Evening Star Newspaper, November 19, 1922, Page 69

FICTION MAGAZINE SECTION '@fl]z %nnflag %mf | I FEATURES | | Part 4—8 Pages WASHINGTON, D. C., SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 19, 1922. Famous Confederate Woman Spy Lies in Almost Forgotten Grave BY MARION E. USHER. N the Wisconsin river, in the state of Wisconsin, there 18 situated a pretty town named Kilbourn, known chiefly because of its scenlc attrac- tion, the Dells. Comparatively few persons in the United States know that in Spring Grove cemetery in Kil- bourn 2 woman who was a national and international figure during the civil war Is burled. On her monu- ment is the following inscription: BELLBE ROYD, Confederate Spy. Born in Virginia. Died in Wisconsin. Erected by a Comrade. Belle Boyd was the most noted wom- an spy of the confederacy. Her ca- reer was thrilling. Her history reads like a work of fiction. She was & young southern girl of good family and good breeding, with attractive- ness, fascination, education. strong convictions, great daring. She bore a charmed life and ran the gantlet| by land and sea. She was arrested many times, reprimanded, threatened, imprisoned, released. banished. She tcok refuge in Engiand and while taere wrote a book entitled “Belle Boyd, in Camp and Prison,” which she called the story of her adventures, misfortunes and imprisonments. Her fascinating and graphic narrative is, perhaps, as little known as is her burtal place. She was born in 1844, in Martins- burg, Va., now West Virginla, in the lovely Shenandoah vallen. Her mother was the daughter of an officer. Belle’s home was a two-story house, whose walls were hidden by roses and | Near the house were | honeysuckles. silver maples. At a short distance flowed a pretty stream. The air was soft and fragrant—the air of the sunny south. Belle was educated at Mount Wash- ington College. At the age of sixteen years she entered society in our Na- ticnal Capital, where her uncle and aunt lived. The season of 1860-1861 was a brilliant one. The war broke out and Belle went home. Her father, John Read Boyd, enlisted in the Con- federate army, and was in that sec- tion known afterward as the ‘Stone- wall Brigade.” 1 * % % % '\ ARTINSBURG, being on the bor- IV1 der of the state of Virginia, was a bone of contention during the war. It was alternately held by Federals and Confederates. When the Federal troops first entered the town. Belle was in a hospital attending two wounded Confederate soldlers. A TUnion captain came into the hospital to look Into matters there. Belle began her war career by defying him. Before he left he emphatically ex- pressed his opinion that she was an “independent rebel lady.” The Federal troops were going to raise the Stars and Stripes over the Boyd home. Mrs. Boyd declared to them that every member of her household would die before a Union flag should be raised over her house. A TUnion soldier, it was alleged by Belle, then spoke offensively to her mother and to her, and Belle shot and killed him.” The soldiers were going to burn the house in retaliation, but Belle got a message conveyed to the Federal officer in command, and he prevented its destruction. The com- manding officer called to investigate the matter of the shooting, and after inquiring into the circumstances de- clared that Belle had done right. Sentries were placed around the house, and a Federal officer called every day to inquire If the family had any complaint to make concerning the behavior of the troops. A fine pisto] was presented to Belle by a Federal officer as a token of admira- tion of the spirit she had shown in defense of her mother and her home. Later it was brought to Washington, placed in the War Department, and labeled, “A trophy captured from the celebrated rebel, Belle Boyd."” Belle's residence within the Federal lines and her acquaintance with many officers enabled her to gain informa- tion concerning the Federal forces, which she recorded in writting, and when the opportunity offered, sent a dispatch to Confederate officers. One of her messages fell into Federal hands. Her writing was identified and she was summoned to headquar- ters, threatened, reprimanded, and the article of war regarding aiding and abetting an enemy of the govern- ment, the penalty for which might be death, was read to her. She bowed, sarcastically sald, “Thank you, Teft. gentlemen of the jury,” and From that time she was a “suspect On every possible occasion she con- fiscated and concealed the pistols and swords of the Federals and smuggled them away to the Confederate cdmp. At that time the Federal officers little dreamed who had taken them. Belle acted as courler between Gen. Beauregard and Stonewall Jackson and their subordinates. * X x * E evening at Martinsburg she ‘went horseback riding with two officers, a cousin and a friend. Her horse became frightened, ran away and carried her within the Federal lines. She rode up to the officer in command of the pickets and explain- ed how she happened to he there. “We are exceedingly proud of our beautiful captive,” said the officer, ut, of course, we cannot think of detaining you.” He informed her that she would be escorted back beyond their lines. 