The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-10-13
CORPORAL BucksklN.s STORY.
He Won His Stripes In q Remarkable
Manner.

He Won His Stripes In q Remarkable
Manner.
When the Old Soldier club had been
called TO order by the veteran. he an.
nounee1 that Corporal Buckskin. whose
real pane was Boosgene, would narrate
one of his experiences-that experience,
in fact, had made him corporal.
The corporal blushingly pulled the
soap box he was sitting on, out in the
middle of the floor and began:
st happened down there on the
Potomac" he said, ''one day when there
wasn't much going on-a sor. of be-
tween-meal affair, but not pleasant
while it lasted. The enemy had punched
over in some woods and about forty of
US hauled up twenty pound smooth
bore gun and thought we would have
some fun dislodging them. There was
small frame house not more than two
hundred yards away and we tried to get
behind it, but we couldn't reach it and
they couldn't We got the gun in
position in some bushes, with low
heavy tree right over it, and blazed
away once without much damage.
and while we were loading the
second time. thinking we had it
all our own way. they made
rush, about fifty of them, and
got into the house. Then they
opened on us. and though we had got
the gun so it covered the house and had
it all ready to touch off, I'll be blamed
ii they didn't make it so hot for us we
had to skedaddle. That is to saw, ev-
erybody did but me, and l went up the
big tree and hid in the leaves. | didn't
want to be there bit, l can tell you.
but there was no help for it; was freed
and nothing short of providence was
going to save me. I Rugged the tree
close and was scared half to death UNI
til they let up shooting, and then got
cooler and began to look around and
figure on getting away. The cannon
was right under me, almost within
reach. setting in the sun Az harmless as
a baby on fence, and likely to remain
so as long as the other fellows were in
the brushes out of sight, waiting for
night to come on or for something to
turn up to change the situation. In the
meantime, / was doing deal of think
ing up that tree. Twas hugging limb
so tight that after while something in
my pocket began to hurt me in the ribs,
and | reached in to see what it was and
found a sun-glass some of the boys had
picked up and had traded me for a jack
knife. | had the uncomfortable thing
out in half minute and was going to
throw it away, when all of sudden l
noticed the cannon down there in the
sun all ready to be fired if only anybody
could set a match to it. Thinks I to
myself, what's the good of sun-glass?
So crept out on the limb as quiet as l
could and got close enough to the gun
to get focus on the touch-hole. It was
most too far away, but l held her on
the best l could for about five minutes,
when bang went the cannon, and as
I'm sitting here, tell you, it blowed
that house clean ever and full of holes
and didn't leave a man that could run.
Nary man, and before anybody had
time to move on the other side our fell
lows jumped out of the bushes and
yanked that cannon under cover and
kept it there. The jar of the shot
knocked me off the limb and I broke my
arm in the fall, but the stripes they put |
on it cured it pretty quick and didn't |
complain.
Corporal Buckskin's story excited (
some doubts in the minds of few of
his listeners, but when he pulled big
sun-glass from his pocket and showed
Il as the identical glass the Testimony
was considered competent. and every
body came forward and congratulated
lim.-Detroit Free Press.