The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-10-03

turb them. The provost guard %Gu bt
occasionally fail to capture ml9nlsn.
nrowlers who robbed the roots anu penLS
of other homes, but they Kept goou wall
over fine frame cottage, and the pigs anu
oonitrv roaming thereabout got fatter
and fatter. e-or,
An Indiana regiment had come from
the West and had gone into camp just
hack of the point, and one afternoon
few days later sergeant and IL prlVates
from the Forty-fourth New YORK volun-
teers, returning from special escort,
stopped to rest near the favored cottage.
The sight of so many table Injuries
cackling and granting just inside the
picket Tense made their mouths water,
but a passing soldier warned them OF
the very strict orders against poachlng,
and they kept their itching hands OF:
However, they were very much IN need
of fried chicken just at that time, SO,
after q consultation, they filed through
the gate and the sergeant walked up on
the steps and pulled the door bell. To
the old colored aunty who answered the
bell the sergeant stated that they had
lust returned from a long march, were
tired and very hungry, and if they could
have dinner of fried chickens with very
few accompanying documents they would
willingly pay one dollar each. After
some hesitation and a short, whispered
conversation with some one just inside
the door, the old colored female an
nounced that it would be "All right,
honey, if you boys will done cotch six
nice chickens for me-"
The boys were used to "skirmishing"
of that kind and it was no time before
six fat spring chickens were caught and
decapitated. But a detail of the pro-
vost guard in large row boat on the
river had heard the commotion among
the feathered inhabitants of the sacred
precinct, and they landed at once to in
quire into the cause OF the trouble.
Catching the New York soldiers
red-handed in the act they would
listen to no explanation, but hustled
them as prisoners into the boat and start
ed with them for the landing at City
Point, where quite a number of oilers
from various regiments were gathered
on the pier. AS the boat approached the
pier the prisoners were jeered at good
humoredly for being caught stealing
poultry, and the provost sergeant in the
sitting in the bow don't let her bump"
He didn't let her bump, but as the bow
of the boat came up to the piling of the
pier he crawled out quickly on a stringer
under the flooring and gave the boat a
push back, the prisoners standing up
preventing the guard from seeing the es-
cape. The New Yorker crawled through
to the opposite side of the pier, then up
over the side and was soon swallowed up
in the crowd. When the prisoners were
landed and counted it was found that
one of the original dozen was missing,
but they didn't lose any more and IL
very mad and very detected soldiers
were marched to the guard house.
Under the plea that he wanted to eX-
plain to the other nOn-cOmmissioned Off
GERS the duties of an officer of the day,
the New York sergeant that night Dor
rowed a sword, belt and sash from his
captain, and just before midnight pre-
scented himself at the provost guard
house at the Point. Calling for the
officer of the guard he said, rather POM
pOusly:
81 understand you have about dozen
of my men under arrest here for viola
ton of orders. | also understand that
it was a technical violation, and l want
them released"
The lieutenant couldn't release them,
but after some conversation volunteered
to take "Major Jones, sir, of the til
Indiana" to the colonel commanding and
introduce him to that officer. The col
onel was routed out of bed, the major
introduced and the case stated to MIN.
When he was informed of the true status
he issued an order to the lieutenant to
release the II prisoners and turn them
over to major JONES'" who was asked
to caution them against even technical
violations of orders in the future.-Wash-
ington Star.