The state republican. (Jefferson City, Mo.) 1871-1896, 1891-10-08
WAR TIME HEROES.
WHISTliNG NAILS.
a Joke That Made 10000 Men Think
Yankees Mere Ialnr NnIanlcas HnYlc!

1855 N'Ne "t' w ~ 'd'N $50
they are making whole lots of talking
in the newspapers nowadays about
~smokeless and n%oisclcss powder. Why,
we were talking about the same thing
when | was in Prices army.
You know we were away down in
the brush in southwest Missouri, where
we were all cut off from the world and
couldn't get any news from the outside.
Well, the story got started somehow
that the Yankees had invented a new
powdcr-a kind that burned with no
smoke, no flash, and no noise. Pretty
soon they were talking about it in every
regiment, worrying over the thing, and
reviving the devilish ingenuity OF the
Yankee. There was nothing to talk
about, and you know how it Is in q big
body of idle mca.
There was one follow that took
great stock in thu noiseless powder
story. 1t bothered him all the time.
This was Bill Oliver OF Col. Winston's
Second Missouri Bill came from up
here at Platte CITY. lie was n black
smith, a strapplng great big fellow,
strong as a horse. lie weighed, l
reckon, two hundred pounds.
zone black night Bill was put out in
the brush on picket duty. Now, he was
just as gritty n fighter as you ever saw
in line with q man on either sid, of him,
but | tell you, my boy, set n man out in
a dark thickct all alone, and the enemy
known to be near and supposed to be
everywhere, it takes all the starch out
of the best of them.
$50 Bill was trembly and shalSy, and
saw Yankee sharpshooters every
where.
Now, in the same regiment they had
n daredevil, harum.scarum fool Reub
Hill. This Reub Hill was the kind of n
specimen every regiment hasa pcstif-
crous practical joker, a nuisance that
everybody liked Here was q rich
chance for one of Reuben's little jokes.
Soon as Bill had got settled at his post
Reuben loaded his pocket with II dozen
or so big wrought-iron nails, and out
through the dark he circled to get in
front of the pickets. lie hid in a sassa-
fras brush about a hundred feet from
the big blacksmith, and looked out.
There was Bill tiptoeing up and
down his beat like an elephant on a
rickcty bridge, lodging and whirling
every time u grasshoppcr chirped or II
horse back in the camp snortcd. He
was getting badly scared. Reuben pick
ed up n bright, ragged nail and flung it
just as hard as he could jerk.
You know what a vicious screech-
ing n nail makes when you throw it
that way? No mimic ball ever sounded
wic.icder. 1t goes:
"Whi-u-u-u-u!'
Poor Bills heart stopped with a big
thump like n sledge hammer, and Reu-
ben away off in the thickct heard him
catch his breath as if some one had
dropped a bucket of ice water on him.
His big bulk dropped in the weeds like
Il sack of sand, and for about n minute
there was not the sound of a lreath-
Then the big picket muttcred shakily:
''Sho I'm gcttin' skecry as n woman
with thinkin' of them Yanis an their
~new-fanglcd powder And he got up
and began YEARLY to walk his beat
"Rouben let go another OF his nails,
and a third just as quick rs he could
throw. They went whirring blood
thirsty toward Niiiahn, ana one OF
,nem ripped tnrough the caves over
ms mead Spat'erihs t"i9S ana Di's OF
ieat an ABOUT.
-. lhere was no aoup. ABOUT iIth's
'ilhe' anu Dig phi As ne leu ms mnsNe'
OH Wildly III tne ar charged lot camp
sPut.er'hg, pnhinS' yeiling' tearing up
Wc'os ahu So' anu ooit,hg ihto trees
MS trail looked IKE n track OF a
young cyclone lnto the camp lie
Pi"n@eo' over mon uno 'ehts' hushe'
STAGES anu COOK trencheS' iIs an act'
uai "c' INA. he ran over ii'tie iorag,
ing pony Una was tieu % tree anu
co"ian get ou' OF the way knockeo
inc poor penst Town ana erlpplea IL loi
n week, MS head"ny was terrihe'
lie nha.ly pro"sh up iuii tiit against d
tough niue hickory sappilng' "hlch nc
ran llkea moose LANDING up the
ieaiy top with MS hanuS clawinS ~ the
Doughs'
nc whkc' every man IN the regi.
ment' Down the Inc went shouts n
ougie cans N'th'h ten minutes every
one OF frlce forty Thousand men wa
IN inc OF nattle' staring INTO the dark
ness Tor the enemys advance guard
listening o the purr OF their silently
hred outlets.