A Terrible Experience

[From the Council Bluffs (Iova) Nonperell.] Olio of cmr serni-occasioual reportera, ledby business to Omaha yesterday, met witli a strange and peculiar experience, Whidb, fliough not beyond the rango of probabilities, lias a certaiu fascination on account of its novelty. Passing up i Douglass strect he met a man ftbout j thirty-ii vo years of age, on crutohes, and dressed in the Army bluo of tho United i States service. At a planee tho reporter imaginad lio recognized the party, but wns, howevi'r, micertain about it, and ! passed on. The idea still lingered, and he looked back until the invalid, whoever ho was, tumod the corner. Still hauntod with the face, he retraced his steps, turned ihc corner and quiokened his pace, and saw the stranger some distanco ahead of him. No timo was lost in overtaking hira, wheu helaid liis hand on his shotuder and requested him lo ' stop a moment. The stranger did as re' qiwstcd nnd half-faced the person oddressing him. This gave our reporter a ': full view, and ho at once recognized in ! his face tho features of a brothor who hád been missing sinco the battlo of Antietam, in September, 1862, nearly thir; toon years ago. The effect of sueh a f meeting in such a placo and under such ! oivcumstances, af ter so long a sepafation, can bo imagined more easily tlian it can be described. Tho woundod soldier, as i ho provod to bc, and his brother, ad! jöurned to an uljoiuing restaurant, where lic rohearsed his wandorings and j mishaps in tho interim. We give the ' eombincd story and vouch for its truthI fulness. Androw, we wili cali him, was, at tho outbreak of tho war, a well-to-do tenant farmer, audupon the organization of tho Pennsylvania reserves under Gon. McOall, becamo a member of tho lst Femisylvania rifles, under Col. Thomas L. Kano, after whom the original town of Oounoü Bfctffs was callea. lie served throughout the whole of tho oarly bloocly eanrp&igns of that gallant corps without a Bcratch, and just beforo the battle of Antiettam his brothor, our reporter, becamo a member of the same company. The wo went into action together, and while on the tumpiïe whioli runsby tho littlo Dunkcr ohuxch 011 that memorablo battlefield a Georgia brigade drove theni from their position, and in falling back Andrew feil by tho side of his brother with a shot below tho pit of tho stomueh. Tho last hcard was an cxclamation, " My (lod, my wifc." Tho retreat was then hastened, and so dend did he soem to bc that he was counted amoog those who had givon up their livos for the cause. Sovoral days Audrew lay on the neutral grounds betweeu tho hostile linea, and being only wouuded, wasentirely missed by those afterward in soarch of the dead and woundod, ho hiiving hid liimself among some bushes whore he was found afterward by an old farmer, to whose home ho was removed, noar Sharpsburg. Here ho remained quite aw)iil', and was beginniug to convalesoe, when J. E. 15. Stuart's cavalry made its famous raid into Chambersbuig in the fall of 1802. In thoir retreat within the Confedérate linos, a detective of Stuart's cavalry captured him and took him south of tho Potomao river, and thenoe he was sent to Libby, and from Libby i to Macón, Ga. At tho latter placo Le mado !iis escapo after having been twice shot in the arm by the gaard, and when on his way to the federal linos under the guidanee of negroos he was recaptured by militia. Losing courage and hope, he took tho oath of allegianco to the Coofcderato goverunaeut, was sent south to Texas under Dick Taylor, in whose command he remained, over Seeking an opportunity to escape by dosertion. Bcing a Southera man by birtli, he had no diffioulty in feigniug assimilation with the troops of the Confedoracy, but still, in that remóte región, the prospect of escapo was feeble. The portion of Taylor's command to which lic belonged was driyen aoross tho Eio Grande into Mexico, and in a short timo he feil under the power of the llopublican barbarían Cortina, who raidod upon Mond and foo aliko. Some border Indian trilies had possession of somo of Cortina's most valuablo auxiliaries. To ransom these a largo number of cattle wero requii-ed in addition to a stipulation for an exchange of captives. Andrew was selected as a victim of this nefarious burgain, and was compelled . on foot to accompany the well mounted savages in the gloomy retreats iu the dismal and almost impenetrable fastnesses of the Cordilleras. Nothing eau fully and adequately picture Üie horrors and auguisli of that trip. Once hidden away in the canons tlmt formed that biding placo of his new nnd savage ïnasters all hopo died within him, and for weeks he was the victim of a brain fevcr which caine very near being his last. When thesavages in whose power he was loft was on one of their raids, they loft suffleient strengt-h to insure the safety of thoir village and gaard against surprise. Every attompt of evasion of this vigilanee failed, and only added to the horrors of his captivity. .Por years he was forced to most disagreoablo monial services, and ónoe took revengo, bloody, fearful nnd swiffc, npon a savage comianion whon beyond the roach of the sounds of the village, by hurling him from a rock into a canon through which dasheil an angry rivci1. The Fndian's gun went to the bottom along with the body of Ms victim, bat he was oncoiled by a vigihiiïco too swift to permit him to profit by his daring. Tnree months ago ho made a íinal attompt to esoape, aMl got again to the open country, whero ho almost porished of want, md not without reeeiving other wounds From the arrowa of Jn's pnrsuerf. lli again f;l into (lie clntches of Oortina's bami, who in (urn were captnred, as tho newspapers hare alroody nunounood, by the iMi can authonties. Andrew was at once released, bis Indian garb oxchanged for ft new snit of araty blue, and furnished with transportation nortli. He was about tn start east yesterday when ho met his brother. The two, howevor, eoncliided to romain until to-dfty, when they wili g'i to the old home. Andrew's wife died of grief, and his two childron soon ftfter followed their motkor. Hardehip, privations, and Buffering havo made Mm a prematuroly old man, and his hair is as white ns that "f one of sixty years of age. An ftffectionate mother awaits his return, and the lost is again found.