The Storm Centre Part 25

The next day came the news that charges having been duly preferred he had been placed in arrest to await the action of the general court-martial to be a.s.sembled in the town.

CHAPTER XVI

Ashley, in common with a number of Baynell's friends, did not recognize a fair spirit in the inception of the investigation. The military authorities in Roanoke City seemed rancorously keen to prove that naught within the scope of their own duty could have averted the disasters of the battle of the redoubt. The moral gymnastic of shunting the blame was actively in progress. The proof of treachery within the lines, individual failure of duty, would explain to the Department far more to the justification of the commander of the garrison of the town the losses both of life and material, and the jeopardy of the whole position, than admission of the fact that the military of the post had been outwitted, and that the enemy was ent.i.tled to salvos of applause for a very gallant exploit. Indeed, only specific details from one familiar with the interior of the works, to which, of course, citizens were not admitted, could have informed Julius Roscoe of the location of the powder magazine and enabled him to utilize in this connection his own early familiarity with the surroundings. Thus the theory that Julius Roscoe could not have accomplished its destruction had he not been harbored, even helped, by the connivance of a personal friend in the lines, and that friend, a Federal officer, was far more popular among the military authorities than the simple fact that a Rebel had been detected visiting his father's house by a Federal officer, a guest therein, promptly arrested, and in the altercation the one had been hurt and the other had escaped. Had the capture of the redoubt never occurred later as a sequence, this transient encounter of Baynell's would hardly have elicited a momentary notice.

The aspect of the court-martial was far from rea.s.suring even to men of worldly experience on broad lines. The impa.s.sive, serious, bearded faces, the military figures in full-dress uniform, the brilliant insignia of high rank being specially p.r.o.nounced, for of course no officer of lower degree than that of the prisoner was permitted to sit, were ranged on each side of a long table on a low rostrum in a large room, formerly a fraternity hall, in a commercial building now devoted to military purposes. The spectacle might well have made the heart quail. It seemed so expressive of the arbitrary decrees of absolute force, oblivious of justice, untempered by mercy!

A jury as an engine of the law must needs be considered essentially imperfect, and subject to many deteriorating influences, only available as the best device for eliciting fact and appraising crises that the slow development of human morals has yet presented. But to a peaceful civilian a jury of ignorant, shock-headed rustics might seem a safe and reasonable repository of the dearest values of life and reputation in comparison with this warlike phalanx, combining the functions of both judge and jury, the very atmosphere of destruction sucked in with every respiration.

The president, a brevet brigadier-general, at the head of the table, was of a peculiarly fierce physiognomy, that yet was stony cruel. The judge-advocate at the foot had the look of laying down the law by main force. He had a keenly aggressive manner. He was a captain of cavalry, brusque, alert; he had dark side whiskers and a glancing dark eye, and was the only man on the rostrum attired in an undress uniform. His multifarious functions as the official prosecutor for the government, and also adviser to the court, and yet attorney for the prisoner to a degree,--by a theory similar to the ancient fiction of English law that the judge is counsel for the accused,--would seem, in civilian estimation, to render him "like Cerberus, three gentlemen at once," as Mrs. Malaprop would say, or a military presentment of Pooh-Bah. The nominal military accuser, acting in concert with the judge-advocate, seated at a little distance, was conscious of sustaining an unpopular _rle_, and it had tinged his manner with disadvantage. The prisoner appeared without any restraint, of course, but wearing no sword. The special values of his presence, his handsome face, his blond hair and beard that had a glitter not unlike the gold lace of his full-dress uniform, his fine figure and highbred, reserved manner, were very marked in his conspicuous position, occupying a chair at a small table on the right of the judge-advocate. Baynell had a calm dignity and a look of steady, immovable courage incongruous with his plight, arraigned on so base a charge, and yet a sort of blighted, wounded dismay, as unmistakable as a burn, was on his face, that might have moved even one who had cared naught for him to resentment, to protest for his sake.

The light of the unshaded windows, broad, of ample height, and eight or ten in number on one side of the room, brought out in fine detail every feature of the scene within. Beneath no sign of the town appeared, as the murmur of traffic rose softly, for the building was one of the few three-story structures, and the opposite roofs were low. The aspect of the far-away mountains, framed in each of the apertures, with the intense clarity of the light and the richness of tint of the approaching summer solstice, was like a sublimated gallery of pictures, painted with a full brush and of kindred types. Here were the repet.i.tious long ranges, with the mouldings of the foot-hills at the base, and again a single great dome, amongst its mysterious s.h.i.+mmering clouds, filled the canvas. Now in the background were crowded all the varying mountain forms, while a glittering vacant reach of the Tennessee River stretched out into the distance. And again a bridge crossed the currents, light and airy in effect, seeming to spring elastically from its piers, in the strong curves of the suspended arches, while a sail-boat, with its head tucked down shyly as the breeze essayed to chuck it under the chin, pa.s.sed through and out of sight. Another window showed the wind in a bluffer mood, wrestling with the storm clouds; showed, too, that rain was falling in a different county, and the splendors of the iris hung over far green valleys that gleamed prismatically with a secondary reflection.