8o she rode back with two Federal officers beyond their lines. Suddenly the two Confederate officers appear- ed. All four officers were greatly surprised. “Here are two prisoners I have brouglit you,” said Belle to the Con- was. “Belle Boyd,” she replied. 'he rebel spy!” they exclaimed. 'hey were taken to headquarters d the adventure was related to the fMcer in command. Within an hour the two Federal officers were re- leased. ! Belle was soes arrested and taken to Baltimore. After & week's im- x prisonment in one of the best hotels iin the city, the Eutaw House, she was released and sent back to Mar- tinsburg. She then went to Front Royal, Va., where her uncle and aunt had made their home. When the war began thelr southern sympathies were strong and they thought it wise to leave Washington. Their fine resi- dence here was converted into bar- racks. Belle found their home in Front Royal in the possession of Federal troops. A council was’ held by the Federals in the drawing room. Above it Was a bedroom with a clothes {closet. In the floor of that closet she found a hole had been bored. She listened all the evening and took down in cipher what she heard. It was after 1 o'clock the next morn- ing when the council ended, but she saddled her horse and galloped away {toward the mountains to convey the information she had obtained. She had some passes which had been procured for Confederate soldlers re- turning south, but were supposed to be of no further use. When she was challenged by Union sentries, { however, she flourished those passes |and was allowed to go on. She | dashed across fields and marshes and |at the end of a fifteen-mile ride gave her news to Col. Ashby. In returning home she galloped | past a sleeping sentry, who wakened in time to see her horse disappear around a turn which shielded her from the bullet he was about to send after her. After a two-hour ride, she | reached her aunt's house, unsaddled her horse and at daybreak she “turned in,” as she expressed it. On one occasion a picket was sta- | tioned between their farmyard and ithe dairy. The dairymald was not allowed to milk the cows without a pass signed by the officer of the day. Belle considered this was a nuisance !and wrote the following pass and had it signed: | “These cows have permission to pass to and from the yard and dairy for the purpose of being milked twice a day until further orders.” She pasted the pass between the | horns of one of the cows. It had the desired effect, for the cows were not again stopped. Whenever the pass came oft the head of the cow she re- placed it by another. * ok * k ELLE was the cause of the dis- | missal of a lieutenant of the Federal army from the service by | court-martial. She had asked Maj. | Tyndale for a pass to Winchester. He had said he would give it to her, but when she was ready to start and |expected to get the pass the major {had gone “out on a scout.” She in- | duced the lleutenant to pass her through the pickets. A southern man at Winchester gave her two packages of letters, also a small note, to convey, if possible, to Stonewall Jackson or some other Con- federate officer. She sent to Col. Fille- browne a bouquet of flowers with her compliments and a_request that he permit her to leave Winchester and return to Front Royal. He gave her ithe desired pass. She wrote on the less important package, “Kindness of Lieut. H.,” and placed it in a little basket. She asked the lieutenant to carry the other package, on which she had inscribed the same words and which contained a rebel newspaper. He put the package in his pocket Belle retained possession of the “little note.” On their way back to Front Royal she was arrested and the packages with, the inscriptions, “Kindness of Lieut. H.”" were brought to the at- tention of Maj. Tyndale. Belle would have been obliged to dispose in some ingenious way of the “little note” or hand it over if, at that critical mo- ment Maj. Tyndale's attention had not been diverted to somehing else. The major was greatly incensed against the lieutenant, and his military career was soon ended. This youthful spy is credited with having caused the feat of Gen. Banks by Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah valley. When the Con- federates approached Front Royal Belle locked in his room, a prisoner, a reporter for the New York Herald, whom she did not like and who was later captured. She then put on & sunbonnet and ran along the street to the open fields to convey her in- formation to Stonewall Jackson. She wore a blue dress and a littis white apron. The dress was afterwards cut up into two shirts for two wounded Confederate soldiers. The Federals saw her running and fired at her, but by a miracle did not hit her body, although a bullet went through her clothes. She was ex- posed to crossfire from Federal and Confederate artillery. She flew over fences and across flelds. Just before a shell burst near her she threw herself flat on the ground and was unharmed. As she neared the Confederate lines she waved her sunbonnet to indicate that they should go forward. A little later she gave the “little note” afore- mentioned to the proper officer. ‘The