Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1889-12-16
OLD COOL IN THE ARMY.

He wasn't old at all; not a day over
20 when he joined the regiment; a
great, tall, hulking fellow. with big
honest face like boys. weighed LIS
pounds if he weighed an ounce, and
answered TO the name of Joseph Cool
ey. We all called him Joe, To begin
with, and this yarn IS to tell how he
got his other name
We shipped aboard a river steamer
at New York for Ship Island. /. 800 of
us; maybe you boys don't know what
that means-aboard of a river steamer2
II means that every berth had two
men in it. layin heads and p'ints, and
glad TO get one at that; the unlucky
ones lying side by side on the floor,
like herring IN box, thick as they
could be.
When we'd got about abreast of
Hatteras there came up about o'clock
one of the high old regulation kind of
storms. buster | cant begin To tell
how the wind blowed; it come solid,
as If you was struck with something
steady that pressed you down; we
couldn't stan up against IT. They
talk about waves rollin' up mountain
high, that's poetry, but I'd be willin'
to make my affidavit in court that
they did run all of sixty feet each side
of us
The steamer couldn't make might
OF Roadway. nor wouldn't answer to
her hellum, and there we lay, side on,
in the trough of the sea, like a f1y in
a hammock, swingin to and fro, side
ways. Every now and then big sea'd
come slap down, like close to thunder,
on TO the deck and sweep everything
off her. There was hundred barrels
of beef went To feed the fishes that
night
/ lay in my berth a-lookin' out of
the winder-five of us had that state
room, four in the berths one on the
floor. Joe Cooley had the floor; right
outside there was a lifeboat lying
geared on to the deck. and all around
it was thick row of men holdin' on
to her gunnel with both hands, SO as
to get the first chance.
"Wellr' says l. kind of Disguised
Whats ups" said Joe, lookin' up
at me. So told him
HIM" says he Il guess I'd Jest
doors" So if he didn't draw up his
blanket and go to snorin' ag'inl
You see, just minute before the
the deck cabin where we was, and one
of the fellers sung out to him, Call
this considerable of storm, don't We, |
cap'enf
He ripped out some big words, i tell |
ye the sense of EN- being that we was
going to the bot,s,rr sis.r.aAS OF hour,
and Joe heered him. |
Sure enough there was no chance |
for the men hangiu' on to that boat,
their faces white as death, and their
fingers gripped into that gunnel till
they bled; for if the ship had gone to
the bottom, that boat would have
cracked like an eggshell the first wave
that gin it blow. 1t was a scary time
for all of us.
Some of the fellers took it one way
and some took it another; people amt
Jest alike Some prayed and some
grit their teeth and kept still Joe was
the only one that went to sleep and
slep' through.
However, we didn't go down, for
about 2 O'Clock in the morning there
came the biggest kind of a thunder
storm against the big blow, and the
wind and rain out of that killed those
great waves flat. In twenty minutes
after it set IN the sea was ordinarily
peaceable, the boat got sot the hellum
steered her, and we went right along,
and came morning Joe got up from
his bed on the floor, shook himself,
rubbed his eyes. looked around and
grinned at us.
well, fellersl' says he, I'VE amt
drowned, be we.'
Not as were sensible of, says
Chaplin, dry sort of chap in the
bunk below me.
You took it rather cool. says to
Joe.
Names Cooley. says he, laughin'.
And after that we called him Cool
or .Old Cool, just as it happened
Lots of 'em were dreadful sick. 10
begin with, some for one day, some
for two. some for all the way. You
can guess if twas pleasant
We were all in for 1T. goIn' to fight.
We'd hollered and waved flags, and
had speeches made TO us, and felt con-
siderable good about it, that was the
top dressin Now we began TO strike
hard pan, and | tell you we didn't
think about our country every minute,
not much.
Well. Joe he wasn't sick minute;
he'd go steppin round amongst the