Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-02
AMATEUR COWBOYS.
A secret, Oath-BOund Order Discovered
Among the BOYS in the Thaddeus ste.
vens Secondary School

y
PAHadeTDhi1 Press.
s'John KalOrl" said Miss E. NJ. TAYLOR
facing her pupils in the Thaddeus Stevens
Secondary School, at Seventeenth anC
Olivet streets. In response to her sum
mons a 10-year-old boy rose slowly from
his desk, nodded to a 9-year=old confeder
ate, who whispered, Remember voul
OATH" advanced up the centre aisle. faced
/ his teacher, and. with his right hand rest
/ ing on his hip pocket, cOOlly said:
what does the White Suuaw want
! with Schuylkill Jack?'
| Had this pertinent inquiry been made
/ in Sioux itwOuld not have astounded the
| teacher more than 1t did, and the nine
/ little fellows who, with 'Schuylkill Jack y
form secret, Oath-bOund organization
called the 'PhiladelphIa Cowboys" looked
upon their Captain with pride.
''Johnny, L am told that you have a
pistol. Where is it?V
Captain Schuylkil simply muttered
"treachery" and glanced around the room
I in search of the face of a confederate will
! ing to support him in his hour of DeriI.
but their faces were buried in their books.
''Come with me-" said Miss TavlOr.
moving towards the private room, and
the boy followed her. Then Miss Allen.
the principal of the school, was sent for.
and she and Miss Taylor succeeded in
disarming the bold Captain SchuvlkiII.,,
who burst into tears when his seven
chambered revolver was taken from HIM
and his father, a baker at Corinthian
avenue and Brown street, was sent for.
The father came and carried "Jack'' off
in disgrace.
While the teachers were subduing
"SchuylkilP' in the private room the other
"Phlladelphia Cowboys who had reyOly-
ers or bowie knives with them. sent their
weapons out Of the building, and when a
few minutes later the teachers searched
them no arms were found. Captain Kalor
is the second commander that the Cow
boys OF the Thaddeus Stephens School
have lost within week, for on Friday
last Captain Charlie Bedford, aged eleven,
was suDdued by the teachers and dis
armed OF a navy revolver, which he had
hoped to use in slaughtering Indians next
summer. Captain Charlie has been i'm
prlsoned in his fathers house, ON Brown
street.
On Tuesday, in the cellar of the Arm
strong family mansion, on Twentieth
street, few doors south Of Brown, Johnny
kalor was elected to succeed Capt. Bed
ford, depOsed. The cowboys who We're
present when Capt. KalOr took the oath
and the OminOus title of "Schuylkill Jack"
were William Armstrong, aged u;
Charles }. Briggs, aged 10; Percy Baily,
aged II, and John T. Boyle, aged 8. Kalor
was one of the most advanced ''cOwboys."
His hero was Jesse James, but he ad-
mitted that Mr.. James paid too much
attention to train rObbing and horse steal
ing ana not enough to killing Indians
and rescuing captiyes. So earnest was
Capt. kalOr that he has for many weeks
endeavOred to induce his fellow ''cOw-
boys" to leave home with their arms and
live in hut on the Delaware river until
spring opened, when they could move
Westward in search of scalps, captives
and treasure. His companions, however,
considered the weather too severe to
camp out in, and not even "Capt. Jack's'
argument that they could vary the mo-
nOtOny Of camp life on the Delaware by
becoming pirates until summer came, had
any effect upon them. They decided that
it would be best to remain at their homes.
studying the adventures of Little Tim,
the Terror of the West" EsBow-Legged
Sam, the Scalper," "The Boy Terror of
Raw Gulch," and the scores Of other he
rOes of the one hundred and tWenty-three
five and ten cent novels that We're the
common property of the ''cOw bOys''
On the day after he was made Captain
of the band ''Schuylkill Jack" learned
that one Of the ten members had threaten
ed to expose the plans of his companions
Jack placed his revolver at the head of
the supposed traitor and made him
promise to reveal nothing. The hoy
promised and an hour later told his
teacher the facts that led to the humilia-
ton Of Captain SchuylkilI' and possibly
the destruction of an organization that
has been in existence for many months.
Several dayo ego Kalor convinced his
companions that there were many things,
sucn as hurting a bowie knife with accu-
racy, throwing lasso, making q fire by
rubbing two sticks together and eating
raw meat, that the cowboys" should be
perfect in before they could reasonably
expect to make their marks as "terrors"
or ''Indian slayers" on the plains. The
boys recognized the force of s'Schuylkill
Jacks" argument, but there was no place
i'll which they could safely practice the
necessary accomplishments referred to
On Monday the parents of "Cow-bOy"
Armstrong went to New York to visit
relatives, and since then the cellar of their
house on Twentieth street has been the
meeting place Of the boys.
There they made tents with blankets
from the Armstrong beds; there they
spent hours hurting bowie and carving
knives at mark; there they wore the
skin off the palms Of their hands rubbing
sticks together, without making fire, and
there John kalOr showed himself worthy
of being Captain of the band by eating a
pound of raw beef. For weeks they have
been laying in a stock of ammunition and
their reVolvers were bought from Hirsh-
burg, a pawnbrOker on Ridge avenue,
near Vineyard street.
The teachers of Thaddeus Stevens
School have for long time known of the
existence of some secret among the boys,
but it was not until Wednesday that the
whole story came out. Miss Allen is of
the opinion that the minds of the boys
have been as much infamed by the pictO-
rial printing of border plays at the thea
tres as by dime novels.
Jean-Louis- the Fencips- MASTER.