information she gave Stone- wall Jackson's forces resulted in a Confederate victory. Stonewall Jack- son wrote her a letter, thanking her for himself and the army for the “immense service” she rendered her “country” on that occasion. Some one later asked Col. Fille- browne how he got into such a trap4 and if he did not know of the ad- vance of the Confederates. He pointed to the bouquet of flowers and said: “That bouquet did all the mis- chlef—the donor of that gift is re- sponsible for all this misfortune.” World War. R SN H . ESRNEES ) 3 jill E T f again arrested and again released. By an old negro she dispatched notes in a large silver watch from which the works had been extracted. She sent to Stonewall Jackson a letter containing information regarding the Union army. A colored servant had warned her that the man to whom she gave it was a federal spy, but she did not belleve it. He sent her letter to Gen. Siegel, who forwarded it to Sec- retary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Presently a federal officer called upon her and informed her that further misconduct on her part would be se- verely dealt with. - Stanton then ordered that she be arrested and brought to Washington. On the way the tent of a Federal general was prepared for her to spend the night in comfort. Her mother, little sister and her broth- ers were permitted to see her when they stopped at Martinsburg. She stayed in a hotel in her native town, which was surrounded by twenty- seven sentries. Three more were stationed in the passage leading to her room and one sentry was placed Just outside her door. A great crowd assembled at the station in Wash- ington to see her. * X % * HE was taken to the old brick Capitol, where Congress met after the Capitol was burned by the British in the war of 1812. During the clvil war the building was used as & prison. Among its inmates was Mrs. Surratt, who was hanged as a conspirator in the assassination of Lincoln. In the backyard Supt. Wirz of Andersonville prison was hanged. The building is now the headquar- ters of the National Woman’s Party. It may be remarked parenthetically that Belle Boyd had the daring, un- quenchable spirit of a militant suf- fragist. Her cell was No. 6, gh the second floor, and fronted on A street northeast. It had an arched, pro- Jecting window, and from it she had a view of Pennsylvania avenue. Her cell was formerly the committe room of Congress. In it Henry Clay, Danfel Webster, John C. Calhoun and other statesmen had met and dis- cussed great issues. Gen. Banks returped later and camped near Front Royal. Belle asked him for permission to leave the town and he talked with her con- cerning the part she had taken in his defeat. “What wH] Virginia do without you?” he asked. She Inquired what he meant. “We always miss our bravest and most {llustrious,” he replied, “and how can your native state do without your” X A short time afterward she was Supt. Wood of the old Capitol prison, upon Bell arrival, said: “And so this is the celebrated rebel spy.” He informed her that he.would en- deavor to make her as comfortable as possible, and that whatever she wished she should ask for and would have. He also sald he “was glad to have so distinguished ' a’ personage for a guest.” She was given a negro servant, also good food, including beefsteak and chicken. She was permitted to have! W= S ey 7 e o SRR LS TRREENGY T i her trunk in her cell. When she was asked to take the oath of allegiance to the United States government she! sent a reply of defiance (o Secretary Stanton. The first evening Belle spent in this prison she sang very feelingly “Maryland, My Maryland" In fact, ehe sang it every evening, and in a| way that touched the sensibilities of | those who did not sympathize with the cause which inspired the song. One day when the prisoners were singing “Maryland, My Maryland,” after Belle Boyd had left the prison, one of the captives said: “You boys sing that well, but I've heard ‘My Maryland’ sung here in the old bullding in a way that would make you feel like jumping out of the window and swimming across the Potomac. When Belle Boyd was here I was on the same floor. She would sing that song as it her very soul was in every word she uttered. It used to bring a lump up in my throat every time I hard it. It semed like my heart was ready to Jjump out—as if I could put my finger down and touch it. I've seen men, when she was singing, walk off to one side and pull out their handkerchiefs and wipe their eyes, for fear some one would see them doing the baby act. “She left soon after I came in. 1 was glad to know that she was re- leased, but we all missed her. Even some of the Yankees, although they would not show it while she was here, but when she was sent away they missed her sweet singing—rebel songs though they were. One of them told me it made him feel sad to hear her sing. “And on Sundays, when there was preaching down in the yard, she would be allowed to come down and #it near the preacher. If you could only have seen how the fellows would try to get near her as she passed. And if she gave them a look or a smile it did them more good than the ! opening: preaching. You wouldn’t