The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1897-11-11
PRIVATE LAUFER.

i Ill ' A i II LA T. L Eli.
I remember well the day we all met
at the adjutant's Office to receive our
portion Of n big batch of recruits who
arrived ON the previous day. Recruits
are sent out without assignment except
to the regiment in general, 1880 re-
cruits to the Tenth cavalry" for in.
stance.
Then the colonel, stiff old West
Pointer, from the general list assigned
to each troop the number required to
fill up the gaps the last campaign had
left. We were all standing around the
porch as Church, our adjutant, called
off the names OF the men for each troop,
A, b, @, d.
AS each mans name was called he
stepped one pace to the front and a side
step to the right, so that they would
form separate squad when the list was
completed. When my troop, j, was
reached, l naturally had a general in
terest in what manner of men might
fall to my lot, but / confess 1 was not
so absorbed as / would have been if I
was receiving 20 horses instead of re-
cruits.
However, was short of good timber
Just then and was struck by the appear
ance of the man who stepped out as
Church called George Laufer." His
crisp, distinct Here in reply to his
name made me think that it was his
own and name he was proud of. The
vast majority of enlisted mems names
in the army, like those in the peniten-
tiary, are fictitious and run from Chris
tian Scripture to George Washington,
with only one rule seeming to govern
their selection--the better the Tame the
worse the man. Christian Scripture was
the worst soldier, drunk or sober, ever
knew.
Laufer, however had every mark Of a
well bred man about him, was of an aver
age height, with light, strong frame,
weighing 165 or 40 pounds; young,
with brown eyes and hair, small dark
mustache, clean, well groomed face and
complexion that dissipation would
have ruined in week, but which was
| now clear and healthy.
My sergeant took the squad and
marched them down to the troop quar-
ters, where, with my lieutenants, in
| spected them, listening to the stories Of
all the rest-the same old story had
heard thousand men tell and vary only
i'll detail-as to where they lived, wheth-
er they were married, why they had en-
listed, etc. Laufer promptly told me all
that it was reasonable l should know
and as promptly showed his manhood
when any irrelevant question was pro-
pounded by declining to answer.
| was satisfied that he had told the
truth and that l had luckily picked up
jewel Of man. l made up my mind
that should he fulfill my first impress
sions during his setting up and grad
uation from recruit to a private he
should be q corporal after one or two
tours Of guard duty.
The colonel frequently came around
| from one troop to another during the
ceremony of stables. Morning and even
ing Cavalryman's horse is thoroughly
| groomed, fed and watered, each private
and corporal grooming the horse he
rides, the extra horses being taken care
of by the recruits or by the stable guard
when there were no recruits.
That afternoon l was right glad to
walk down with the "old man" as we
called our colonel. He was harsh one
and swift in his punishments, yet not
slow in his rewards-just, but cold
blooded and almost unmerciful, man
in many ways cordially hated by us ALL
| yet in many more ways idolized by
every one who knew him. We turned
into my troop stables, and to my utter
astonishment found my stable sergeant
standing with Recruit Laufer, ready for
my order to put him in the guardhouse
Dressed now in his white stable frock
and trousers, he looked typical caval-
ryman, but there was that in his face
hot defiance, rather determination
plainly showing that he had made his
decision.
Whats the matter, Sergeant Cars
well?" asked the colonel.
Recruit Laufer refuses to groom his
horse, sir, reported Carswell, with his
hand at the visor of his cap.
Refuses to groom his horse, eh?"
the colonel asked, with that twang in
his voice which every soul from the kid
bugler to the lieutenant colonel knew
meant mischief. Then, turning to Lau-
fer, in q manner to make stout nerves
quiver, he asked:
"Why won't you groom your horse?'
because am no groom, sir, and be-
cause such was not explained to me as
! part of my duties when enlisted" said
Laufer, saluting, but steady as veteran.
"The-you say" roared the old man,
now mad beyond all hope of calming.
Sergeant Sergeant Carswell! Ser
geant" he yelled.
"Yes, SIR" said the sergeant, who
had stepped aside to look after the. 9TH
er recruits.
Sergeant Carswell, have the saddler
make halter for this man, tie him up
in this vacant stall when it's on him,
feed him in the trough, lead him out to
water and bed him with straw until
further orders"
"Yes, SIR" Carswell saluted and led
my good timber away to obey that or
der, from which there was no appeal.
Rather bad beginning for man I
had picked from the batch to make a
corporal" 1 smilingly said when we
were alone again.
"Oh, you can't tell" the colonel re-
piled, and then we talked about the