The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1893-07-08


he owed Uncle Sam about four thou
sand dollars; and, as he ruefully
scratched his head, Dick guessed he
would be ready for the soldiers home
by the time tho bill was settled. He
began to grow uneasy and was about
ready to skip, when the blackboard
from Santa Fe brought ease to his mind
and balm to his soul. A letter came
from the adjutant generals Office stat
ing that the attorney general had given
n decision that wiped out old scores and
gave the descrtcr chance to begin
again with n clean record.
That evening after retreat" Dick
and ] sat on our bunlSs polishing belts,
cleaning brasses, furnishing our saber
scabbards and getting things ready for
guard mounting next morning, for
Dick was great fellow ITO run for
orderly"
AS we smol.ed and talked and pol
ished I worried some of Dicks ex-
pericncc out"f him.
Say, Dick" asked; ''what was your
first enlistm"nt?"
"Well," said Dick, with laugh, my
first soldie ring was sailoring. I listed
in the marines and was sent down to u
tlyblown hole in Florida. The heat,
the bugs and the style of the marine
officers sckcncd me, so resigned. :
''Resigned?' queried.
'Gave them IL French resignation,
you know. struck New Orleans in II
Cuban banana boat, dead broke, and
infYnl &c ,sr1,1 1>>,, mt
Baton Rogue. That place was worse
than Florida. The first pay day set
tied me, and took n trip up the river.
They charged me with two rifles, a
dozen brooms and Il wheelbarrow on
my muster roll, when skipped. Handy
thing for Il deserter, u wheelbarrow
often wondered that they did not charge
me with Tom Gorman's wife, who lit
out with a coon about the time l re-
tired
"Where did you go, Dick-St. LOUISE"
eyes! Thought I'd take flyer in the
cavalry. Got sick of old Bully Welch
there, and was glad enough to go with
detachment to the Third in Arizona.
Well, that's lovely country to get
away from. If there's hell on earth,
Arizona is the place. was stationed
at Verde, and the malaria, bad grub
and Apache chasing changed my views
of the cavalry. Three of us skipped
the first time the paymaster got round,
ard we worked down through Apache
pass into New Mexico with our hair all
right. We struck the settlements, sold
our horses, and separated. 1 worked
down to Ell Paso and went broke on a
monte game. Invent over to Fort Bliss
and took another blanket. l liked
soldering there first rate and got the
chevrons; but the captain broke me
for raising row down town and
humping greaser. That made me
mad and went on the retired list once
more. That quartermaster sergeant
was a daisy, and, as was chum of his
he socked it to me-charged me with 6
six-mule harness, q grindstone, two
spades, a long Tom and hundred
rounds of ammunition. Just think Of
me hoofing it across desert between
Quitman and Davis with grindstone
under my arm! Must have thought
wanted 1T to sharpen my appetite.
got job as teamster at Fort Clark, but
| ran across fellow knew at Bator
Rogue, and he was always hard up ant
had an idea that l was a bank, and
concluded to go east"
"And them" l insinuated.
"Then," resumed Dick, 81 guessed
| had all the west wanted for awhile, 81
honored the artillery. / made mis-
take. was in fort where you coult
see nothing but sea and sand, ant
where it was cold enough to freeze 1;
brass monkey. Lord! but the artiller,
is tough and dull, all guard duty ant
polishing; no mountains. no plains; al
buttons and drill. That heavy artil
lery made flying artillery man of me
l waited for pay day and left withou
leaving my address. Well, my music
roll caught it. They landed me on tn
pay roll for a caisson and fifty round
of fixed and strapped ammunition an
other tritles."
"Draw it mild, Dick" suggested.
"Well, if they didn't" said Dick
earnestly, 'may be 'bobtailcd.' pu
out for the west and listed in Coving
ton in the 'doughboys' again, like
fool. was just in time to be rounde
up for batch of Johnnies' going t
Montana, the worst lot of fresh fish
ever got into. Tough? Well! say! w
hoofed it all day and stood guard ever
other night. We had chap just ar
!, pointed from civil life in command
and he was scared to death. And tn
grub! Well, let that go. We got t
our post and had to build new stable
for the cavalry. Fatigue duty ever
day and dress parade Cvery night mad
life hardly worth living. Then wa
detailed to guard railroad survey
That was exciting, for the Sioux had
spite against us, but ! concluded thil
teen dollars a month was too small
bet to stake my life against. Four q
Us said good-by and waltzed for tn
railroad, sleeping in ravines by da
and tramping by night. Once more
figured big thief ON the muster roll
The post quartermaster sergeant sol
SIX mules to freighter and the teal
turned up on my pay roll, with plunde
enough to start u suffers store"
swell, go on, Dick" 1 said.
"Oh, to make long story short,
kept getting in and out all the tim,
Had to keep going and changing m
name, for | was always running int
some fellow that knew me. Not man
fellows will blow on you-but yo
can't help thinking they will. Then
fellow that knows You have ski
against you finds you very convenier
| -, al