hear a cuss word from any of them for a week, even if one of the guards would swear at them or threaten them.” She aroused 50 much interest in the y tok! prison that on several occasions there | 0btain one from her. At Richmond & was a confllot between the prisoners | COmpany and the guards. She has been d Belle Boyd, Youthful Aide to Southern Army, Seemed to Possess Charmed Life, Was Arrested .Many Times, Reprimanded, Threatened, Imprisoned, Released and Banished—Had Entered. Society in This City at'Age of Sixteen—Killed Union Soldier Who Was Offensive—Became Captain and Honorary Aide-de-Camp to Stonewall Jackson—Son Believed to Have Served in SNSRI SONNSSN AN, SN of feminine health and vigor. She was a good talker, very persuasive, and the most persistent and enthusi- astio rebel who ever came under my charge. Her father sent her, from time to time, large sums of money, most of which was expended for the comfort of the Confederate prisen- ers in the old Capitol.” . i * ok k% N Sunday mornings Supt. Wood announced, “All you who want to hear the’ word of God preachtd according to ‘Jeff Davis' go down into the yard; all you who want to hear it preached according to ‘Abe Lincoln® go into No. 16.” The yard, of course, was the popular choice. Some civilians from Fredericksburg were imprisoned on the third floor. Above Belle Boyd's room was No. 10. Some prisoners therein discovered an in the floor and looked through it to the room below, which they learned was hers. They wrote notes which they tied to a thread and dropped them to her through the hole. The prisoners in the room on each side of hers scooped out the plaster in the wall with & knife and passed notes to her through the hole, Supt. Wood did not ‘discover these holes. Belle obtained a large marble, around which she tied & note written on tisfue paper, and when the guard turned his back to patrol his beat in the corridor, she rolled the marble across the corridor through one of the open doors into the room in which were some Confederate pris- oners, mostly officers. A note was written in reply and the marble was rolled back to her. At first Belle was permitted to sil outside of her room in the hall. She then posted a picture of Jefferson Davis in her cell and was locked in for several weeks as punishment. At an exchange of prisoners, she was exchanged for Col. Corcoran of the 69th New York Regiment, and sent to Richmond. When she left the old Capitol prison, each of the Con- federate Inmates gave her a little en of esteem and endeavored to of Confederate soldiers drawn up in review order, presented scribed a8 wearing during her impris- | arms as she was driven past. onment a pink muslin dress. She had| One evening she was serenaded by dark hair and sparkling black eyes,|the city band. A Confederate officer and any ‘one who knows how good |who was a prisoner in the uhl'Clpllol looking southern girls are is able | prison, when she was there presented to".visualize the attractiveness of |her with a gold watch set with dia- Belle. Boyd. Supt. Wood is reported | monds, offered, as she said, “in token a8 having said: of the affection and esteem of my “Her face was not what would be|fellow prisoners in the old Capitol” called pretty—her features indicated| A little later she received a com- firmness and daring, but her figuré |mission as captain and honorary aide- ‘was perfect, and a splendid % s i At A2 3 A % 3.3 2 ¥ ION SOLDIER SPOKE OFFENSIVELY TO HER MOTHER AND HER, AND BELLE BOYD SHOT AND KILLED HIM. talking with her or writing to her un- officially he called her “my child” or “my dear child.” He advised her to take a trip through the south. This she did and received a great ovation. She was called “the Virginia heroine,” “the child of the Confederacy” and he child of the army."” At Knoxville she was serenaded by | . the proceeds on the purchase of a the city band. The crowd called for her. She appeared on a balcony and made a few remarks, in which she ‘I can sald. “Like Gen. Joe Johnston, fight, but I can’'t make speeches, thanked them for the compliment they had paid her. The band then played ‘Dixie” and “Good Night.” At Charleston she dined with Gen. Beauregard. ‘When the attack on Winchester was being made, she was about four miles away, mounted on a white horse, on a high eminence. As the report had been circulated in the Federal army that she Invariably rode a white horse, the Federal artillery fired upon her and her companions. * % x X PON her return to Martinsburg, after the battle of Gettysburg, an order was again issued for her ar- rest. When the soldiers came to take her away, her mother was ill, and her father entreated them to permit her to stay at home until her mother be- came convalescent. His request wi granted and Belle was placed on p: role. Sentries were stationed around their house and orders were given to them, as Belle wrote, “that they must not let me come near them, for I might give them chloroform or send & dagger through their heart: She was again brought to Washing- ton, and this time was placed in Ca: roll prison, in the “room for disin- gulshed guests.” This was a bullding erected by Duff Green on the site of the Congressional