St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-12-13

| Noih pldCcHtly CiiCu Out, IsISHI uItSS! dDG
then. Forward. marchl' and out of the
river came the regiment dripping with wa
ter, and in double quick time soon reached
its quarters. In FIVE minutes an order came
to me from the colonel to issue to
his men ten gallons of whisky. 81
can't do it, colonel" l said ''as l am Or
dered by the powers at Washington not TO
issue SO much whisky. except in cases of
great emergency. Fatigue duty. sir: by
sir. my men are all wet, sir!" and [
Thought 1 saw a grim smile creeping out
from the corners of the colonels eyes. The
whisky was issued, for it was perfectly
proper to do so in cases where men had per-
formed fatigue duty. especially where they
were wet and cold, and this was clear
case The colonel chuckled to himself
while the boys enjoyed the joke las one of
Billy Crooks best"
1.-THE LONG ROLL"
"Getup tomorrow at 3 o'clock and see
the fun, (" said the colonel, as ne gave Inc
sly wink, '.I'm going to beat the long roll"
So was up on time, and sure enough, just
in the grey of the morning away went the
drum, and of course it was signal Of
danger-the Indians must have at
tackled the camp The colonel. mounted
on his black charger, was Immediately OIL
hand, and as the drum continued to repeat
its warning the troops came pIilng out OF
their tents in the most heterogeneous and
comical manner. Half awake, frightened,
partially dressed. no caps, no coats, guns
| but no ammunition, ammunition but no
guns, bare feet boots without stockings,
stockings without boots bullying eyes, dis
heyeled hair, cartridges missing, scared
| faces, officers dumbfOunded. ''F2ll into
line" came the order. Regiment, double
qulck-marcho' and away went this squad
of rag tag and bob-tails, with the colonel
at the head, fully impressed with the belief
that they were after the Indians, and
more laughable scene never met the vision
of man. OF course it was dark and many
| tumbled down, while others thought they
were rushing to sure death. When the
poor devils were nearly exhausted and out
of breath in running the order came,
| Halt! Right about face-marchr
ard the men came into camp
in a very forlorn state. ''OfficeE
examine the condition of your men and re-
port any deficiency to headquarters" and
the colonel rode away to his tent laughing
immoderately over the scarce he had given
! the camp; but the last order was 1.-The un-
kindest cut of ALL for if the various Off
GERS did their duties the men knew but few
would escape the penalty of not being
|
asked him why he had put the camp in such
a terrible turmoil and he answered, "Dsci-
pline, sir discipline. Soldiers must learn
to be always ready; by - sir, discipline!'
And | found, on a subsequent occasion,
when the long roll was beat that the colonel
was right; the men were then ready, and
that the lesson taught them wasa good one.
THAT MULE!
Gen. Sibley was coming to Camp Pope
| and l was anxious to get him place that
might be decently termed headquarters,
and as there was no lumber to build with,
proposed to draw house from about a
mile off and plant it in the midst of the
camp, and for this purpose l asked for a de.
tail of 100 men. and putting the building
on skids, attached some twenty mules to ii
and away it went Arriving near little
creek, found it necessary TO employ four
mules on each end in front of the building,
and then, with the soldiers, put the whole
the creek was reached the mules
would jump it, When all ready
amidst terrible yell. away we went, but
on reaching the creek stubborn mule
paused on the brink of the Rubicon." and
in that fatal pause the building ran over
him and his body passed under the house
and out of sight. Of course we all sup
posed he was crushed to atoms. when.
! judge of our surprise, On opening the door,
there was the mules head peeping up
| through the floor and shaking his long ears.
Men were set to work to cut him out, sup
posing, of course, his legs were broken,
and 10! when released he was as frisky as
deer. and amidst the plaudits of the crowd
he was escorted to the camp by drum and
fife and file of soldiers. On arriving
IL. Al.
Crooks, who, after contemplating the ami
NAL for moment, burst forth in one of his
peculiar expressions: ''Fu make him
major general. by -, sir; he deserves it,"
Then turning to the commissary, he said:
Captain, issue him a gallon of whisky.
| Fatigue duty, sir; fatigue duty
And it is an historical fact rhat at the
end of three days the mule had actually
drank the whole gallon of whisky, and
when last saw him he was in the heyday
Of his glory and of his fame.
WHEN AND WHERE BORN.
Col Crooks was born in New York city
in 1882, and is the third son of the cele-
brated Ramsay Crooks, president of the
American Fur company; attended West
Point military academy, and resigning, be-
came assistant to John B. Jervis, the dis.
| tinguished engineer; came to st. Paul il
1857, when 25 years old, and became the
chief engineer of the st. Paul & Pacific
railroad, and was one of the earliest anu
and most devoted men who helped carry
| this enterprise to completion in the dark
and trying days which beset it. In honor
of this, the first locomotive engine which
ever turned wheel in Minnesota (1S62) re-
celved his name. He carried on his profess
| sion for several years, when, in 1862 he be-
| came colonel of the Sixth regiment. and
was on the plains with Gen. Sibley and did
effective labor in the field. His regi-
ment was one of the finest i'll
the state, and was one of the
best drilled. After he resigned. in 1864, he
became connected with the Hon. Edmund
Rice in starting what is now known as the
River division of the Milwaukee road and
in its aid he went to Europe.
OFFICES.
Col. Crooks was member of the house
of representatives during the sessions of
1875, 1875 and 1877 from the Twenty third
senatorial district of Ramsey county and
represented the same district in the senate
during the regular and extra sessions OF
1881. Beyond the fact that he served one
year as member of the board OF public
works of the city of St. Paul, the above
are all the civil offices Col. Crooks has held
with the exception that he is now men,
Der of the commission to locate the second
state prison of this state. While member
of the two houses of the legislature he mads
an exceedingly credtable record. His
bon homme Manner his genial disposition
and his personal popularity were largely in
strumental in carrying number of meas
ures of great Importance to the city and the
people of the state.
The marked characteristics of Col.
| f,llr ~
ginning of this article, and in closing this
hr;af ckatoh of hic lifa I nan only GOV, +1,o r