| From the Richmond Daily Dispatch |
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| March 12, 1862 |
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| The Yankee Programme in North Carolina |
| The Yankees have commenced
their infamous work in North Carolina by an attempt to out off railway
communication, which, however, was happily fooled by the vigilance of
our sentinels. The Newbern Progress, of the 9th, says: |
| About three o'clock yesterday
morning a small boat was seen to pass up under the railroad bridge by
the sentinels but did not stop. At four o'clock a light blurs was
discovered about midway of the bridge, and the alarm was instantly
made, but the vile perpetrator of the deed was not discovered. The
guard hurried to the fatal spot so promptly and timely that, with two
buckets of water, which they succeeded in getting by tying a couple of
their jackets together, and thus getting the bucket down into the
river, they extinguished the flames and prevented a disastrous
conflagration. |
| Capt. Cox, commander of the
railroad guard, called at our office yesterday morning with the
machinery used by the scamp for the accomplishment of his devilish
purpose which consisted of a small wirsnet of basket filled with hemp,
made by unraveling and tearing up an old hemp rope. This basket had
been fastened to the bridge by a common drawing chain wrapped with a
rag from one and to the other, and the rag and hemp with which the
basket was were both thoroughly saturated with camphene or spirits of
turpentine, the bottle which had contained the spirits having been
left in a hurry so away. The fire was applied upon one of the pillars
at the junction of two arches, where the accumulation of timbers made
unfavorable for a sure job; and to make the object dewily certain, the
spirits had been strewn on the timbers clears across the bridge, so
that when the match took effect the fire spread instantly across the
entire width of the structure. |
| We have no doubt that this is
the opening act of the great drama that is to be enacted here. No
doubt, the Federals intend an early attack on this place and had made
arrangements with some infamous, low contemptible scoundrel
hereabouts, to burn the bridges so as to cut the possibility of
retreat in case such measure should become necessary. Let our
authorities take warning, and let them fully realize that we are in
the midst of a bloody and fiendish war — such a war as never before
erraced humanity — while in our mine there are traitors of the
blackest and most dangerous |
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