On Monday, 16th inst., about noon, Deputy Provost Marshal, George S. Corp, by order of Capt. Barber, arrested Horatio W. Mason of Adams township as a deserter from the 2nd Virginia Cavalry. Mason was on board the steamer Elk as a pilot, passing through the lock at Harmar at the time of his arrest. he was taken to Capt. Barber's office and at once recognized as having been enlisted there about a year ago. He denied his identity, stating: "My brother is the man you want." Capt. Barber asked him if he knew J. S. Sprague of Marietta, who was raised near by him and could clear him if he was the wrong man, but he was "not acquainted with Sprague."
Capt. Barber then sent him in charge of Corp and Ed. Booth, one of his clerks, to Sprague's grocery on Front Street for identification. Just at Sprague's door, Corp having dropped a little behind, Mason started to run. He darted across the street for the alley, when Booth and Corp ordered him to halt, to which he paid no attention. Corp drew his revolver and told him to halt or he would kill him, but he did not stop. Corp fired into the air, but still he did not stop. Then, as he was running, Corp shot at him and the ball passed in above the right ear, under the scalp for about two inches, and came out front. This brought Mason down, and he was given lodgings with Sheriff Hicks. The wound is a flesh wound, not at all of a dangerous character; but it was a "close shave" on a fatal shot.
Mason, we learn, was in the three months' service as 2nd Lieutenant in 1861; he enlisted in the 36th in August 186a, but jumped the fence at the camp and left before being sworn in. He afterwards went into the 77th, but managed to get out by some means. He is said to be a shrewd fellow, "up to almost anything." At one time, we hear, he turned Campellite preacher, and somewhere in the upper part of the State, among strangers, he took an active part in holding a revival and baptized several converts.
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