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 con flagration.
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
’