The room was crowded with spectators, both military and civilian, finding seats on the benches which were formerly used in the fraternity gatherings and which were still in place. The case had attracted much public attention. There were few denizens of the town who had not had individual experiences of interest pending the storming of the fort, and this fact invested additional details with peculiar zest and whetted the edge of curiosity as to the inception of the plan and the means by which Julius Roscoe's exploit had become practicable. The effect of the imposing character of the court was manifested in the perfect decorum observed by the general public. There was scarcely a stir during the opening of the proceedings. The order convening the court was read to the accused, and he was offered his right to challenge any member of the court-martial for bias or other incompetency. Baynell declined to avail himself of this privilege. There ensued a moment of silence. Then, with a metallic clangor, for every member wore his sword, the court rose, and, all standing, a glittering array, the oath was administered to each of the thirteen by the judge-advocate. Afterward the president of the court, of course the ranking officer present, himself administered the oath to the judge-advocate, and the prosecution opened.

The military accuser was the first witness sworn and interrogated, but the prosecution had much other testimony tending to show that the prisoner had been living in great amity with persons notoriously of sentiments antagonistic to the Union cause, as exemplified by his long stay in Judge Roscoe's house; that he was in correspondence and even in intimate a.s.sociation with a Rebel in hiding under the same roof; that either with treacherous intent, or for personal reasons, he had leniently permitted this enemy in arms to lie _perdu_ within the lines and subsequently to escape with such information as had resulted in great loss of men, materials, and money to the Federal government; that he had been apprised, by the sentinel at the door, of the approach of a body of troops the night before the attack on the redoubt took place, and that he nefariously or negligently declined to investigate the incident. Most of this evidence, however, was circ.u.mstantial.

The defence met it strenuously at every point. The intimacy between Judge Roscoe and the Baynell family was shown to be of a far earlier date, and the friends.h.i.+p utterly devoid of any connection with political interests; in this relation the accused had in every instance subordinated his personal feeling to his military duty, even going so far as to cause the property of his host's niece to be seized for military service,--the impressment of the horse, which Colonel Ashley testified he had at that time considered an unwarrantable bit of official tyranny, some individuals being allowed to retain their horses through the interposition of army officers among their friends.

Colonel Ashley testified further that the prisoner was such a stickler on trifles, as to seek to check him, a person of responsibility and discretion, an experienced officer, in expressing some casual speculations in the presence of Judge Roscoe concerning troops on an incoming train.

The accused admitted that he had not investigated the sound of marching troops in the thrice-guarded lines of the encampment, but urged it was no part of his duty and impracticable. Small detachments were coming and going at all hours of the night. If an officer of the guard, going out with the relief or a patrol, had seen fit to march across Judge Roscoe's grove, it was no concern of his nor of the sentinel's. He had no divination of the proximity of the enemy.

Perhaps the ardor of the witnesses, called in Captain Baynell's behalf, when the prosecution had rested at length, made an impression unfavorable to the idea of impartiality. More than one on cross-examination was constrained to acknowledge that he was swayed by the sense of the prisoner's. .h.i.therto unimpugnable record, and his high standing as a soldier. No such admission could be wrung from Judge Roscoe, skilled in all the details of the effect of testimony. His plain a.s.severations that his son had come to his house, not knowing that a Federal officer was a temporary inmate, the account of the simple measures taken to defeat the guest's observation or detection of the young Rebel's propinquity, the reasonableness of his quietly awaiting an opportunity to run the pickets when a chance meeting resulted in discovery and a collision--all went far to establish the fact that the presence of Julius Roscoe was but one of those stolen visits home in which the adventurous Southern soldiers delighted and of which Captain Baynell had no sort of knowledge till the moment of their encounter, when Julius rushed forth to the gaze of all the camp.

This was the point of difficulty with the prosecution, the point of danger with the defence,--the adequacy of the proof as to the prisoner's knowledge of the presence of the Rebel in hiding, harbored in the house.

For this the prosecution had the apparition of the Confederate officer, covered with blood and later identified as Julius Roscoe, and the condition of Baynell's wound, which the surgeon swore was a "facer,"

delivered by an expert boxer. Evidently this came from an altercation, in which both had forborne the use of weapons, thus suggesting some collision of interests, as between personal a.s.sociates or former friends rather than a hand-to-hand conflict of armed enemies.

