The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1876-04-07

net for driIl within It's oxn precincts.
I 1t was on this nccasion that Captain
/ Thorn very KNOWN ,Iy drilled his large
company, numbering over 100 memb bers,
4 on South street. between the residence
of Jacob D;toe and the Logan road
He kept them in rank long after the
/ hour for dismissal. and the members be-
I came oi,s:a.ri and insnlted al that they
/ believeG =. he an indignity. By some
spOntali"-Gs impHlSe-w without any pre-
vious Tlinning or forethought, the COM
pany pretended TO get frightened AT some
thing, and broke and ran. The mem
bers most all ran mp Brechbill'a alley"
as though the devil himself WAS after
them. Some stopped upon the streets,
but most of those who resided in town,
ran for their homes. The citizens of the
town, hearing the clatter and seeing the
scampering in every direction, filled the
street. in a short time to learn what was
the matter. and the laughing was loud
and hearty when ii war found that Capt.
Thorn's corn-stalk militia had become
stampeded. and run away from him. The
Captain, with the Lieutenants, was left
alone in the field. He considered the
joke a great insult, and it made him pet
ulent and morose for month afterwards.
/ This was on Friday, and the next Mon
day was the general muster, in which all
the organized companies of the county
militia and infantry, including a cav
alrv company, met at Somerset. On the
morning of that day, Captain Thorn
was promptly on hand, uniformed and
sword in hand. to do some more drilling.
| But instead of having full complement
of men as he had the Friday before, he
had only about dozen of the more staid
and sober, who were too far advanced in
life for deep seated fun. The Captain
was wondering what had become of his
men; but he did not have to wait long
before he found out the trick they were
playing upon him. About 80 OF them
had gone to old Billy Larue's barn,
painted themselves black, and dressed
themselves ont in all manner of ridicu-
Ions costumes, such as the world never
saw before nor since. About 10 o'clock
they marched into town. under the cog
nomen of the dead Shots" The COM
pany was properly officered-the cap
tain Henry Miser,) taking the members
through drill corresponding with the
general appearance of the company.
have seen many similar attempts at mill
itary burlesque, but none that ever came
near making a decent shadow for this
one. 1t created good deal of excite
ment, and in manner, broke up the
muster for the dav, for everybody was
following the dead Shots" and every
body seemed to take stock in the COM
Donald came near splitting himself
square in two with a fit of laughter;
Sam. Hutton broke into one Of his
laughing reveilles, and there was gener-
ally such an excitement as / we'll know
Somerset never experienced before. On
the other hand, some of the old men
who believed in military training, look
ed extremely sober, though the ma
tiun could no longer exist. Old Jehu
B. Jones made the remark very excited
~, by blood, by blood, men, the coun-
try is ruined" This event killed off
all :he military training in the old way
and the Reading township militia never
afterwards met as a company for drill.
| The "Dead Shots" were too much of a
burlesque 10 bring military training
back to any decent standard of reputa
ton afterwards. The above event took
place in 1842-which makes it little
out of the order of my design narrative,
but speaking of old military matters, it
seemed right to give it place here.
We now go back again.
perance address at the Court House,
| Sunday evening, June I'd, which was
largely attended. The address was pub
lished-and this truthful sentence occurs
in it: There is no vice more degrad-
ing to man, or renders him more uni
versally contemplate"
David Wirick kept boot, shoe, cloth
ing and fancy notion store in the south
room of the present residence of Fred
erick Mains.
In June of this year, the Asiatic chol
era passed through many portions of
this country. and a portion of Perry
county was severely scourged with its
ravages. In this visitation, DIR. VIM.
Mcclure, John Stambaugh, Harriet
McMullin, James McMulIin, Absalom
Wincgardner, Samuel Henderson, Mrs.
Dinsmore, Miss Dinsmore, Jemima
Brown, Gnstavus Brown, John Miller,
Mrs. Miller. Rev. David Long, Eliza
beth Henthorn, Jane Henthorn, Peter
Haver, H. Peters, and Adam Snider,
fell victims to the cholera. All the
above, except DIR. Mcclure, resided in
Thorn township. The Doctor resided
in Somerset. and was called to Thorn
township to see cholera patient, and
died before his return-a few hours, in
deed, after being stricken with the dis
ease.
Charles G. Hood was appointed by the
Governor, Associate Judge Of the Com
mon Pleas Court, in place of DIR. Nc
Clure, deceased. VIM F. Moeller was
County Recorder, and alao became the
Administrator of DIR. McCIure's estate.
Michael Dittoe was Captain of the
Cavalry company which had been in
existence but was abandoned about this
time. John Lidey succeeded him as
Captain. Each cavalryman was allowed
to carry home his equipments, consist
ing of sword, holster and pistols, and
when the company finally broke up,
many of the equipments were never re-
turned. They were advertised for time
and again, but there are likely people in
Somerset to-day, who are in possession