Linn - Bertrand M. - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

Mace, Ind., Oct. 11—Bertrand M. Linn, a country lad living with his parents on their farm, one quarter of a mile east of Mace, has accepted a position in the Prussian army and will go to German next spring. The circumstances which led to his securing the position partake somewhat of the nature of a romance. About fourteen months ago Linn began a correspondence with a young girl in Germany, who represented herself to be the daughter of a farmer of moderate means. All went well for about five months, when another girl, a cousin to the first, appeared on the scene and undertook to break off his correspondence with the former. Linn promptly informed her that so long as her cousin’s letters were lady-like and intelligent, their correspondence, so far as he was concerned, would continue. Upon the receipt of this letter she wrote him a most abusive reply—cursing him by all the saints in the Roman Catholic Calendar. To this, Linn merely answered that “as snow in summer and rain in harvest, so the curse causeless shall not come!” To this he received no reply and his correspondence with the farmer’s (?) daughter proceeded without event until the cholera broke out in Europe, when she was one of the first to die of that dread disease. Now during all this time he had believed her to be the 16 year old daughter of German farmer, of moderate circumstances, and you may imagine his surprise on receiving, a few weeks since, a letter from her father stating that his correspondent was the daughter of a Colonel in the Prussian army, and who paid taxes on property valued at $250,000 and also begging that he return her letters to her bereaved father, as she was the greatest treasure he had ever possessed and he wished to keep them as remembrances of her. Linn did as requested, never expecting to hear from his again. She had already told him that her mother had died when she was a child—too young to remember her. Although she had played a little deception on him, he had also played one on her, for instead of giving her his real name and address, he had written under the name of Marc Vol Mace. The post office I will not give—suffice to say it was not Mace. When he returned the letters she had written him to her father, he told him of this deception and why he had done it—simply to have a German name. A little more than a month ago he received a letter from the Colonel, telling him that he had read his letters to his daughters and had taken a fancy to him, and that if would come to Germany he would give him a Lieutenancy in any branch of the Prussian army that he might choose to enter and that it was probable, if he conducted himself properly, he would make him his heir. Linn (or Marc Von Mace, as he will be known in German Hist.) having nothing better in view, chose to enter the sharp shooting branch—the easiest in time of peace and the most dangerous in time of war—as a scout. He was born May 31, 1875; is between 17 and 18 years of age, 5 feet, 7 inches tall and capable of enduring great fatigue, and will, no doubt, make an accurate marksman and a daring and fearless scout. Let us hope that he will never be compelled to direct a bullet at an American soldier or sailor, but when it comes to fighting the Russians or French may his bullet never miss its mark. – thanks to S for this one