Library. It had formerly been used as a hotel, called Carroll Place. Belle immediately es- tablished communication between her robm and the one adjoining, through a hole in the wall made by the occu- pants of the other room. The hole was discovered, the occupaats of the room removed to the one beyond, and in the cell vacated by the men & wom- an prisoner was put. Belle was al- lowed to visit this woman and talk with her. Belle at once bribed a sentry with oranges and apples to lend her his bayonet, with which she wrenched oft a board over the keyhole in the door between the woman'g room and the men's room. The innfhites of the three cells were thus enabled to pass notes back and forth. One day an arrow was shot into her. room with a message ‘to obtain a.rubber ball, specimen ° ce-camp to Stonewall Jackson. . Inlopen it, put & message inside, sew it .|newspapers in that city, Square, which she did. ARAAAAAAAARAAAAA AR A AR A AAARAAAAMNAAADBAAAARAAAAAADRAADAANAAAADAAMNTY together ard throw it into Capitol !permission to go to Canada. A ‘Washington newspaper published her While In Carroll prison she was ill |letter to him, with the remark that with typhold fever. When convales- cent, she asked and received permis- sion to walk in Capitol Square, on con- dition that she would hold no com- munication with any one, verbally or by letter. Every evening from 6 to 5:30 o'clock she walked there, follow- ed by a corporal and a guard with guns. Finally, Secretary Stanton re- voked the order, because so many R R R TR R R SRR RS people, chiefly southern sympathizers, assembled to see her and pity her. While in Carroll prison she frequent- ly sang “Take Me Back to My Own Sunny South.” Eventually she was tried by court- martial and sentenced to prison for the remainder of the war. Her father succeeded in getting the sentence commuted to “banishment to the south—never to return north agal:. during the war.” In 1863 she started for Fort Monroe. There she defied Gen. Ben- jamin F. Butler, who was in command there. She then left for Richmond. Gen. Butler, having learned that cer- tain letters had been found in her possession, tried to recapture her, with the intention of sending her to Fort Warren, in Massachusetts bay. She reached Richmond safely, how- ever, and while there heard that her father had died, chiefly from anxiety over her welfare. She decided to go abroad and was given important dispatches from the Confederate government to authosi- ties In Europe. She sailed from Wil- mington as “Mrs. Lewis,” in a south- ern blockade runner, the Greyhound. It was commanded by an officer who was formerly In the United States Navy, but at the beginning of the war he had resigned and entered the Confederate service. The ship was chased by a federal cruiser and cap- tured. Previous to her capture the ship's money had been thrown over- board and Belle burned the dispatches given her. A southerner on the ship revealed the fact that she was Belle Boyd. * % % % N the cruiser that captured the Greyhound was a lleutenant named Sam Wylde Hardinge. He was a southern sympathizer and had re- signed from the federal naval service. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, however, gefused to accept his resig- nation, and the lieutenant was forced to continue in the federal service. Belle was placed under his guard. He fell in love with her while on the ship, and asked her to marry him. They went to Fort Monroe, as guard and prisoner, then to New York, where Belle went to the thea- ter. In Boston she had a suite of rooms at the Tremont Hotel. The when she intended to go to church or go driv- ing, announced the fact. It was doubtful what her fate would be—whether she would be sent to Fort Warren or to Canada. Lieut. Hardinge endeavored to induce prom- inent men in Washington to obtain her release. Belle wrote to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, and asked O the editor.—The most of my readers may reccolect that I bet dozens and dozens of dollars on the so-called Yankees to win the world serious, which turned to ashes like the most, of my bets, but which if they had of win same, why I was going to spend costly mackerel skin fur coat for she who I laughingly reffer to as my Mrs. The serious is now & thing of the past like the latest N. J. murder, but this year's winter has not been postponed and here it is comeing on and not only the Mra. has not got no coat, but the 4 little ones who I call the kiddles is practically destitute in many respects you might say and the situation is what a great many people might call impossible as the French have it. Like for inst. the oldest of the little. fellows has been wambling around the little home for the past 12 month with only the one tooth- brush and getting the more teeth all the wile. ¥ No. 2 as 1 often call him has got 2 legs and 2 stockings but only I garter or elastic. The 3d in line of succession has not got nothing you might say and is trying to get along on' his brains which even his best friend would call a precarious ex- istence knowing him as they do. The 4th and last we hope is just 2 nonentity, but insists on haveing Lardner Proposes To Stage Benefit |she was