QUANTRELL and His Company Were on Foot Again and Jackson County was filled with troops. At Kansas City there was a large garrison2, with smaller ones at Independence, Pink Hill, Lone3 Jack1, Stoney Point and Sibley. Peabody caused the report to be circulated that a majority of Quantrell’s men were wounded, and that if the brush were scoured4 thoroughly5 they might be picked up here and there and summarily disposed of. Raiding bands therefore began the hunt. Old men were imprisoned6 because they could give no information of a concealed7 enemy; young men murdered outright8; women were insulted and abused. The uneasiness that had heretofore rested upon the county gave place now to a feeling of positive fear. The Jayhawkers on one side and the militia9 on the other made matters hot. All traveling was dangerous. People at night closed their eyes in dread10 lest the morrow should usher11 in a terrible awakening12. One incident of the hunt is a bloody13 memory yet with many of the older settlers of Jackson County.
An aged14 man by the name of Blythe, believing his own house to be his own, fed all whom he pleased to feed, and sheltered all whom it pleased him to shelter. Among many of his warm personal friends was Cole Younger. The colonel commanding the fort at Independence sent a60 scout15 one day to find Younger, and to make the country people tell where he might be found. Old man Blythe was not at home, but his son was, a fearless lad of twelve years. He was taken to the barn and ordered to confess everything he knew of Quantrell, Younger, and their whereabouts. If he failed to speak truly he was to be killed. The boy, in no manner frightened, kept them some moments in conversation, waiting for an opportunity to escape. Seeing at last what he imagined to be a chance, he dashed away from his captors and entered the house under a perfect shower of balls. There, seizing a pistol and rushing through the back door towards some timber, a ball struck him in the spine16 just as he reached the garden fence and he fell back dying, but splendid in his boyish courage to the last. Turning over on his face as the Jayhawkers rushed up to finish him he shot one dead, mortally wounded another, and severely17 wounded the third. Before he could shoot a fourth time, seventeen bullets were put into his body.
It seemed as if God’s vengeance18 was especially exercised in the righting of this terrible wrong. An old negro man who had happened to be at Blythe’s house at the time, was a witness to the bloody deed, and, afraid of his own life, ran hurriedly into the brush. There he came unawares upon Younger, Quantrell, Haller, Todd, and eleven of his men. Noticing the great excitement under which the negro labored19, they forced him to tell61 them the whole story. It was yet time for an ambuscade. On the road back to Independence was a pass between two embankments known as “The Blue Cut.” In width it was about fifty yards, and the height of each embankment was about thirty feet. Quantrell dismounted his men, stationed some at each end of the passageway and some at the top on either side. Not a shot was to be fired until the returning Federals had entered it, front and rear. From the Blue Cut this fatal spot was afterwards known as the Slaughter20 Pen. Of the thirty-eight Federals sent out after Cole Younger, and who, because they could not find him, had brutally21 murdered an innocent boy, seventeen were killed while five—not too badly shot to be able to ride—barely managed to escape into Independence, the avenging22 Guerrillas hard upon their heels.
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1 jack | |
n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克 | |
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2 garrison | |
n.卫戍部队;驻地,卫戍区;vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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3 lone | |
adj.孤寂的,单独的;唯一的 | |
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4 scoured | |
走遍(某地)搜寻(人或物)( scour的过去式和过去分词 ); (用力)刷; 擦净; 擦亮 | |
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5 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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6 imprisoned | |
下狱,监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7 concealed | |
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
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8 outright | |
adv.坦率地;彻底地;立即;adj.无疑的;彻底的 | |
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9 militia | |
n.民兵,民兵组织 | |
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10 dread | |
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧 | |
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11 usher | |
n.带位员,招待员;vt.引导,护送;vi.做招待,担任引座员 | |
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12 awakening | |
n.觉醒,醒悟 adj.觉醒中的;唤醒的 | |
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13 bloody | |
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
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14 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
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15 scout | |
n.童子军,侦察员;v.侦察,搜索 | |
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16 spine | |
n.脊柱,脊椎;(动植物的)刺;书脊 | |
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17 severely | |
adv.严格地;严厉地;非常恶劣地 | |
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18 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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19 labored | |
adj.吃力的,谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 );苦干;详细分析;(指引擎)缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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20 slaughter | |
n.屠杀,屠宰;vt.屠杀,宰杀 | |
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21 brutally | |
adv.残忍地,野蛮地,冷酷无情地 | |
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22 avenging | |
adj.报仇的,复仇的v.为…复仇,报…之仇( avenge的现在分词 );为…报复 | |
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