The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-09-29
RoosEvELT's BEEF. STEW.
How the Colonel Cheered His Men, at His
Expense, at Critical Time.
New York Sun. }

An incident illustrating Col. Roose-
velt's devotion to the men OF his regl-
ment was told by Trooper Burkhoider OF
the rough riders. who, before returning
to.his home In Phoenix, Ariz., spent %
few days at the home of his friend, John
Palmer, on Throop avenue, near Middle
ton street, William sburg. Burkholder
was all through the active campaign with
the rough riders and returned with them
to Camp Wikoff. He was away on fur
Tough on account of slight attack of
swamp fever when the rough riders were
mustered out, and thus missed, as he
puts it, ian opportunity to say goodby to
the most gallan5 comm ander and the
truest man that sold Ter was ever privi-
legged to fight under"
"Only us few men who were with
him." said Burk no lder, "know how con-
siderate he was of us at all times. There
was one case In particular that illustrates
this better than any can recall. 1t
happened after the fight at La Quasimas.
The men were tired with the hard march
and the fighting, and hunger was gnaw-
ing at every stomach. Besides, we had
our first men killed there, and, taking it
all In all, we were in an ugly humor.
The usual shouting, cracking of jokes
and snatohes of song were m iss1ng, and
everybody appeared to be in the dumps. l
suppose we were all thinking of poor
Ham Fish and the rest of the poor fellows
who had been DIR ,pped in the short scra p.
"Wsil things hadn't improved bit,
in fact were getting worse along toward
meal time, when the Colonel began to
move about among the men. speaking
encouragingly to each group. guess he
made up his mind then and there to i'm
prove at least the humor of the men.
There's an old saying that man can
best be reached through his stomach, and
guess he believes in that maxim.
Shortly afterward we saw the Colonel
his cook and two of thu troopers of Com
pany strike out slong the narrow road
toward the town, and we wondered what
was up. 1t was probably an hour or so
after this, and during a little resting
spell in our work Of clearing ground
and making things a little camp-like,
that the savory and almost forgotten odor
OF beef stew began to sweep through the
clearing Men who were working stopped
short and began TO sniff, and those who
bad stopped work for breathing spell
forgot to breathe for second. Soon
they Joined In the shifting. and I'll wager
every one of US was shifting as hard as he
knew how. On, but didn't that smell
fine We weren't sure that 1T was for us,
but we had smell Of 1t anyway. Quick
ly dropping spirits revived, and as the
fumes Of the boiling stew became strong
or the humor of the men improved. We
all jumped to our work with Will, and
picks, shovels and axes were piled In race
horse fashion, while the men would stop
now and then to raise their heads and
draw long breath and excislm:
''Wow but that smells good T."
"We were finally summoned to feed,
and then you can imagine our surprise.
There was big boiler and beside 1t a
crowd of mess tent men dishing out real
beef stewl We could hardly believe our
eyes, and had to taste mine first to
make sure it wasn't dream. You should
have seen the expressions on the faces of
the men as they gulped down that stew,
and we all laughed when one New York
man yelled:
too ."
After we had loaded up we began to
wonder where it all came from, and then
the two Troop men told how the Colonel
had purchased the potatoes and onions,
while his own cook secured the meat from
Siboney.
"You probably won't believe it. but
the bushel Of potatoes cost Col. Roosevelt
almost $50, and he had to pay thirty odd
good American dollars to get the onions.
but then he knew what his mon wanted,
and it WAS always his men first with
him. There was rush to his tent when
we learned this. and if you ever heard
the cheering I'm sure You would MT won
der why the rough riders all love their
Colonel.
IT see," said Burkholder, THAT in his
address to the men at Camp Wikof the
Colonel told how he had to hurry ut the
San Juan Hill fight to save himself from
being run over by the men. That's just
like him to say that; but he probably
forgets that more than half Of the men
never ran SO fast before and never will
again as they had to run to keep up with
him. II Col. Roosevelt lived in Arizona
we would give him any offics ne wanted