Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 May 1911 — THE LITTLE UNION BUSHWHACKER’S NERVE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE LITTLE UNION BUSHWHACKER’S NERVE

Mrs. starkweather, id j ing in middle Tennessee during the civil war, was a Union woman to the core. Her husband was killed by secessionists before hostilities began, leaving her very bitter against them. Her son. Tom Starkweather, was fourteen years old when his father was killed, and he made a boyish vow that he would never miss a chance to kill a secession- j Ist. He found no opportunity to do so until after the war opened- Then at fifteen he began the work of revenge. He would waylay his enemies aud shoot them from behind trees, the regular bushwhacking method during wartime. One by one he picked off all of those who had been instrumental j In his father’s death. In those days there were bands of partisan rangers in Kentucky and Tennessee; unenlisted, ununiformed j men who fought for the Confederacy on their own hook, which meant that j some of them were murderers and j pillagers. These men were a special; object of Tom’s antipathy. A baud led by one Bennett, made up in the region where he lived, lost so many j men. Whose deaths were traced to* Tom. that they were anxious to get j their bands on the boy. Tom and another Union boy. Sam | Parks, were a good deal together. Tom ; would do the shooting, and Sam would j do the watching. But Sam was un- i known by their enemies as having j anything to do with the matter. Tom always taking the blame. One day Bennett’s band came into • the district where the boys lived, and they went out hunting the rangers for their scalps. By this time Tom was known as the little Union bushwhacker, and Bennett had determined that if he ever caught him he would put an end to his shooting his men from behind trees. While the men were riding along a road one of them dropped behind. Tom. who was concealed in the woods, shot him. Then the twp boys ran for Tom’s home as fast as' their legs could carry them. Bennett, bearing the shot, galloped back and found his man badly wounded. He told his chief that be had probably been shot by the little Union bushwhacker. Bennett, surmising that Tom would go home, after calling to his men to take care of the one disabled, rode straight for Mrs. Starkweather’s cabin. Fearing that the boys would be followed, she hid them.

When Bennett rode up.andusked for Tom she told him that her son was not at hotae. But this did not satisfy the partisan leader, and he made a thorough search of the premises, with the result that both boys were dragged from behind a wood pile in a shed. “Which of you boys Is the little Union, bushwhacker?” asked the captain. Neither boy replied. Bennett asked the woman, threatening to shoot her If she did not reply. '‘You don’t suppose I’d tell you uns

on my own son, would you, to get him killed as his father was?** The captain thought a moment, then said to her: “You stand up thar with your face agin the woodshed.” The woman did as directed, which brought her back to the boys. Bennett' handed each of them a revolver and said to them: “When I give the order you two fire. The one that doesn’t or misses I’m goin’ to shoot right down.” This was rather a crude method of detecting which was the woman’s sou.

bnt it was the best the captain could call up at the moment. He expected to Judge by the flinching of the one jvho was required to fire at his own mother. Now. Bennett had left his band to attend to this matter himself. He was so incensed at this new shooting by the little Union bushwhacker that he had dashed away after the culprit, waiting only to call for some one to take care of the man who had been wounded. It never occurred to him that he would need support in hunting a boy. So wrought upon was he by anger that he did not think of the danger of putting arms in the hands of the boy. The two youngsters stood facing Mrs. Starkweather. When the captain gave the order to fire Sam put a bullet as near as possible without hitting her. Tom. quick as a flash, brought his weapon to bear on Bennett and shot him through the forehead. Mrs. Starkweather turned and, seeing the captain gasping his last breath, said quickly: “Come, my boy; we must get out of this in a hurry. Sam, you go home. Nobody knows of your being mixed up in this fracas.” Without stopping even to return to the house she and Tom dashed off in one direction, while Sam went in another. The mother and son disappeared in a wood. At the same moment half a dozen horsemen belonging to the band. who. having heard the shooting. galloped after their captain, appeared up the road. When they reached the Starkweather cabin they found it deserted and Bennett lying dead. They at once scattered to hunt for his slayer, but Tom knew of a hole In the ground overhung with bushes into which he and his mother descended, and the searcher!! missed them. When the hunt was given up they left their hiding place and made their way into the Union lines.

TOM, WHO WAS CONCEALED IN THE WOODS, SHOT HIM.

By CAPTAIN F. A. MITCHEL.

SHOT HIM THROUGH THE FOREHEAD.