Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1896-12-19
Concluded next week.)
BILL LET CO OF rHE MULES EAR.
iiut Not UntiI He'd Added IA Chapter to
the History or the War.

In the rotunda of the Auditorium no.
tel recently several veterans of the wal
OF the rebellion were seated around in a
circle telling of some of their wal expe.
riences. One of them related the fol-
lowing incident:
"Our regiment was in camp Mt Har.
pcr's Ferry, and one bright morning a
comrade and | secured permission to
visit "A farm house some distance away,
where we knew there was some poul.
try. We rode horses aud had some
money in our pockets to purchase the
chickens and turkeys we desired, for
on this occasion we had made up our
minds to forego foraging but later cir.
cumstances arose hat made it neces.
sary for us to forget our good resolu.
tons. Turning our horses into n grass
field which was but Il short distance
from the house we left them to Craze AT
will. On reaching the house we met
the farmer on an old-fashioned porch
that ran the whole front of the quaint
farmhouse. | told the farmer that we
had come TO buy some of his poultry.
at which his southern blood began to
boil. He swore he'd rather see every
chicken and turkey ON the place rot be-
fore he would sell them to any -
Yankee for IA thousand times what they
were worth. That settled it with us.
Our northern blood had reached fire
heat. We could not stand such an in
suit and went straightway TO the barG.
where II fine lot of fowls were pecking
grain. 1t did not take us long to tie
the legs of II goodly number of chickens
and turkeys. As | was in the act of
tying up the legs of a proud gobbler |
looked up and to my dismay saw com.
ing up the lane Il small company Of
confederate cavalry. | took in the sit.
uation at a glance. | knew we had not
time 10 reach our horses, and to escape
on foot was impossible. In the barn
yard We're two fine, seek mules.
Throwing my string of fowls over the
back of one and jumping astride the
animal | shouted to "Bill"- that was the
first name OF my comrade--to follow
my example. He did so. and | took
the lead for the camp. The mule that
| was on had taken but n few jumps
when | heard Bill" shout:
AMY NiiloNNs ~ > btllhtNs oll1ls
looked around and sure enough the
mule had baked. The Johnuies were
close at hand, and | shouted back to
"Biil":
Crawl on his neck, Bill and chew
his ear"
Bill" lost nv time in trying the ex.
pertinent. lie got the end of the ami.
mails long ear into his mouth and began
operations. The mule gave "A squeal,
like that of a stuck pig, and rushed
madly after its mate, which | was rid.
ing ON, for dear life. Suddenly l saw
something loom up and rush past me
1t was Bill" and his mule. "Bills"
teeth were imbedded in the animals
ear, aud blood trickled down the. side o.
its head. Bill was ali bumped up on
the back Of his mad steed and presented
Il most ludicrous sight. The turkeys
Hoped their wings and the chicken,
made a. terrible %clatter. which only
served to make tho mule go faster.
heard the Johnnies behind us laugh
They fired ut us. but we were not hit
| am sure that they could not have hi
BILL" for he was being carried along
at a great speed.
Through the picket line of our regi
ment and IN through the camp wen
Bills" mule, the fowls bobbing up ant
down at every jump. As soon as
knew we were out of reach of the en-
envy ! gathered all of my lung powe
and shouted:
Let go the mules ear, Bill WEIR
safe"
"BilP heard me aud let go. He final
~ succeeded in stopping the mule
whose sides went in and out like a hi!
bellows. An examination showed Bill
had chewed over half the mules ca
of. bill" allowed it was the TOUCHES
bit of meat he had ever tackled, bu
that night he got square on roast tul
key and chicken. We lost two OF tn
best horses in u army.-Cnicag
Tribune.