Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1876-07-22

Glimpses Of the Character
Rourh and Ready''-interess'"
Anecdotes Told by Gen.. James

GlimpSes Of the sChar0csor
Rough and Ready''-in'crssv'..s
Anecdotes Told by sien' Ne. Salles
Shields. 80 = .sts
4,~ ,eoture giving his "reminiscences
III ~ Ia 1a~;can war, which he is now de-
OF s,ie in manys of tile towns of Mis-
.,r;' Gen. james Shields tells the fol-
ion II Was in the year 1916. that upon the
hanks of the Rio Grande first met Gen.
TAYLOR. Before leaving my home in lii
nois had heard of him. He was the
hero of the day; the whole country re-
sounded with his name and his exploits
Well. when l was presented 10 him
confess | was considerably surprised
He was somewhat below medium height.
was short and stout, in fact was what
you would call dunpy. Hewore straw
hat, All old linen duster that looked as if
it might not have been washed since he
fought the battle of Palo Alto. Laugh
teri His pants were large and loose,
and on his honest feet he wore coarse
soldier shoes, not very handsome, but
very comfortable, let me assure YOU. His
face was not handsome-no, it would
have been at first sight called homely );
but there was that about 1t which I'M
presses me with the grand honesty and
dignity of the man. He stood upon his
feet as solid and determined as 4 prairie
buffalo,. ~
| As have remarked, Twas considera-
bly, taken aback when was presented to
Gen. Taylor, but when he held out his
honest palm to me and babe me well
comesin his hearty, oh-hanl WY, Knew
that L had old Rough and Ready" right
before meas brave soldier as ever bat
tied for his country, and as honest sol
der as ever won the suffrages of the
American people. THAT day, continued
the speaker,1 dined with Gen. Taylor,
and upon that occasion there were also
present Col. Bliss and Col. Clay, of Ken
lucky, a son of Henry Clay. Of the four
assembled together ut that time, am to-
day the only survivor. ~
While we were at dinner guard filed
in with two prisoners that had just been
arrested. The men had been for two
days peJdling oranges through the camp,
and by accident one Of the soldiers had
discovered that under their coarse gar
ments they wore the finest linen. So the
two were arrested, and carefully con-
cealed about their persons hid been
found papers containing very valuable
Information concerning-the american
camp, the number of men i'm arms, and
the best point for attack. These papers
were handed over to Gen. Taylor, and af-
ter carefully recalling them he passed
them to the rest of us. They were I'm.
mistakable evidences that the two men
were spies.
''Call my interpreterm demanded Gen.
Taylor.
riv,. Gonorol oo,ll NOT cnool- CDo,;eI,
The only Spanish word he knew was
.suanos,p and he used it OH all occasions.
| Whenever he invited the MeXicans into
camp, he said ''udmos," and whenever he
ordered them out of camp. he said
''Udn,os." Laughter. The interpreter
having arrived, Gen. Taylor said to him {:
ASK them who they are! !"
The prisoners replied that they were
Mexican soldiers.
''Humph Thought so. Now ask
them what their rank is -
They looked at each other moment,
as much as to say, 1--WE might as well
tell the TRUTH" and answered that they
were colOnels-one of them chief of the
engineer corps at Monterey.
AHA ?" said Gen. Taylor, $50 much
the worse. And now ask them Who
sent them here"
They replied that they had come in
obedience to the orders of Gen. Apudia
Gen. Apudia sent you, did he?n roared
old Rough and Ready. "Well, say Gen.
Apudia is no gentleman, or he would
not have sent you upon this sneaking err
rand, TO spy about our camp. | say he is
no gentleman -
The prisoners had just begun to UNI
derstand that the mali whom they were
addressing was the American General,
and when he uttered this hasty opinion
of their chieSthey bowed very low. Gen.
Taylor asked them if they knew the pen
atty of their crime if they knew that,
rs spies, they ought to be shot. At once
the prisoners drew themselves up proud
ly and said they knew the penalty, but
if they were TO die they trusted they
would meet their fate like brave men.
Their bravery pleased the bluff old sol
dier. and after moments thought he
said:
''Well. I'll let you 90 this time, but if
| ever catch you spying here again, I'll
have you shot-shOt like Mexican dogs,
| Now, UamOs ! UdnlOs! and tell Gen. Apu-
,lia that when he wants to find out about
our army he may send a delegation of his
officers hero and will escort them about
myself and order a review of the troops
for their especial benefit" sl
The liberated men scampered off brisk
ly. Shortly after that Gen. Taylor, at
the head of his victorious legions, marched
i'll and took possession of Monterey.