The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1897-12-15
Fun at Fort Clark.

AcAtt,r III tic cary - > HiAIA NAAC ieAe'
Col. jock Mckenzie Three Fingered
Me- he was affeetionately nieiSnamed
by the men under him-Of the Fourth
Cavalry was in command of the post.
~ don't think any Of US who were
soldiers at Clark at the time will ever
forget how he made the Fourth Cavalry
band put in a wkde day diseoursing
music to the mules in the corral. The
way Of it was this:
"The band leader was square head
He belonged to the tOady and dog rob
Der type ofenlisted men, Pm sorry 10
say, aud that was just the kind of en-
listed man that Jock Mckenzie had itin
for.
"Well, the enlisted men at CLARK
wanted to give a hop, and committee
Of Us was sent over to this band leader
to see about music.
'''Forty dollars, said he, almost be-
fore we'd told him what We wanted.
"What are you giving us2' said one
of the committee. You play ali 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 hisqueer duck
of a cornet cracker, and that settled it.
So we slid up to the old mans quarters
10 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.
Zone OF US stated the case to him.
The band leader is trying to give
US the worst Of it. Is anything to be
done?' was the wind up OF the state
ment.
"The old man twiddled his thumbs
aud smiled in queer kind ofa way he
had.
"'Pay him what he asks, he said
finally, and we left
"We were disappointed in the old
man. 1t was the first time he had gone
back on US on a fair proPosi ion.
"well, the hop came of all right, and
we had pretty big time. We paid the
band leader his SO in advance, and he
gave us good music, although it wasn't
so worth.
"a lot of the officers of the post at
tended the hop and appeared to get as
much fun out of it as the men. Col
Mckenzie showed up about midnight
with his orderly behind him.
This is the way TO do it, said he.
Il like TO see the officers and men in
my command mix up. It promotes
good feeling and is good for the officers
and good for the men. But l nuder-
stand there has been a little contention
with reference to the music. Ahr
"And he stroked his chin and went
into reverie for a min ute or SO, then
continued:
"I'Il see about that in the morning.
Go ahead and en-. oy yourselves until
reveille if you want to-
.'We took the old man at his word
and kept the thing a-going until first
call sounded for reveille at O'Clock in
the morning. Then all hands made a
break for quarters to stan d reveille.
''It was still pretty dark, but we made
out the old man standing in the middle
of the parade ground. As he generally
staid in bed until about 10 OO'cloek in the
morning, we wondered what was the
matter.
"After reveille roll call tie officer Of
the day wheeled to front the colonel
and reported all present or accounted
for.
"'Omcer 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 morn
ing, at reveille! The old man had Us
all guessing for fair.
"The members of the band had just
gone do wn to their quarters from the
hop, dead tired after the nights work.
The trumpeter blared the band cali.
"'Clap the double time on to the call, >
shouted tie old man to the trumpeter
aud in about eight seconds the bands
men came hopping over the parade
ground, elbows up, their blouses half
buttoned, the band leader travelling in
font like a man racing against time,
when he saw The old man standing on
the parade ground.
'The band lined up close to the COM
mandlnS officer.
'Eh-ah-your music last night was
pretty good said the old man to the
leader. 'You-eh were pretty well
paid for it, to-, were you nos?'
'The band leader stood mute. Il was
up to him to say something, bat he
wasn't man enough. and jock MeKen-
zie hated to have a soldier to thumb his
buttons.
"'En-yes-good music, he went on
might even say id fine musicl
like good music 50 do all of my OIL
GERS. So do all OF my men. Bat dare
say that neither myself nor my officers
nor my men are so fond of good music
as my mules. l don't suppose there's
such an extraordinarily musical lot OF
mules at any post in this country as
that b1uch of mules of mine down ia
the corral.
"'Humphl ban d leader, you will i'm,
mediately get yourself and the band in
to 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 slOuch the music. shall
be around at intervals TO see that you
do not sloueh the mIsic.'
"sYour bandsmen's dinners shall be
sent to them at noon, and you and they
shall have 10 minutes to eat it. Resume
the music after Is minutes Of dining
and keep it up until first call for retreat
is sounded.
"'o1icer of the day, dismiss the men
to their quarters
"Well, that mule corral serenade va.
worth any mus m,aey 70 haar AMI
see. The bandsmen sat around on bale
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