Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1890-11-27
AMUSING WAR STORY.
How a Pursued Federal Made 6
Balky Mule Quicken His Pace.

Several veterans of the civil were tell
ing of their experiences at Rondout, N
Y. One related the following amusing
incident;
sour regiment was in camp at Har
per's Ferry, and one day comrade and
secured permission to pay visit to g
farmhouse some distance away, whert
we knew there was poultry. We rode
horses and had some money in our pock
cts to purchase what chickens and tur'
keys we desired, for on this occasion We
had made up our minds to forego forag-
ing, but later on circumstances arose that
quickly made us forget our good resolu-
ton. A short distance from the farm.
house was grass field into which we
turned our horses to Craze at will. We
then proceeded to the residence on foot,
and met the farmer on an old fashioned
porch that ran the whole front of the
quaint farmhouse. / told him we had
come to barter for some chickens and
turkeys. This proposition seemed to fire
his Southern blood. He swore he'd
rather see every fowl on his premises rot
before he would sell them to any Yankee
for one hundred times their weight in
gold. That settled it with us. Our
Northern blood had reached as high a
boiling point as that of the old South
eerner. We went straightway to the
barn, where fine lot of fowls were peck
ing grain:
ut did not take us long to tie the
legs of goodly number of chickens and
turkeys. As was in the act of tying
up the legs of a proud gobbler, 1 looked
up, and to my dismay saw coming up the
lane small company of Confederate
cavalry. l took in the situation at q
glance. l knew we had not time to
reach our horses, and to escape on foot
was impossible. In the barnyard were
two sleek mules. Throwing my string
OF poultry over the back of one and
jumping astride the animal shouted to
Bill-that was the first name of my COM
rade-to follow my example. He did SO,
and took the lead for the camp. The
mule was on had taken but few Jumps
when l heard bill shout:
Great thunder! He's baked jim
81 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
ear
''Bill lost no time in trying the exper-
iment. He got the end of one of the an
imal's long cars into his mouth and be-
gan operations. The mule gave squeal
like that of a stuck pig and rushed after
its mate, which | was riding on, for deai
life. Suddenly l saw something loom
up and rush past me. 1t 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 pre-
sented most ludicrous sight. The tur-
keys tapped their wings and the chick
ems made a terrible clatter, which only
served to make the mule go faster
heard the Johnnies behind us laugh
They fired at us, but we were not hit.
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
Bills mule, the poultry bobbing up and
down at every jump. AS soon as knew
we were out of reach of the enemy.
gathered all my lung power and shouted
Let go the mules ear, Bill; we're
SAFE
"Bill heard me and let go. He finally
succeeded in stopping the mule, whose
sides went in and out like huge bel
lows. An examination showed that Bill
had chewed over half the mules ear Off
Bill allowed it was the toughest bit o
meat he had ever tackled, but that nigh
he got square on roast turkey and chick
en-. We lost two of the best horses Ii
our camp."-INew York Times.