Omaha daily bee., 1897-05-30

NNAAAtiH WIN illHh uIOu ~ Htlu so tnlCKIY
that one could barely ind a path between the
corpses. Frequently that night there we're
outbursts OF firing along the front line, and
General Slocum sent his aides In all direc-
uons to see II anything serious was afoot.
One by one they came In and made their re-
ports. Among the last was the Irish cap
tain, and when the general called upon him
he solemnly marched forward with his head
down, wringlng his hands Historically, and
moaned. Och, Gineral, is as aahful; II 10
aahful, GineralV He could say no more. for
his emotion choked him. The spectacle OF
the funny man OF the camp doing the
pathetic. and that with such tragic demeanor,
coupled with his comical brogue, was too
much for the gravity OF his companions,
even In that solumn hour, and one by one
they sneaked out OF the tent to indulge
their uncomfortable laughter. The incident
was a godeend, for under such circumstances
II is far better to laugh than to weep, and
II must be one or the other.
A FALSE ALARM.
another Irish officer who gave us a good
deal OF amusement by his eccentric and
vehemen attempts TO be serious and sol
dierly at times when the situation reminded
one OF opera bouffe was the late Colonel
Michael w. Burns Of the Second New York
Fire Zouaves, Burns was the exact double
OF Custer, except that his flowing locks were
brown instead OF golden, and. like Custer,
he was a peer among fighters. AT the siege
~ = hiC lhA " " Nho
trenches adjoining Fort S~edgwick, a notori-
Gus hot corner which the veterans who were
60 fortunate as to survive a turn OF duty
there nicknamed Fort He'll After the ex-
plosion of Burnside's mines rurnors OF coun-
termining frequently alarmed the troops,
and every one was alert for the stealthy
'tap-tap' and drill of the confederate miners
under the ground beneath us.
zone night Colonel Burns invited n party
Of us to a game Of cards In his tent. II
| ,NA tkat - .Fl -
been reported that day by the outpost senti-
mel. Every ones nerves were in that we'll
known condition called scary. We started
In to make a night of IL. From time to time
a mysterious far-away noise penetrated
through the hum of the camp and struck
gently upon our ears. and along toward the
small hours, after the camp streets became
quiet, this sound grew into a distinct. meas
ured tapping. The cards were dropped in a
twinkling, and an explosive Ssh! escaped
every pair of lips, and. under breaths not
entirely innocent of the aroma OF the ex-
tract of corn, we all exclaimed:
"'They are mining!'
"On tiptoe we went round the camp. kneel-
ing in deep puddles here. and sprawling
broadside with ears to the earth in shall
lower ones there. until finally we came TO
a low dugout in the face Of an embankment
wall, which had been cut away to widen the
trenches. Inside the dismal cave, many
feet below the ground, an old soldier OF
Burns regiment sat on a rude bench cob
bling shoes,
"The first impulse of all OF us, excepting
the colonel, was to consider ourselves sold,
and hurry back quickly and unobserved TO
the solace of our campfres, cards and bottle.
But our host had his own ideas of outraged
dignity and discipline, to say nothing OF
| overweight nerves and mud-splashed uni
forms, and he rushed into the dugout, with
a vigorous soldiers oath, shouting:
"-- you, sir! Phwat do you mean by
minding ould shoes afther taps-do you hear
-afther taps?' Then turning to the officer
of the day, who was in the party, he added.
Officer, put this man in the gearred house
and keep him there! yes, keep him there
until he knows better than to mind shoes
afther taps! Put him in the gearred house,
l say, and the shoes along wild him, -
hlm!' In his zeal to punish the author of the
midnight scare, the excited colonel looked
upon the shoes, even, as accessories in crime.
GETTING REVENGE.
"Another eccentric Irishman, who gave Us
a great deal of fun in the trenches at Peters
burg, was a fellow recruited in the big
bounty days and sent down to me from the
state cam at Elmira. He was from Canada,
and to take his own story of it, must have
been shanghaied into the army. He said
that his home was near the Canada end OF
the suspension bridge, and that he went out
one night to have a good time with the
'byes.' The next morning he woke up, under
RudTu, III u III olhlC, uhu u
told that he had been enlisted to serve the
United States. He accepted the situation
philosophically, loss of bounty, which his
captors had pocketed, and all, and settled
down to soldiers fare and hard lines at tho
front. determined to take revenge for his
injury out of the enemy. He was a roaring
comrade among the boys, always happy and
scattering sunshine around him, but In the
trenches under fire he was a perfect hend.
He was continually inventing some device to
hurt the confederates across the lines. He
searched out the best places to get crack
shots at some of them unawares. He in
vented little shells, which he could fire out
Of his rifle high into the air to drop down
into the enemy's camps and explode. They
may have taken life-in fact, men were seen
to fall where they struck, and at any rate
they were very annoying visitors, and the
idea tickled their inventor. Every time that
his shots created a commotion In the enemy
lines he would yell in a sing-song tone OF
triumph, 'Ow-ow, Johnnie, dye mind?
He would put up dummy figures
for the confederates to fire at, and when they
struck it with their wasted shot, he, lurking
under cover to return The fire, would yell
'Ow-ow Johnnie, dye mind? Ow-ow! TINS
shout, Of course, amused us all a great deal
at first, but we did not take kindly to the sort
of warfare he was given to, shooting down
unsuspecting enemies, so | demonstrated
with him and tried to dissuade him, but 1t did
no good. He said he had to get square with
some enc. his cry COu.u ne hehih vi NV
~outposts day and night, and IL became weird
and terrible when we knew It's significance
for many and many a poor southerner going
quietly about in Lees camps, who might
have lived through ordinary battle dangers,
was sent to death, murderously, with no
requiem than that wild lrishmans
demoniacal yell, 'Ow-ow Johnnie, dye mind!
Ow-ow!'
But the last time that ] heard 1t 1
laughed till I cried. At Appomattox, after
The surrender, ] saw him with twoh filled can
teens of strong water slung over each
an uncorked one in his right hand
and a pint tin cup in his left. treating the
thirsty, ha~lf-famished confederntes and
drinking their. health. AS every trimming
bumper went down he sounded, with new
md happy meaning, the old refrain.
'The celebration of victory and the sober
ng up lasted him for two or three days,
,trolled through the bivouac one morning
as he was coming to. Spying me, he
oiled over In his blanket and called out:
Colonel dear, what happened lately, at
lll?'
"'They say 1t is all up with the southern
said /; it's dead!
".Begobs, i thought 1t must be some
ody big, Grant, or Lee, or Jen Davis. Sure,
UGH a foine wake / never saw, even In Ire
and. Ow-ow, Johnnie. goodby, dye mindf
;oodby, Johnnie. Ow-ow! Ow-owP"
An honest storekeeper will not try to con-
ince huyers that he knows what they need