The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-29

Row JOE COBURN's PIT LIVED
AND DIED N NEW MEXICO.

| see by the reptile press, as my silver
+ongued friend, Mr.. Daniel Dougherty, the
orator of the Upper Schuylkill, telicitouSly
saws. that Mr.. Joseph Coburn is again in
+,ollbe. | do not know Mr. Coburn, but
once had the pleasure of meeting his dog at
Fort McRae, n. NJ, during tie balnly spring
months of 1874. 1t is an unwritten law and
q castiron custom of the service that every
company in the United States army shall
own a dog, with the rank, pay and emolu-
ments of Company Dog, and to be respected
accordingly SAID dog has regularly the
run of the barracks, frequently the run of
the kitchen and occasionally run of bad
hck. and to this rule the Company Dog of
Troop H, Eighth Cavalry, was no excep-
tiOn.
He was large dog, with rough hair, bow
legs and an alkaline disposition, and the red
headed recruit in whose society he came to
us confessed that he had Enormously OBJ
tanned him from Joe Coburn, and partly on
account of these personal characteristics,
and partly because Of his distinguished deri-
walton, he was taken at once to the barracks
and installed as the Company Dog with the
title of odd Jack"
There were four other dogs at Fort Nc
Rae. One was the doctor's-a long legged,
NANCY, hair-lipped, liver-colored q refer
now to the dog, not the DOCTOR, lop-eared
hound, with a sore eye and a great preda-
tory fondness for steak, chops or any other
delicacies which happened to be cooking in
the neghborhood. He got regular wal
loping every morning from my cook, an
other every noon from the company cook
and with odd wallopings thrown in from
time to time by the doctor, his career as
thief was not without excitement.
Besides the doctors dog there were three
others-Capt. EngeIs dog Dot. half King
Charles, half Chihuahua; Johnny Ayres'
yellow pup Tommy, half mongrel, half cur
and the terrier, Fan, belonging to Lieut.
Farnsworth, who had a history and only
one--that is, the terrier had.
OF course when old Jack arrived there
was futter IN the canine circles of Fort
McRae. There was considerable more fut-
ter about five minutes later. Old Jack
promptly mounted the doctors dog, seal
loped his ears, chewed his tail and gave him
a game leg all inside of four seconds; then
chased Johnny Ayres' pup into the Quar-
termasters corral, where a sad-eyed and
lurking mule kicked the pup over the fence,
aud then followed ioyously by Dot and
Fan, old Jack marched proudly to his new
quarters and was installed.
Things began to freshen up at Fort Nc
Rae Having asserted his authority, old
and used to gambol together on the parade
ground, chase the same jack rabbit and in
dulge in other athletic sports without hard
feelings. One day old Jack and Johnny
AyreS' pup were playing tag and it was the
pups turn to catch. Old Jack started, led
the pup twice around the guard house, over
across the parade and over to the laundresS'
quarters. A cauldron of soft soap had just
Eeen set out to cool and old Jack made
1roo I1a ola hit
the pup didn't and the laundress came out
and damned him for spOiling the soap, and
there wasn't much left of the pup when
Ayres arrived b.v big blister and some
loose hair and yells
Another time the doctors dog was ex-
changing the compliments of the season
with several Mexican dogs whose owners
bad come over to trade in the store. Every
thing was peaceful until old Jack landed
in the thick of the party and got up a
rough-and- tumble, and just as it was at its
height he slipped out from the cloud of du t
and left the doctors dog to enjoy the re
suit, which was that he was laid up for a
month.
Then old Jack got to be musical, and
whenever the trumpeter went out to sound
a call he and the other dogs would sit around
in q solemn circleand 81 & second. Whether
it was the fault of the trumpeter or the fault
of the dogs, 1t is certain that the bugle calls
at Fort McRae got off the lines prescribed
by tie regulations and the trumpeter, the
dogs and a club got into trouble several
consecutive times, and the musical Kin
dergarten and the dogs were broken up to-
gether.
The burst of warm weather in early May
gave the dogs a new employment. There
are marmots in New Mexico and these sa-
gaciOus animals make their first appearance
from their burr ows just after the snow has
cleared oil and the cactl are preparing to
bloom. Old Jack, having come from the
North, naturally thought it would be both
feasible and great fun to dig for a marmot
he had chased into a burrow just back of the
corral, and Ayres' pup and the doctors dog
hadn't better sense than to join in. They
dug and dug, and paved dirt and yelped
with excitement, each from time to time
plunglng his nose down and taking a sniff,
while the marmot had merely gone to the
other end of his hurrow, which was i'll Ari-
zona, perhaps, or Colorado, maybe, or old
Mexico or Texas, and curled UP for a nap.
The dogs dug until dinner time and then
knocked off for an hour, returning with
fresh vlgor about |: 80 p m. The doctors
dog started in at the excavation made in the
morning, and old Jack and AyreS' pup be-
gan at another hole few feet away, while
Fan and Dot looked on and encouraged
them. The hole selected by Ayres pup was
once tenanted by marmot, but had been
pre-empted during the previous summer by
. large and multiplying colony of ground
hornets and the nest was about two feet
below the surface 1t took Ayres' pup about
ten minutes to reach the nest and about four
seconds for the hornets to reach Ayres' pup,
ana then affairs at Fort McRae began to
heat up. The hornets divided themselves
into five platoons and the five dogs each got
one, and the next moment each raced for
nome with nebulous train of dust and hor-
nets in his wake, and the doctors peaceful
home, the barracks, Ayres' store and head
quarters simultaneously got a dose of ex-
cltement and inflammation which kept the
hospital busy the rest of the day.
The trouble with old Jack was, he never
could find out whether anything was loaded
or not until he had fooled with it. He
hadn't been brought up in New Mexico and
ne wasn't used to the climate and the natu-
raj history bothered him some. One day |
was OFT hunting near Elephant Bluff and old
sack was along. Upon ledge about thirty
leet high | saw bear and without dis
mounting made snap shot, just barking
ms leg and getting his temper SO redhot he
was crosseyed. Well, old Jack heard the
report and saw the bear, and rushed up the
NIL to retrieve. He never had seen bear
Defore-thought it was some variety of COW,
suppose-and the more yelled for him to
come back the faster he clawed gravel to
get at the bear The bear was mad clear
nh ts.t L. u