The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-05-28
BRUIN JONES'.

Captain, who was the best soldier
you ever knew
This question was ~propounded recent
ly to Captain Bronaugh, the present
coal oil inspector of st. Louis and a man
who has seen enough Of war to make
his Judgment in regard to soldiers worth
something.
well. l hardly know" was the re-
ply, but / can tell you very easily who
was the best fighter l ever knew
whats the difference?"
There's q great deal Of difference.
To be q good soldier one must have
courage, patience and endurance, discr-
pline and a great many other things. To
be a good fighter II only needs to have
plenty of the devil in him. l can't say
in regard to the best soldier, but the
best fighter l ever knew was undoubted.
~ a man named Jones. have no idea
what his first name really was. but cur
men all called him Bruin, for reasons
that l think you car guess when you
hear the story. He was a member Of my
company, but l have no recollection of
how or when he joined Us. The first
day / remember eve to have seen him
was the 18th of August, 1862, just the
day before the awful fight at Lone
Jack"
1t seems that Oh that date all the COM
panies in Lewis regiment were reor-
ganized, and that the voting for officers
was all done by ballot. When it came
to Bronaugh's company, every vote read
was cast for him for captain, except the
last one. To the surprise of every one,
the last vote was called out in stentorian
tones:
THE devi1H'
At the announcement of this unex-
pected vote the men stared around at
each other in amazement.
Say" remarked the wit of the COM
pany at last, THAT fellow ought to have
better manners han vote for himself"
In the laugh that followed all the
company joined, except Jones. He stood
stiff as q ramrod, with a countenance
like that Of Mephistopheles, until the
laugh had subsidized. and then he re-
marked:
HE voted for a blamed sight better
man than Bronaugh, anyway"
l think that the reader will concede
that when the captain compliments Mr..
Jones' fighting qualities it is not be-
cause Of any special personal friendship
for him. He was a man of about 80 years
Of age, below medium height, slender,
clean shaven, dark complexion, and was
very much like a hawk in the keenness
Of his eyes, the curvature Of his nose,
the m~usicalness of his voice and the
general amiability Of his disposition.
The captain sums up the case by saying:
He was soured ON the world and all
the rest of mankind"
He was never known to agree with
anybody on any subject that could be
mentioned The nearest he ever came to
1t was one day in camp, when the sol
diers happened to be discussing the char
acter of Abraham Lincoln, and one of
them forcibly expressed the opinion that
he was the greatest scoundrel that ever
lived.
"Yes!' exclaimed Jones, with q pro-
fusion Of lurid language. There only
N more contemplate hound in the
universe than Lincoln"
WHO'S he?"
JEFF Davis. he replied, with all the
whitening contempt he could crowd into
the words. From this speech it NAV be
imagined that while Mr.. ~Jones hated
h Union he did not adore the Confed-
eracy. The boys in camp suggested that
he wore the gray merely because he had
more men to shoot at than if he wore
the blue. There was no duty too hard
for him, no night too cold OF rainy for
him to stand guard, no fight too danger
u for him, provided only he was al
lowed to have his fill Of profanity and
abuse for the world in general Once
when it was limited that the artillery
was not strong enough to dislodge a GER
tain battery belonging to the enemy,
some n suggested:
Put old Jones up in front and let
him cuss at EN- If that dom t clean EN-
out, there's no use to try bombshells. >
He would not only curse the Federals,
but the C~onfederates also, the officers a.
well as the men. Several times he wa.
known to knock his messmate down with
the Hat side OF a spade, and her If h
was SO inconsiderate as to remonstrat,
to threaten him with the edge. OWN,
to such traits in him as these, the mel
gradually grew unwilling to eat Will
him, SO that for months he was a veri
table hermit, though surrounded by men
No n spoke to him or had anything O
any kind to do with him when it coul,
in any way be avoided, and this scenes
to be exactly what he wanted. Abou
this time he was nicknamed "Bruin,,
not only On account Of his bearlike TEN
per. but also because the solitary figure
squatting about by his campfire, eatin
his own food and holding converse wit
no n was very much like that of
bear Gagged by itself to prevent it fror
injuring anything.
In this way things worked tolerabl
smoothly for awhile. but before lon