018- An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

You are standing on a bridge over Owl Creek, a noose around your neck. You have but a few seconds left to live, a few seconds left to plan your escape. Escape produced and directed by William N. Robeson and carefully contrived to free you from the poor walls of today for a half hour of high adventure.

Tonight we escape to the war between the states and a muddy stream in Alabama, as we recall one of the great short stories in American literature, an occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Fierce.

A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down through the ties of the swift water twenty feet below. The man's hands were behind his back the wrist bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck. It was attached to a stout cross-temper above his head, and the slack fell to the level of his knees.

He watched a piece of dancing driftwood racing down the current beneath his feet. He thought, if I could just free my hands, I might throw off this noose and dive into the creek. If I swam underwater, I'd be safe from their bullets.

If my wind held out, I could make the southern bank take to the woods and get away home." Aiden Farqua, Alabama planter, stood at the end of a plank. A captain of the Yoor Union Army and a sergeant stood at the other end.

When they stepped aside, the plank would tip upward, and Aiden Farqua, Confederate spy, would slip between the ties to hang above the muddy water of Owl Creek until dead. Even in this far outpost of Germans march to the sea, the formalities of death are observed by these men who are most familiar with him.