On this vital point, to form the conclusions of military men, Baynell could command no testimony save that of the Roscoe household,--the most important witness of course being the judge himself, who had devised and controlled all the methods to keep the Federal officer unsuspicious and tranquil, and to maintain the lurking Rebel in security. The anxiety of the authorities to fix the responsibility for the disclosure of the military information concerning the interior of the works, which only one familiar with the location of the magazine could have given, had induced them to ignore Judge Roscoe's shelter of their enemy, thus avoiding the entanglement of a slighter matter with the paramount consideration under investigation. While the fact that his feelings as a father must needs have coerced Judge Roscoe into harboring and protecting his son and requiring his servant to minister to his wants, still the recital of the concealment of his presence affronted the sentiment of the court-martial, even though Judge Roscoe's part was obviously restricted to the sojourn of the Confederate officer in his house, for he had no knowledge of the details of the escape and subsequent adventures.

The course of the proceedings of such a body was not competent to afford any very marked relaxations in the line of comedy relief. But certainly old Ephraim, when summoned to the stand, must have been in any other presence a mark of irresistible derision, not unkind, to be sure, and devoid of bitterness.

Keenly conscious that he had been discovered in details which to "Ma.r.s.e Soldier" were a stumbling-block and an offence, and that his own prestige for political loyalty was shattered,--for he doubted if it were possible to so present the contradiction of his conviction of his interest and yet his adherence to old custom and fidelity in such a guise that the brevet brigadier would do aught but snort at it,--he came, bowing repeatedly, cringing almost to the earth, his hat in his hand, his worn face seamed in a thousand new wrinkles, and looking nearly eighty years of age. The formidable embodiment of military justice fixed him with a stern comprehensive gaze, and the brigadier, who had no realization of the martial terrors of his own appearance, sought to rea.s.sure him by saying in his deep bluff voice, "Come forward, Uncle Ephraim, come forward." The old negro started violently, then bowed once more in humble deprecation. Suddenly he perceived Baynell.

In his relief to recognize the face of a friend he forgot the purport of the a.s.semblage, and broke out with a high senile chirp.

"_You_ here, Cap'n! Well, sah! I is p'intedly s'prised." Then recollecting the situation, he was covered with confusion, especially as Baynell remained immovable and unresponsive, and once more old Ephraim bowed to the earth.

Not a little doubt had been felt by the court when deliberating upon the admissibility of the testimony of the old negro. It was contrary to the civil law of the state and contravened also the theory of the unbounded influence over the slave which the master exerts. In view of the pending abolition of slavery, both considerations might be considered abrogated, and since this testimony was of great importance to the prosecution as well as to the defence, bearing directly on the main point at issue,--as a freedman he was duly sworn. The members of the court-martial had ample opportunity to test the degree of patience with which they had been severally endowed as the old darkey was engineered through the preliminary statements; inducted into the witness-chair on the left hand of the judge-advocate, his hat inverted at his feet, with his red bandanna handkerchief filling its crown; induced to give over his acquiescent iteration, "Yes, sah! Yes, sah! jes' ez _you_ say!"

regardless of the significance of the question; and at last fairly launched on the rendering of his testimony. The prosecution, however, soon thought he was no such fool as he seemed, for the details of the earlier sojourn of Julius had a simplicity that was coercive of credence. The old servant stated, as if it were a matter of prime importance, that he had to feed him in the salad-bowl. He "das'ent fetch Ma.r.s.e Julius a plate 'kase de widder 'oman, dat's Miss Leonora, mought miss it. But _he_ didn't keer, little Julius didn't,"--then to explain the familiarity of the address he stated that "Julius de youngest ob Marster's chillen--de Baby-chile." Old Ephraim repeated this expression often, thinking it mitigated the fall from political grace which he himself had suffered, because of the leniency which must be shown to a "Baby-chile." And now and then, at first, the court-martial, though far from lacking in brainy endowment and keen perception, were at sea to understand that the "Baby-chile" would have been allowed to smoke a _see_gar,--he being "plumb desperate" for tobacco,--except so anxious was Judge Roscoe to avoid attracting the suspicion of Captain Baynell, who would "have tuk little Julius in quick as a dog snappin' at a fly!

Yes--sah--yes--Cap'n," with a deprecatory side glance at Baynell. "De Baby-chile couldn't even dare to smoke, fur fear de Cap'n mought smell it from out de garret. De Baby-chile wanted a _see_gar so bad he sont his Pa forty messages a day. But his Pa didn't allow him ter light one--not one; he jes' gnawed the e-end."

It required, too, some mental readjustment to recognize the "Baby-chile"

in the young Samson, who had almost carried off the gates of the town itself, the key of the whole department, on his stalwart back. This phrase was even more frequently repeated as Uncle Ephraim entered upon the details of Julius's escape and his attack on Baynell--it seemed to mitigate the intensity with which he played at the game of war to speak of it as the freaks of a "Baby-chile."

