The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-11-09
FUN AT FORT CLARK.
COLONEL JOCK M'KeNzle'S WAY OF
RUNNING AN ARMY POST.

at the Male Corral.
"There was fun down at Fort Clark.
Texas, in the early eighties when the late
Colonel Jock Mckenzie Three Fingered
Nc he was affectionately nicknamed by
the men under him-of the Fourth cavalry
was in commanded that post.
81 don't think any of us who were sol
diering at Clark at the time will ever for
get how he made the Fourth Cavalry band
put in whole day discoursing music 10
the mules in the corral The way of IL
was this: The band leader was a square
head He belonged TO the toady and dog
robber type of enlisted man, I'm sorry 10
say, and that was just the kind of enlisted
man that Jock Mckenzie had IL in for.
Well, the enlisted men at Clark wanted 10
give hop, and a committee of us was
sent over to this band leader TO see about
the music.
4" Forty dollars, said he almost before
we'd told him what we wanted.
"'What are you giving us?' said one of
the committee. You play all night at the
officers hops for nothing and you only
hit the jumpers in town for $50 for a
nights scraping and wind pushing.
"'Forty dollars, said this queer duck of
a cornet cracker, and that settled 1t. So
we slid up in a body 70 the old man quar-
tiers TO see what he'd have 10 say about it.
We wouldn't have gone near him if we had
not felt that the band leader was trying TO
rub it in on US. One of Us stated the case
TO him.
"'The band leader is trying to give us
the worst of it. Is anything 10 be doney
was the wind up of the statement.
1.-The old man twiddled his thumbs and
smiled in queer kind of way he had
:" Pay him what he asks he said final
~, ar 4 we left. We were disappointed in
the old man. 1t was the first time he had
gone back on us on fair proposition.
"Well, the hop came off all right and
we had n pretty big time. We paid the
band leader his $40 in advance, and he
gave us good music, although it wasn't
$40 worth. A lot of the officers OF the post
attended the hop and appeared to get as
much fun out of it as the men Colonel
Mckenzie showed up about midnight with
his orderly behind him
'''This j. the way to do it, said he
i like to see the officers and men in my
command mix up. 1t promotes good feel
ing and is good for the officers and good
for the men But understand there has
been a little contention with reference To
the music. Ahn And he stroked his chm
and went into reverie for minute or so
III see about that in the morning Go
ahead and enjoy yourselves until reveille
if you want to.
'We took the old man at his word and
kept the thing a-going until first cali
sounded for reveille at o clock in the
morning. Then all hands made a break
4 T..
pretty dark, but we made out the old man
standing in the middle of the parade
ground. AS he generally staid in bed I'M
til about 10 in the morning, we wondered
what was up.
After reveille roll call the officer of the
day wheeled TO front the colonel and re-
ported all present or accounted for.
Officer Of the day, called out the old
man, order the musician of the guard to
sound band call
Band call at that hour of the morning,
at reveillel The old gentleman had us all
band had just gone To their quarters from
the hop, dead tired after the nights work
The trumpeter blared the band call.
- Clap the double time on to the call,
shouted the old man to the trumpetcr and
hopping over the parade ground, elbows
up, their blouses half buttoned, the band
leader travelling in front like man racing
against time, when he saw the CID man
standing on the parade ground The band
lined up close TO the commanding officer.
'Eh-ah-your music last night vas
pretty goOd-prety good, said the old man
TO the leader 'Iou-ch-wcrc pretty well
paid for it, too, were you not:'
"Thc band leader stood mute It was
up 70 him TO say something, but he WASH I
man enough and Jock Mckenzie hated
70 have a soldier thumb his buttons
'Eh-yes-goOd music, he went on.
Il might even say id fine musicl l
like good music So do ali Of my officers
So do all of my men. But dare say that
neither myself nor my officers nor my men
are so fond of good music as my mules |
don't suppose there's such an extraordi.
narly musical lot of mules at any post in
this country as that bunch of mules Of
mine down in the corral. Humphl Band
leader, you will Immediately get yourself
and the band into heavy marching order
and march down to the mule corral There
you will render the best music of which
the band is capable until retreat this even.
ing. Do not SLOUGH the music. / shall be
around at intervals to see that you do not
SLOUGH the music Your bandsmen din.
ners shall be sent to them at noon, and
you and they shall have / 8 minutes to eat
it. Resume the music after 10 minutes Of
dining and keep it up until first call for
retreat is sounded Officer of the day.
dismiss the men to their quarters
We'll, that mule corral serenade was
worth any mans money to hear and see
The bandsmen sat around on bales of hay
their heavy marching order gear. down to
the tin cup and plate and knife and fork
every time they made move
We all took turns going down TO the mule
corral to see the performance and make
the band leader feel good We threw our.
selves full length on the grass and chewed
straws and watched 'em puff and pant
The mules seemed to like the music by the
wiggling Of their ears, only 1t made some
of the old timers so sad that they kept up
a steady 'kehunk' during the entire l2
hours. The old man turned up at the cor
raj, picking his teeth, about clock In
the afternoon Some of the bandsmen. in
Guiding the leader who played first cornet.
were half asleep right in the middle OF
tune. The old man noticed this
- Not spirited enough, not energy
n a.