St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-03-07

A "PIROOTER" BY NATURE.
The Queer Character OF Gen. Dan
Macauley's Regiment.
How Gen. Willis A. German Pun
tshed Him.

HOW Cen. Wills A. Gofmun rum
ished Him.
The piece de resistance at the Cincinnati
meeting of the Loyal Legion was Gen. Dan
Macauley's address; his theme; ''Sam
Trick" private soldier i'm the old Eleventh
Indiana, who came TO the regiment as
raw recruit after the war was well on.
and who was, as Dan describes him, "a
most unheroic fellow. whose roguish
tricks, unconscious wit and Unsuitable appe-
tite for mischief and punishment, was at
once the delight of the regiment and the
perpetual despair of the unhappy rascal him.
self. He never especially meant 10 be funny
and was rarely known 10 smile; on the
contrary, he seemed as simple and
serious in manner as he was cadav-
erouS i'm appearance. TAU, very slim,
freckled and hOmely, awkward, a born
poacher, controlled instantly by his slight
est impulses for mischief. and apparently
without knowledge of wrong from right he
passed his days between devilment and
plunges into spasms of repentance and re-
morse when confronted, as he was almost
daily, by the various punishments
in vogue i'm camp" Such was Sam
Trick, who after the war drifted into
matrimOny much with the same purpose
that he had gone soldering, and not long
since lost his life by falling from ladder
while painting q school house at Nelson
vile. q. Trick was born fOrager. Ma
cauley says of him: HE could have robbed
those old masters, Sherman'S bummers, of
the very horses they sat upon; and his
mania for stealing was only checked
by articles too big or hot or wet TO carry"
lie called it ''piroOting," and anybody
knowing Macauley can easily imagine that
when Tricks fame as a 'piroOter' spread
beyond company quarters he was speedily
detailed for service at headquarters. IL
was a point of honor with Trick never to
steal from those with whom he was en-
| gagged, but as against all the rest OF the
world, he flew the black flag as a ''pi-
rooter" Macauley gave score and more
| illustrations of Tricks eccentrieitles, OF
which few will suffice:
AT one time when we were under a
rather severe musketry fire, Sam was heard
| To whine out most piteOusly:
"Oh, Lord. don't wish 1 was in my
fathers old bamw
Why he should wish TO be in that pecul-
lar place just them aroused curiosity. and
some one asked him why?
ITO see how blamed quick I'd get into
| the house." he chuckled.
We were once on an expedition far in the
enemy's lines, and the orders against forag.
ing were absolute and peremptOry. The
troops were so instructed by general notiti
cation, while to Sam felt it necessary tC
privately read the riot act in italics.
The next day, riding out to the picket
line, and turning a sharp corner in the road
/ met the guilty wretch face To face, riding
| a remarkable caricature of a horse which
| he had managed To achieve" somewhere
| In front of him was large box or bundle
| closely wrapped in his blanket and Rugged
in both his arms while he held the bride
in his teeth.
lie nearly fell off the horse as he me
me, tried TO salute, dropped his bride
clutched at the box and falling blanket
and away he dashed, covered with bee
from the hive he had stolen, and yelling
like wild Indian.
He came to me once with his gun, ant
asked meellly what he should DO with ii.
"Clean it, l suggested.
mo, don't mean that" he said; ''but
where shall put it? My time is out, anC
I'd like to have you make out my dis
charge"
Your discharged You lunatici Why
y
Eyes, know about that; but you see
colonel you've had me on double duty tn
last year or so. and L thought maybe tina
ought To let me out nOw." and then IN
marched away with hurt expression at Sc
plain proposition being questioned.
One winter we were for many days on
} Mississippi river expedition down below
Helena, Ark, with fleet of steamers TN
der Gen. Willis A. German. The weathe
was most Indictment, and the men suffere
very severely from cold and exposure
Under such conditions a soldiers bum
of reverence for anything he can WORT
suffers great shrinkage. Sam ha
taken violent dislike to Gen. German
because, forsooth, that gallant gentlema
had been forced 10 join in the famous re
treat from the first Bull Run battlefield.
Why Sam should have considered tina
! Gen. German had any special monOpol!
or responsibility in that great nations
foot-race, or that he had developed NOR
) speed than was absolutely necessary &
keep up with the procession, is hard
understand. but so it was. and sewers
times during this expedition, as L afte
ward learned, when our steamers were sui
ficiently near, Sam would electrify the gen
eral by bowling al him most derisively:
Hello, Old Bull Runw
Once he made a mistake. HeadquaTtel
/ steamer was brought alongside OF ours an
within few feet for consultation and o
: the upper or hurricane deck stood the gel
l eral HIMSELF
, Sam was on the lower forward deck
our vessel. out near the bow. and, bracin
] himself, he yelled up into Germans Vel
| teeth:
Hello. Old Bull Rm!'
r The general was too quick for him; lear
; ing over the side. he shouted down to ii
G guard: Throw that man on my boat her
quickT' And. sure enough, they die
4 Sam, sprawing through the air like frOl
). was pitched headlong on to Germans boa
@ and during the remainder of the day, ;
a various distances, near and far, we coul
0 see him. long and lank. and lean, tied U
like 1iuttering scaTecrOw TO the jack-sta
[. OF the steamer. 1t was cold and gust
g day-for Sam-and no especial attentio
Q was paid to waffies and quail for him Up
= roofing being temporarily paralyZed wit
its chief apostle), and SO when along tOwal
: | night the boats were brought tOgeth,
Z again, and he was chucked back to US ST.
2 as a wooden Indian, it might reasonably
Y supposed that for once the great irrepress
r bic was squelched
No. not the least i'm the world.
I He gathered himself together. and chile
!. blue and starved as he was, came creakiI
: and granting up stairs to me in the cabi
Colonel" he grOaned, Il wish you
i please have my discharge made out rig
= away"
l. Your discharge! Your funeral, y,
b mean. if you're not more carefm~
g mo; my discharge. colonel, I've be-
put on Germans staff.'
y After the war Trick came back here N
y wanted to run for city treasurer, but W
y headed off, and then he turned to tin roc
i ing. Once afterward Macauley recOgniz