insane. She was escorted to the Canadian border by a United States marshal, and was notified by federal authorities that if she were again caught in the United States or by United States authorities, ske would be shot. She went to Quebec, fol- lowed by detectives, and sjiled for England. Lieut. Hardinge joined her later in London, and in 1864 they were mal ried. La Belle Rebelle, as she was called, had a fashionable wedding. She was then nineteen years of age. Within a short time Lieut. Hardinge returned to the United States on pri- vate business. He was arrested as a deserter, and it was declared that Forrest Hall, in Georgetown. This allegiance. He was imprisoned in Forrest hall, in Georgetown. This building was formerly a place ‘where public entertainments were held. While used as a prison it was known as “The Last Ditch.” Lieut. Hardinge was taken later to the old Capltol prison, then to Carroll prison. Dur- ing his imprisonment, his wife was ill and without money in London. When her financal condition became known in England many prominent persons offered her assistance. While in London she wrote from memory the book heretofore men- tioned, entitled “Belle Boyd, in Camp and Prison” It was published in London, in 1865, with an introduction by a “Friend of the South,” to whom she had handed her manuscript for suggestions as to its disposition, Lieut. Hardinge was finally re- leased, and he rejoined his wife in England. He died in 1869. Eventu- ally Belle became an actress. She married again, but in 1584 was di- vorced. She was married a third time, to a Mr. High, at Detroit, Mich. For several years she gave lectures, especially at G. A. R. encampments. She joined a theatrical company, and while they were playing in Kilbourn, Wis., she was suddenly taken i11, dled on June 11, 1900, and was buried In that town. On each Memorial day flowers are placed on her grave in Spring Grove cemetery by members of the G. A. R. A wooden monument was at first erected at her grave, but about five years ago it was replaced by & gran- ite block bearing the inscription aforementioned. About two years g0 a southern newspaper stated that the matter of exhuming the remains of Belle Boyd and removing them to Green Hill cemetery, at Martinsburg, W. Va., her old home, had been dis- cussed. Evidently the plan was aban- doned. It is said that one of Belle Boyd's sons served in the A. E. F., in the world war. It would seem, from statements made in her book by this “dangerous rebel” as she was called, that, in view of her activities in time of war, she was treated with remark- able leniency by the United States government. It does not require any stretch of the imagintien<te know what the Germans would have done to her in similar circumstances. giveing me the grounds free of gratis provided they will take the first 92 per cent. 9:00 A.M.—Benediction by Brig. Gen. Dawes. 9:30 AM.—Parade of germs from upper end of Manhattan Island back and 4th. 9:40 A.M.—W1ll Rogers of the Fol- lies in chewing the rope. 9%0 to 11:00 A.M.—Recovering from exhaustion. 11:30 AM—A polo match to prove that it is & Polo grounds. Game be- tween the photographers on P. M. papers and the officlals on the Erle ferry boat. This game will de played | rompers and toy balloons and feed so dear to the heart of other kiddles. * X X X ERSONALLY 1 have been lopping around the joint for mos. and mos. without no new night gown to make myself presentible and all and all it is geuting to be a terrible condition of fairs and lord only knows when we will halt to give up the heavily mortgaged home and move to a high price apt. Well friends the solution of the misery has came from my loving friends namely to put on & benefit for myself and family and that is what I have wrote this letter about is to try and tell the detalls of tifls benefit and what it is going to be like and will say at this pt. that people who don't want to buy tickets to this benefit is welcome to not buy them but I am off them for life and the date of the benefit is set for Thanksgiving A.M. and. I am not asking this benefit for myself and never would of thought of it only my friends insisted on haveing it and I am not soliciting nobody to buy tickets but will hate all those who don't. * % % % S great event will be staged at the Polo Grounds in: New York city and the owners of same are g i “THE FOURTH AND LAST WE HOPE IS JUST A NONENTITY, BUT INSISTS ON HAVING THE ROMPERS AND TOY BALLOONS AND FEED SO DEAR TO THE HEART OF THE KIDDIES.” with horses that used to hall st. cars this way and that. Neither team have ever win a game or lose one. 12:13 P.M.—Duel with swords be- tween 2 giraffes, Pat and Mike, from the Bronx zoo. 1:14 P.M.—A turkey carving contest between 2 Swiss elepbants. 2:00 P.M.—Football game between Harvard and the International Cor- respondence Schools. 2:11 P.M.—A long nap. 3:00 P.M.—Rapid shaving duel be- tween 2 neophytes from the House of David. 4:23 P.M. — Chorus of washer- women from the Ziegfeld Follies. That is the program gents and I ad- vice everybody to miss it but those who don't come and pay there little $12.00, why I am off of them for life. RING W. Great Neck, Long Island, Nov. 17. X