The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-08-18
BILLY'S LAST CALL.
It Was Warning to His Cher
ished Comrades.

Tt was in the Old days. They seem
very far away indeed now, after al
that has happened since then. 1t was
but year or two before Custer and his
men of the Seventh United States cav,
airy were massacred By the Sioux In
dians, and that was id 1876 We were
not very much on parade. out on the
plains, then, and it mattered little to
US if a man dressed in forage cap or
campaign hat, when he was in the field.
There was not, in fact, anyone to see us
save those we were protecting-the set
tlers-and those we were fighting, the
Indian hostiles. 1t is different now,
when a ''buck" gets fined for stain on
the right palm OF his gloves, or mis-
fitting blouse. Then, / remember
Sergt. M, of the til. greasing his
body over when we left the post in
Fe bruary, and never-so it was said
washing until November, when we got
back again, after the campaign. And
II you study the question and know the
way we had to live, you win under
stand that the sergeant was neither a
beast nor fool. They were rough
days, and more than one man have seen
ride into garrison in the late autumn
with breeches made out of buffalo hides
by his own hands. We thought our
selves i'll treated if we had to spend
more than three months of cold weather
in the lonely picket buildings they
called barracks and were allowed no
more than eight or nine to room with
pack saddles over the prairie and chase
the red man, who certainly kept US
going then. Now he has got to grow
ing corn and living on his ration and
begging, and he does not afford as much
fun as he used to.
However, this has nothing to do with
the Pet, or only Indirectly.
When the regiment was organized,
after the rebellion, Schuylkill Jones
was the first sergeant of the old troop,
and he married (before the end of the
war;, whom, l don't know, and neither
did he, for she had been wife to so
many men previously-that stalwart
old campaigner-that her original
name and her pedigree were lost in the
a son, and while dressing young pri-
Yates wounds, in the course of an at
tack on train, which her husbands
troop escorted. was shot dead. For her
sake and for the sake of the old Dutch
Pennsylvanians, the troops buried her
and without any method
IF procedure decided TO adopt her SON
.he Pet
And adopt him we did. Poor little
:hap The old sergeant had acquired
habits which We're not condu Give to
ongevity, and was reduced gradually
in spite of the many chances given
lim-to the ranks, and remember few
hings more pathetic than when little
Bill Jones, four years old, came crawl
ng on hands and knees up the steep
ill to the guardhouse and demanded
that 1, who was only hum
lie sentry on ''No. l." should give him
lis dada" who had recently been
onined for being under the influence
# Intoxicating liquors" while a mem
Der of the post guard. Whether the
ergeant OF the guard consulted the
ficer on duty or not don't know He
aid he did. Anyway, it was against |
equations to let the four-year-old des- !
erado into the guardroom. The Off
er and the sergeant have the blame be-
ween them. for he came in and raised |
iavoc with the guard. A sweet little |
omineering chap he was. and took US
" storm. The end of it was that he /
ed his father out by the hand, and the /
OF the guard sent sentry |
long after them. Poor old "Schuyl-
i'll" never came back alive.
The boy drew his father away to look /
t his mothers grave in the lonely Gem
terry on the bluffs, and there the old
older became overcome with sense
f his own degradation and his child's
onelinesS and had fit, and was found
Y the doctor and ambulance men lying
cad on his wife's grave. And the SER
cant Of the guard was tried by court
lartial and reduced to the ranks, for
equations are regulations.
Billy's father and Billy's mother hav-
lg died without thinking it necessary
} notify anybody of any relations they
lay have had, Billy was left with what
ay was due to his father, and the debt
} the sutler which his father owed,
rhich was rather rough on the four
ear-old. for the debt considera bly, eX-
eeded the pay. Under these cireum-
.ances the troop determined to HEX
lily into shape, and put the Kid
ito the hands of Mother Brickenscheul-
II. an old German woman, who had
one washing for American soldiers,
I'D made pies for them, and lent them
oney, since the days when Fremont
rst crossed the Sierras But enough
, Billy's childhood, and childhood's
.oubles, which he certainly took quite
When he was old enough to hold the
ugle to his lips. he made noise which
is partial stepfathers said was mighty
ear like taps" and he took to the
1gle after that. as he might to suck
g bottle. When he was ten he could
.ow all the calls, and ride Tip to
ater, while leading two others, which
as more than any recruit could do.
hen he was fifteen, and had had de-
mt education at the post schools, our
,ar old captain (rest be to his soul
I'D a consultation with the colonel
ii the adjutant and Billy was called
at the end of 1t, and asked if he
ould like to enlist Il required sPe-
al order from the headquarters at
ashingtoD, but Billy got his hearts
,sire and not 4 sock nor z shirt did he
ave to draw for himself when he en-
red. We all drew for him out OF our
vn clothing allowances d remember :
ig Heaiy, on quarterly draw day-he
as six feet by three vuess-rravelr