Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1897-10-02
XIV.

The first Christmas young fellow
spends in the army is one he is apt 10
remember. What he did in years be-
fore, or OF what nature were the festivi-
ties in those that followed, may, IT.
course OF time, become but vague and
shadowy pictures before the minds
eye. After something like 90 years OF
service rs q commissioned officer Mr..
Lambert was heard TO say that never,
even when n homesick plebe at West
Point, had he passed so forlorn n
Christmastide as that which immedi-
ntcly succeeded his graduation.
The rain was beating down in sullcn
shower upon the bare and dripping
woods and soddcn fields; the roads
were deep in mud; camp, Of which he
and cold and cheerlcss; in the adjoining
tent lay his senior officer grooming on
bed Of pain. hands and face blistered
and bandaged, hair and eyebrows gone.
while over across the way pile OF
.scorched and blackened timbcrs, n
couple OF brick chimneys, and the stone
foundations, were all that were left OF
Walton Hall.
The story brought in OF the big row
ut Vernon, though exaggerated, had
been sufficiently confirmed in the
course OF an hour or so that wintry
evening OF Lambert's last visit TO the
homestead, to warrant his being or
dcred thither with half the company
to Support the civil authorities in re-
storing peace" Close reported the
situation by telegraph to department
headquarters, and the action taken by
him, his dispatch reaching the general
commanding the next day an hour or
so after that official had been ordered
from Washington to send full particu.
lars Of the disturbance In his bailiwick,
for the federal officials in the south and
the partisans OF both sides OF the pc
litical questions Mt issue had worked
the night wires for all they were worth,
and the early morning papers were
lurid with details OF the tragic out
break.
II was midnight when Lambert
started on his march with two excited
deputy marshals for guides. Five miles
out they met some horsemen conveying
IN old carriage containing Walton
Scroggs, seriously wounded, and doc
tor. With the escort Lambert held
brief parley, also with the wounded
man, who, though weak, wns full of
pluck and spirits; his sole anxiety
seemed to be on the score Of his wife
and the shock the news would cause
her. The account given the young off,
Ger OF the circumstances leading up to
the facts differed radically from that
with which he and his commander had
thus far been favored. This was to be
expected, as up to this point their sole
informants were either negroes or q
couple Of whites OF the Parmelee stamp.
In the north, as rule, the affair ap-
peared to have been wanton and un-
provoked attack by Walton Scroggs and
his friends upon some negroes who had
been instrumental in securing his ar
rest-nothing short, In fact, Of red
handed act Of vengeance, rs was evl-
dent from the fact that Immediately on
his release he and his party, armed to
the teeth. had ridden over to Vernon,
instead Of going home, and without
warning or apparent warrant had be-
gun the indiscriminate shooting down
of certain unpopular whites and their
iuckless negro supporters.
In the south, except among certain
Journals published in the interest Of
the radical" republican party, the 9th
CT side Of the story was promptly cir
culated. Capt. Scroggs and q friend.
endeavoring to reach home by cir
cuitous route 80 as to avoid trouble after
his release from jail, where he had
been incarcerated several weeks on
baseless. trumped-up charges. were Get
upon In the streets Of Vernon by
blackguardly pack Of loafers, insulted.
ahHssd end assaulted. and hpally com