St. Paul daily globe., 1888-01-30


before could get within rope-range, and
besides, l was between the federal main
line and him. AS L turned and
dashed toward my man think not less
than thousand shots were fired at me,
but was not hit, my lasso shot through
the air, and had my man fast, with
tne rope under an arm and over tire
0ther shoulder. where it did not hurt
nm. In shooting at me his own friends
ilad broken an arm for him, so | got
him TO log and he, at my direction,
mounted behind me, and then his
friends ceased firing. i know we wera
riding pretty fast for a double burden.
jumping bitches, logs and all Obstruc.
tions, but when my prisoner fell OFF I
thought he did it purpOsely, and asked
him what lie meant by jumping off.
- i didn't jump. | fell off. Perhaps
you don't know that my arm is broken,
and besides | never saw such horse
back riding as this, let alone trying il
myself
LARIATS ABANDONED.
Il then placed my prisoner in the sad.
die and got up behind myself, and We
soon had another trial to ENCOUNTER. for
my friends, seeing my horse coming in
with a bluecOat astride of him, con-
cluded to give him round. i stuck my
mead around my viS-a-viS and shouted
10 go slow, and there was great merri-
ment when we dismOunted. believe
that was the only man ever lassOed dur
ing the war. We had discovered that
powder was better than rope in our first
experience in organized warfare. NV
prisoner was nice fellow, a perfect
gentleman, and when he came and
asked me if / couldn't fix it so that he
could go back North / told him he
should go, and he did. | have heard
from and written him twice since the
war, but not in recent years, and do
not know what has become Of
him. He is the man who first gave 10
the people of the North their ideas Of
what wonderful people the Texas
Rangers were. He was duly impressed
with the desperate work we did that
day, principally due to the fact. as J.
have said, that we honestly thought all
we had to do was to laSsO the Yankees
and drag 'em into camp. There were
innumerable ludicrous as well as serious
interests after that engagement, which
are scarcely worthy of note, however"
Where did you receive your wounds,
maior?"
After leaving Chickamaugua every
fight we got into | got shot Ny first
wound was in the left hand. at Dalton,
Ga, III all engagement with FitZpat-
rick's men. l was shot in the calf of
the right leg at Resaca, Ga. and through
both lungs and my left arm at Chatta-
hOochie. My arm was badly shattered,
and l was laid up for nearly six
weeks. After l got out again, and
while just below Atlanta, my horse was
shot from under me, and in the fall my
bad arm was broken again. My other
wounds did not affect any bones and
amount to little, but | have considerable
trouble with my lungs and my arm re-
fuses to heal. Last winter thought it
would have to be amputated. l did
very little fighting after the breaking of
my injured arm, for in November prior
to the close of the war l was made
prisoner"
NINE SOLDIERS SURRENDER.
Chow about that BardstOwn incl
dent?"
''Well, that didn't amount to somuch.
1t was in 1863. We went into Kentucky
with Bragg, and, as all advance guard,
we got pretty close to Louisville. We
knew we were i'll ticklish quarters. and
kept our picketS out all the time. One
day some of our men came in and said
the FederalS were going to the right
of us, and we were already cut off. Our
officers didn't believe it, but orders
were given to keep a sharp lookout, and
scarcely had those orders been promul-
gated when courier came daShing up
with orders for us to fall back, that the
FederalS were already ahead. We had
no cOmmiSSary department, and de-
pended solely on forage for subsistence.
Our best scouts did the most of this
work, and when they came in and said
we were actually cut off from the main
body we knew it was fact. We knew
there was but one chance, and that was
70 l. ALD l..
could concentrate, and we started pell
nell and made distance of about fif-
teen miles in an hour and q half, where
we halted. for half mile ahead we saw
cannOns planted. We waited until de-
tachment of our men came in from q
crOsSrOad, and they reported having had
to fight to reach us. We had scarcely
time to form in irregular line when the
California Rangers charged us. We
stood our grOnnd until they were within
twenty to thirty steps of us, when
they fired, and then we charged them,
and went right through their two solid
to our one, and never want to see such
bloody work again. The name of the
"TeXaS Rangers" was a power TO us,
and we killed as many as our command
numbered and captured twice as many
more. After the bloody fight we were
badly scattered, but | found my chum
and side companiOn-We who always
fought side by side when we could
with me. He has since served OH the
district bench in my state, is moral,
upright man and devOut church meIn-
ber. L will call him John. We rode on
together until we saw the line of Fed
eral infantry in an open field, when
John said we'd better halt or those fel-
lows would take us in. We had with US
four prisoners, whom we had diSarmed
and kept ahead of us. Just as we halted
l caught glimpse of two Federal cayal-
rymen about 100 yards distant. and tell
ing John to keep an eye on the four men
we had, started out to overhaul these
two. L met them at the point of a clump
of timber, as L had figured to do. but
Imagine my amaZement when nine in
stead of two men confronted ME. |
knew | couldn't run and get away alive,
so | determined to make a grand bluff.
With the most ferociOuS yell could
muster, | let fly with both hands at once
and emptied the saddles. / then shouted,
Come OH, boys, here they are" rs
though there were dozen or so of my
friends within calling. then called to
the dumbfOunded FederalS to surrender.
drop your arms quick" l shouted. IF
the boys catch you armed you're dead
men," They threw down their arms as
ordered, and told them TO fall i'll twoS,
which they did. They looked in vain
for my companions, and finally the
truth began to dawn upon them.
'Have we surrendered to one man?'
said surly-lOOking fellow.
That's what you have done, | aG-
Swered, but it wasn't your fault. Now
you must obey orders, or you go two at
a time They were in front of me, un-
alarmed. What could they do but obey?
When we came to fence they said
their horses couldn't jump it. l let fly
with my gun over their heads, and those
horses cleared the fence easily. The
SurnriSe Of the day was to follow how