until the time came when I could stand it no longer.” “When was that?” “After your brother stood alone in front of the men who were thirsting for my life and held them at bay, and you came forth and made me take yonr horse and use him in my flight. I felt as I galloped off in the moonlight that I was a despicable wretch without the first spark of gratitude. Miss Harriman had betrayed yonr confidence, bnt she conld not bring the betrayal to full fruition without my help, and I was giving her that help at the risk of her life find my own. True, I was in the uniform of the Union army, and therefore it might be claimed technically that I was not a spy, bnt that made my meanness the more atrocious. I was taking advantage of the trust placed in me by your brother. Unable to provide me with an escort, he did everything in his power to save me from danger and annoyance. “Well, to cut my story short, I turned off from the highway and rode straight to the home cf Mrs. Benware, where Miss Harriman had left the letter for me, though she herself was absent. I made sure that the document was the right one and then threw it into the fire and waited until it changed to ashes. Then, with the help of Ackers and Masters, I reached onr lines, and the incident waa closed, so far as I was concerned.” 44 What became of Miss Harriman?” asked the wife after a moment’s silence. “She left the south at the close of the war. Since she has no intention of ever returning, and the war is over, I have no hesitation in telling yon her secret. She was paid a generous sum for her services, and I suppose what she did may be looked upon js Jegitimate. All

the same, however, it is an unpleasant recollection, and 1 am sure, wife, that yon despise her.” "Ido.” “Why t” “Because she consented to become a hypocrite. And what can be more despicable than such a person?” “Nothing, and for a time I was one. ” “No, never! Or,” added the wife, with a twinkle of her fine eyes, “if yon were, you repented in time, and then, too, hypocrisy is sometimes pardonable in a man, but never in a woman, for his motive may be commendable, while hers cannot be. ’ ’ “Spoken like a woman, and like the truest, best wife either north or south of the late Mason and Dixon’s line.” THE END.

Several years passed before the happy husband dared to tell the happy wife.