The witness could produce no replies to the question, and indeed he had no recollection, as to how Julius Roscoe became possessed of the facts concerning the works, for old Ephraim did not realize that he himself had afforded this information--acquired in aimlessly tagging after the detail sent for ammunition, the negroes coming and going with scant restriction in the camps of their liberators. But very careful was he to let fall no word of the citizen's dress he had conveyed to the "Baby-chile" in the grotto, under cover of night.

"Bress Gawd!" he said to himself, "it's de Cap'n on trial--_not me_!"

He detailed with great candor the lies he had told Captain Baynell, when, emerging from his long insensibility, he had asked about the Rebel officer. "It was a dream," the witness had told "Cap'n." In Captain Baynell's earlier illness he had often been delirious, and it had amused him when he recovered to hear the quaint things he had said; sometimes "Cap'n" himself described to Judge Roscoe or to the surgeon the queer sights he had seen, the results of the morphine administered. So in this instance he had hardly seemed surprised, but had let it pa.s.s like the rest.

Uncle Ephraim did not vary these statements in any degree, not even under the ordeal of cross-examination. Indeed, he stood this remarkably well and left the impression he had made unimpaired. But when he was told that he might stand aside, and it entered into his comprehension that the phrase meant that he might leave the room, he fairly chirped with glee and obvious relief.

"Thankee, Ma.r.s.e Gen'al!" he said to the youngest member of the court, a captain, to whom he had persisted in addressing most of his replies, and had continuously promoted to the rank of general, as if this high station obviously best accorded with the young officer's deserts.

Old Ephraim scuttled off to the door, stumbling and hirpling in his haste and agitation, and it had not closed on him, when his "Bress de Lawd! he done delivered me f'om dem dat would have devoured me!"

resounded through the room.

There was a laugh outside--somebody in the corridor opined that the court-martial wanted no such tough old morsel, but not a smile touched the serious faces on each side of the table, and the next witness was summoned.

This was Mrs. Gwynn. She produced an effect of sober elegance in her dress of gray barge, wearing a simple hat of lacelike straw of the same tint, with velvet knots of a darker gray, on her beautiful golden-brown hair. The court-martial, guaranteed to have no heart, had, as far as perceptible impression was concerned, no eyes. They looked stolidly at her as, with a swift and adaptive intelligence, she complied with the formalities, and her testimony was under way.

So youthful, so girlish and fair of face, so sylphlike in form was she, that her appearance was of far more significance in their estimation than their apparent lack of appreciation might betoken. More than one who had begun to incline to the views of the prosecution thought that he beheld here the influence which had fostered treason and brought a fine officer to a forgetfulness of his oath, a disregard of his duty, and the destruction of every value of life and every consolation of death.

Her manner, however, was not that of a siren. All the incongruities of her aspect were specially p.r.o.nounced as she sat in the clear light of the window and looked steadfastly at each querist in turn, so soberly, so earnestly, with so little consciousness of her beauty, that it seemed in something to lack, as if a more definite aplomb and intention of display could enhance the fact.

Apparently it was a conclusive testimony that she was giving, for it was presently developed that she did not know that Julius Roscoe was in the house; that she herself had suggested to Captain Baynell to go in search of a book up the stairs to his hiding-place, from which there was no other mode of egress; that in less than two minutes she heard Captain Baynell's loud exclamations of surprise, and the words in his voice, very quick and decisive--"You are my prisoner!" twice repeated. She had rushed to the door of the hall to hear a crash as of a fall, and she saw the bal.u.s.trade of the staircase, which was the same structure throughout the three stories, shaking, as Julius Roscoe, covered with blood, dashed by her and out into the balcony. She knew that Baynell was delirious subsequently, and that he was kept in ignorance as to what had occasioned his fall.

There was a degree of discomfiture on the part of the prosecution. It was not that the judge-advocate was specially b.l.o.o.d.y-minded or vindictive. He had a part to play, and it behooved him to play it well.

It would seem that if the prosecution broke down on so obvious and simple a case, which had been the nucleus of so much disaster, blame might attach to him, by the mere accident of his position. These reflections rendered him ingenious, and with the license of cross-examination he began with personalities.

"You have stated that you are a widow?"

"Yes. I am the widow of Rufus Allerton Gwynn."

"You do not wear widow's weeds?"

"No. I have laid them aside."

"In contemplation of matrimony?"

"No."

"Is not the accused your accepted suitor?"

"No."

Baynell was looking down at a paper in his hand. His eyelids flickered, then he looked up steadily, with a face of quiet attention.

A member of the court preferred the demand:--

"Was he ever a suitor for your hand?"

"Yes." Her face had flushed, but she kept her eyes steadily fixed on the questioner.