Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1897-06-17
FLAHERTY ON GUARD
STORY OF A YANKEE RECRUIT FRESH
FROM THE OLD SOD.
A Scheme to Get by the Guard That Didn't
Pan out-Pat Held Up Nearly All the
Officers of His Company and Even Then
Couldn't Get the Countersign.

City Messenger George l.. Warriner al
ways has good supply of war stories on
tap. In Mr. WARMERS regiment, which
was recruited at Worcester and went to
the front from there WAS "a private who
might have been named Patrick Flaherty,
but wasn't, and who might have bee
French, but was Irish. And he was an
Irishman not only In name and hair but
In that national characteristic of witty re-
tort and peculiar denseness In some di-
rectiOns.
While the company was in the barracks
at Worcester 10 was the fashion for the men
to run the guard and get out of the lines
through hole I'm the high board fence,
made by removing the nail at the bottom
of wide board and swinging IL TO one
side. After the men had got through they
would let the board swing back and there
was no sign of exit The officers finally
discovered this method of procedure and
determined TO put a stop to it. They Sc
lected as sentry at the crucial point Fla
herty. He had impressed them as man
who would do his duty at whatever cost,
even though it meant sticking bayonet
into some ones vtals or boring hole
through him with an ounce of lead. They
also elaborated system Of countersigns
which they proposed to have strictly en-
forced.
1t CHANGED that one night several of the
men prepared to run the guard. The pass
word that night was "Ticonderoga. II
was guarded very carefully, but by some
means the men got hold of il and planned
TO make use Of il In getting outside the
lines So a party of four or five started to-
ward the point in the line where Flaherty
was on picket For safetys sake one of
the party started ahead to experiment on
Flaherty with the password, while the rest
staid behind To watch the outcome. If the
advance guard got through all right, the
rest had pretty good assurance of going
through also. The soldier approached Fla
herty In the dark and the latter brought
his musket to charge bayonets and shout
ed
"who be yezY'
"A friend
"Shure and yez can't get out o. this
widout dc oountersign." The soldier APP
preached the picket and whispered in his
ear tho word "Ticonderoga. "Phat did
yez sayY" "Ticonderoga," repeated the
guard runner in IA louder whisper. "That
amt the worrud, - said Pat, and rs the sol
dier madea motion to withdraw, he added,
approaching the point of the bayonet Il lit
tie closer to his body, Don't yez move
wan step, or by the holy mither I'll stick
this inter yez. The soldier knew Pat well
enough to know that he would do it in "a
second If he made motion, and so he
stood there passiyely while Pat yelled,
"Carp'ra of the guard In moment or
two the corporal came running up to see
what was the matter, but he was halted by
Pat, who said "Give the countersign.
"1iconderoga, said the corporal, and
started to approach nearer. How'd up
interposed Pat, "yez haven't got il right
ayther, at all, mt all. In vain the corporal
protested that that was the word that had
been given out. Pat would not let him
! move either way, but kept the corporal and
the pri vate standing there with his bayonet
vibrating between them while he shouted
for the sergeant of the guard The word
was passed along and finally the sergeant
arrived on the scene Meanwhile the guard
runners companions began to edge away
to await developments, remaining, how
ever, within earshot.
What's all this troublep" demanded the
sergeant, looking over the group
"Give the countersign, said Patrick.
''Ticonderoga, replied the sergeant.
Faith and yez haven't got it right,
ayther, " said Pat pointing his bayonet at
the sergeant.
Eyes, it is, you fool, answered the ser
geant. "That's what all the pickets have. "
at don't make wan bit Of difference"
said Pat. "If yCz don't give that counter
sign and yez move wan step, I'll put u hole
through yeZ.
Pat was getting angry 10y this time and
the protestations and threats of the ser
geant and corporal did not move him a
whit Flaherty called this time for the lieu
tenant of the guard. He was by this time
surrounded by IA pretty respectable sized
crowd Of puzzled officers, all of whom he
was holding at bay ut the point of his
musket The hubbub soon reached the
ears of the lieutenant, and he came down
in "a tearing hurry TO see what the trouble
was all about Pat brought him up short
with his bayonet and demanded the coun-
tersign, although he knew well enough
who the officer was.
''Ticonderoga, said the lieutenant
"Howly smoke, sighed Pat, che amt
got it right ayther" And he pondered as
to who he should call out next
Amt got it right" said the lieutenant
angrily. "Why, you fool, | gave it to you
myself. 4"
sure, thin, yeZ forgotten 1t, said Pat.
'Iiconderoga' wasn't the worrud yeZ
gave.
what was it, thenS' asked the lieuten-
ant, beginning TO see the fun.
Bsdad it was 'Wroang kind of rogu-
cry " said Pat and shout of laughter
went up from the group he had standing
around him. Flaherty, having recently
come over and not being well up in Amer
lean history, had not heard of Ticonderoga,
and had mistaken the word, although they
had drilled him carefully, trying to get
him to pronounce it, Not long afterward
the regiment moved to the south, and
with it went Flaherty, now rechristened
wrong kind of roguery. 1t stuck to
him all through the war, and he got so
used to it that he responded to it as his
name. Springfield Republican.
Barrels.
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