The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1898-10-08
HISTORY REPEATED.
WHAT HAPPENED IN OUR CIVIL WAR
OCCURRING AGAIN.

Wild Rumors of Poisoned Wells at the
Soldiers Camps-How = siirewd Specu.
lator ProHted by Working on the Fears
of the Boys.
"They are having the same expe-
,riences we had"
} Then the old veteran, after a chuckle,
born evidently of an old memory, ex-
planned what he meant.
did you see that report about the
Spaniards poisoning the wells and
springs at Chickamauga? That made
me laugh.
When our regiment went into camp
near Louisville i'll 1862, the first star
Ting report that reached us was that
the last regiment which camped on that
ground lost 10 men from drinking water
taken from Il well near an enemy's
house.
You can imagine the CONSERVATION
such "a report, scattered through the
ranks of a thousand men, would create.
Some Of us felt that our first duty was
to slaughter that enemy and burn his
house. When such a proposition was
made, it was learned that the man had
gone into the Confederate army and
that the oma and her children had
been sent north to poison wells sur
rounding camps of instruction.
"In the afternoon a man came around
with a newly patented article for test.
ing we'll and spring water. If there was
poison in the we'll or spring, the tester
would extract it, rendering the water
perfectly safe to drink.
1.-The man did a rushing trade. Hun.
ldreds Of the boys possessed themselves
Of the tester. His stock ran out. The
dealer would go to the city for a new
supply and be back the next day. He
never came back. The fact that none Of
the men died of poison was construed as
proof positive that the tester was a huge
SUCCESS as a life saver until one day the
colonel called in the surgeon, who was
a chemist, and the major, who was an
expert in machinery. Before this board
one of the water testers underwent a
scientific examination.
These two pieces of painted TIM,
said the surgeon, must have cost at
least l cent. Soldering them together
and attaching this hook that shuts close
TO the tin was done for another cent,
and the black bag, filed with rice, may
have cost l cent more. The original
cost Of the ''tester, " then, was 8 cents.
Hundreds of them have been sold at ST.
each
Never mind what it cost, doctor
as it a good ~tester?' asked the colonel.
The dried foot of a rabbit would
be preferable, said the doctor.
Is it any good ut all for finding
out whether there is poison in the water
or not?' asked the colonel.
"a knitting needle would be bet
ter
Doctor, be good enough to answer
my question--is this tester good for
anything
There was u net profit on it Of 81
cents.
" Is it Il fraud?'
=" 1t is-an utter fraud
And so it was.
"a week from that day there wasn't
a water tester III our camp, and il u man
wanted to collect n would be rail rid.
ing mob in q minute all he had to do
was to start the report that there was a
man on the street selling some kind Of
q patent arrangement.
"Our experience did not differ from
that of any new regiment that l even
heard anything about. They all had a
scare over poisoned springs and wells,
but l never heard of a single we'll Or
spring that was poisoned in all of those
four years Of bitter war.
Now you know why ] laughed when
that report came from Chickamauga
that a mule had died from drinking
poisoned water and that the Spaniards
had gone through the camps charging
the water supply with arsenic.
"Such reports give the new soldiers
p great scare, the reporters q rare sensa.
tion and the friends at home ~sleepless
nights. Chicago Times Herald.