The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1886-10-20
General Taylor and the Mexican Spies.

UeueTAl l0llOf anu Aile MeAAchu spies
General Taylor. of the American Army,
when he won his victories in Mexico, did
not look much like a hero. He was
somewhat below medium height, was
short and stout, in fact, was what one
would call dumpy he wore a straw
hat, an old linen duster that looked as if
it might not have been washed since he
fought the battle of Palo Alto. His
pants were large and loose, and he wore
coarse soldier shoes. General Shields
used TO narrate an interesting incident
that occurred one day when he was
guest of "Old Rough and Ready'sn table
at dinner, with Colonel Bliss and son of
Henry Clay Just as they were finish
ing dinner, a guard filed in with two
prisoners that had Just been arrested.
The men had been for two days ped
ding oranges through the camp. and
by accident one of the soldiers had dis
covered that under their coarse garments
they wore the finest linen. So the two
were arrested. and carefully concealed
about their person had been found papers
containing veryvaluable information con-
cerning the American camp, the number
of men in arms and the best points for
attack. These papers were handed over
to General Taylor. and after reading them
he passed them TO the rest of us. They
were unmistakable evidences that the
two men were spies. ''Call my inter
preter" demanded General Taylor The
General could not speak Spanish. The
only Spanish word he knew was ''vamoS,"
and he used it on all occasions. When
ever he invited the Mexicans into camp,
he said ''vamos, and whenever he or
dered them out of camp, he said "vamos.'
The interpreter having arrived, Gen.
eral Taylor said to him: "Ask them
who they aren The prisoners replied
that they were Mexican soldiers.
''Humph Thought SO. Now ask them
what their rank is" They looked at
euch other moment. as much as to say:
1--WE might as we'll tell the truth, " and
answered that they were Colonels, one of
them Chief of the Engineer Corps at
Monterey. "Aham said General Taylor
$50 much the worse And now ask
them who sent them here" They re-
piled that they had come in obedience to
the orders of General Apudia. "Gen-
eral Apudia sent you, did hep' roared
old Rough and Ready "Well, say
General Apudia is no gentleman, or he
would not have sent you here upon this
sneaking errand, to spy about our camp.
1 say he is no gentleman" The prisoners
had Just begun TO understand that the
man whom they we're before was the
American General, and when be ut
tered this hasty opinion of their
chief they bowed very low. General
Taylor asked them if they knew the pen
atty of their crime; Il they knew that,
as spies, they ought to be shot. At once
the prisoners drew themselves up proudly
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 soldier, and
after a moments thought he said "Well,
I'll let you 90 this time, bat if 1 ever
catch you spying here again I'll have you
shot, shot like Mexican dogs Now,
vamos vamos And tell General Apudia
that when he wants to find out about our
army, he may send delegation of his
officers here and 1 will escort them about
myself and order a review of the troops
for their especial benefit The liberated
men scampered off briskly Shortly
after that General Taylor, at the head Of
his victorious legions, marched in and
took possession of Monterey. Ben. Perlev
P0Ore.