A War Correspondent's Adventure.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 130, 28 November 1885, Page 6

A War Correspondent's Adventure.

Mr Bubleigh, the well-known war correspondent, in the course of a recent interview, related the following incident in his career : — " lam a native of Glapgow, where I was born in 1843. At the age of thirteen I began to study politics, and I went to reside on the continent, where I visited every country except Russia. In 1861, fired by a love of adventure, I determined to go to America to join and fight for the Confederate army, because I felt they were struggling for their liberty j and I held— rightly or , wrongly— that a people has always a right to govern itself, no matter what its character or disposition may be. The slavery question was really quite a secondary matter. No one was fighting for the continuance of slavery— its death-knell had already been sounded by the declaration of war. Out of the four years I was on' ! the Confederate side I served three and a half on active service. I was employed on special service - scouting, with command, The remaining six months I passed in prison. In 1864 1 was shot and captured in a skirmish, and, being charged with torpedo laying, I was sentenced to be hanged then and there. Now.l really was not-connected with the party which had .been laying torpedoes at all, .though, in ,point of faot,,it might well have been , so. ' I certainly thought it was all .over with me, but I had* luokily made a, capture, the week, before,\ and ,so 'Hang away,|bqyay I said,, £I « You< are well aware that I took .thjurtyAof

your men last week. You- know jjwhat sort of mao Mackenzie is/ hangj^me and; he'll. r , strings • up>, !n man Jack- of them, as soon as, he hears .-of 7 my death. So now it'a ;all right, and^ang away.' This- /reminder eaved\ me,^ They thought me >impudent,i so they bucked, and gagged me and imprisoned; me. in Fort Delaware.; i' Bucking ' is a peculiarly, painful way of binding one up, and they, gagged me with a piece of stick, and left, me, like that for forty-eight hours: so, youllireasily believe that , I couldn't, eat or , , fciriile,, with pleasure or comfort, so. as to enjoy.jjhem, ,for a month' afterwards. , After a, .terrible three weeks I succeeded in , making „my escape by swimming^across^the bay. I was ( five hours in the water, with *a; s , cross current, and I dared not hail the passing ships for fear of being recaptured and sent back to Fort Delaware. When I got to the other side I bad to hide in the, woods for eight or ten days, living on what I could find, until I could, get some; clothing, for I had nothing on but a shirt. At last I succeeded in making 1 good my escape, first to New York, and thence to Canada." .