Morning journal and courier., 1890-11-17
A RALKY MULE.

Bin tsChewed His Ears, and the
 Rebels Were Outdistanced.
 From the New York Times.
 Veterans of the war of the rebellion were telling of their experiences here to- day. One related the following amusing incident:
 "Our regiment was in camp at Harper's Ferry, and one day comrade and se- cured permission to pay visit to farm house some distance away, where we knew there was poultry. We rode horses and had some money in our pockets to pur- chase what chickens and turkeys we de- sired, for on this occasion we had made up ~our minds to forego foraging, but later on circumstances arose that quickly made us forget our good resolution. A short dis tance from the farmhouse was grass field into which we turned our horses to graze at will. We then proceeded to the resi- dence on foot, and met the farmer on an old-fashioned porch that ran the whole front of the quaint farmhouse. I told him we had come to barter for some chick ems and turkeys. This proposition seemed to fire his southern blood. He swore he'd rather see every fowl on his premises rot DclOIc MOuAu ccA u
 Yankee for one hundred times their weight in gold. That settled it with us. Our northern blood had reached as high a boil ing point as that of the old southerner. We could not stand such an insult, and went straightway to the barn, where fine lot of fowls were pecking grain.
 '1t did not take us long to tie the legs of goodly number of chickens and tur- keys. As I was in the act of tying up the legs of proud gobbler looked up, and to my dismay saw coming up the lane @ small company of rebel cavalry. I took in the situation at glance. knew we had not time to reach our horses, and to escape on foot was impossible. In the barnyard were two sleek mules Throw ing my string of poultry over the back of one and jumping astride the animal 1 shouted to Bill-that was the first name of my comrade-to follow my example. He did so, and took the lead for the camp. The mule was on had taken but a few jumps when heard Bill shout:
 Great thunder, He's baked, Jim.'
 sT looked around and sure enough the mule had baked The Johnnies were close at hand and shouted back: Crawl on his neck, Bill, and chew his earl
 "Bfl lost no time in trying the experi- ment. He got the end of one of the ami mars long ears into hls mouth and begar operations. The mule gave squeal ik' that of 6 stuck pig and rushed after it, mate, which was riding on, for dear life Suddenly I saw something loom up and rush past me. It was Bill and his mule Bills teeth were imbedded in the animals ear and blood trickled down the side of its head. Bill was all bumped up on the back of his mad steed and presented 6 most ludicrous sight The turkeys fiapped their wings and the chickens made terri ble chatter. which only served to make the mule go faster. heard the Johnnies be hind us laugh. They fired at us, but wt were not hit. l am sure they could not have hit Bill, for he was being carried along at great speed.
 'Through the picket line of our regi ment and on through the camp went Billi mule, the poultry bobbing up and down al every jump. As soon as I knew we wers out of reach of the enemy I gathered all my lung power aud shouted:
 "sLet go the mules ear, Bill, we'rs safe.'
 "Bill heard me and let go. He finally succeeded in stopping the mule, whose ! sides went in and out like a big bellows An examination showed that Bill had | chewed over half the mules ear of. Bill allowed it was the toughest bit of meat he had ever tackled, but that night he goi square on roast turkey and chicken. We 1 lost two of the best horses in our camp.