To the very last he was firm in his refusal to give any information as to when and where he received the papers. To the entreaties of those who were willing to spare his life if he would tell, he answered, “No, I shall not betray my friend. I have given my word.” The next morning he was made to mount a scaffold and was hanged until he was dead. He died with a serene smile on his lips, conscious of his devotion to duty as a man and as a soldier.
On the grounds of the Capitol building in Nashville, there is a beautiful monument erected to the memory of Sam Davis by the State of Tennessee.
HOW GEORGE SAVED THE TRAIN
Showing that one must act promptly in emergencies if he would save the lives of others.
George was a little boy who lived in a small town. His father was an engineer on a locomotive, and their house was near the railroad track. George liked to sit and watch the trains pass. Whenever his father’s train would go by he would look out for his father’s hand waved to him from the window of the locomotive. Sometimes his father blew the whistle to let his mother know that everything was all right.
A short distance from his house there was a very dangerous trestle. One day after a hard rain George ran out to wade in the water. He came to the trestle and saw that a part had been washed away. He knew at once that if any train tried to pass over the broken trestle that the engine and all the cars would fall through and the lives of many passengers would be lost.
George was a brave little boy and knew that he must do something and do it quickly. “I must hurry to the station and tell the master to send some one to flag the next train,” said he to himself. At once he started to the station to tell what he had seen.
Listen! What was that he heard? He listened again and remembered that it must be time for the train, and it was his father’s train, too. If the train went on his father would be killed. The train did not stop at this station, and George knew he would not have time to get anybody now.