The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-23
DAD" WALKERS CAREER.
The Oldest Man In the Rough Riders.
A Life of Excitement In the West.

Life of Excitement In the West.
Wikof Correspondence New York Tribune.
Dad Waller the oldest man among
the Rough Riders, has had career that
would make the hero of the average
penny dreadful turn green. Nobody
! knows how many men he has killed; ne
has probably forgotten himself, and the
fact that he long since did not die in his
! boots is not due to the failure of cold lead
to find its way into his internal anatomy,
but TO the good fortune that it did not
| reach vital part. Starting at u years
! of age with Quantrelfs raiders. Dad
| lived a life more or less steadily filled with
Violence until he sent Spanlards to the
| happy hunting grounds at San Juan, and
| himself laid in new assortment of
| wounds.
Dad is now 50 years old, but his tough
! constitution has resisted the encroach-
ments of time and he can pass easily for
! ten years younger. When the recruiting
| for the Rough Riders began Dad was
| one of the first to show up. The intro
| duction of the tame ideas of the East in
| Prescott Ariz., had brought shooting-irons
| somewhat into disrepute, and as a conse-
| quence Dads" appetite had got whetted
| to the point where nothing but a holo-
| caust would suit him. He knew that in
| Cuba was going to be excitement of the
| real sort, and Dad was not going to
! be left out of it on any such miserable war
| department pretext as that he was too old.
How old are your inquired the re-
| cruiting officer
| "Forty-two," replied the old manly
mistake as he explained to the boys
| afterward. There was a little hemming
| and having when they looked at the
/ crows feet around his eyes but they
| pounded at him and listened to him, and
hE Am eh.,rr lroAw
more questions.
Il guess 1 done my share with you
| fellers," said Dad" in an inquiring voice
| yesterday, and there was a chorus from
the young troopers of That's what you
| done, Dad
The old man first showed what was In
| hlm at San Antonio Tex, when the
| Rough Riders were breaking a job lot of
| horses which the government had bought
| A particularly mean looking roam horse
was brought out, and Dad said:
| Let me ride him."
well, get a bride and saddle" replied
| the officer in charge.
Don't want any" was Dads" answer,
| as he swung upon the hitherto unridden
/ animals back. The roam bucked in a
| manner that was superb, so well, in fact
that il finally landed the old man with a
/ heavy jolt on the ground. He came back
| to The work and still refused saddle or
L
/ and won the high admiration of the cow
| boys. He certainly justified his own boast
| that he can ride anything with four
| feet
| The fighting had not been going on long
| al San Juan before d bullet went through
| the left arm of Dad" He had to pass
| with a file of Rough Riders through an
| open space between a tree trunk and a
/ clump of chaparral. The Spanish poured
| murderous fire at this opening, and II
| was a bit of forethought on Dads part
| that saved his life. After he had filled his
| cartridge belt with the usual allotment of
| fifty cartridges he had put fifty or sixty
/ extra ones in the left side pocket of his
| army shirt, so as not to be caught without
| ammunition. The bullet that went through
| the upper part of his left arm struck the
shells in this pocket and glanced off in
| stead of entering the old mans heart
| The second man otter him to pass through
! the open space, Louis Reynolds, was
| killed.
go back TO the hospital and get that
| wound attended Co." ordered Lieut.. Car
| ter, when he saw the blood streaming down
ehe arm of his old trooper. Both be-
| longed to Troop A. the Arizona troop
"AH right, SIR" said the wounded man,
saludng.
He stepped to a protected spot, and get
| ting out an old bandanna handkerchief,
| bound it tightly around his arm.
Needn't think I'm comm this far and
then miss the fun" he said. when he
| caught up with his troop again. Not for
a little sting like this. I've tended TO more
wounds than this'n.''
| The old man fought all day in the hot
| sun, and when the trenches were taken
| he went back to the brook and fetched
eight or ten canteens of water, a load
that is about all a fresh man wants to
carry Then he rolled up his right sleeve
| and began to cook. After supper his arm
| was badly swollen, and he was persuaded
| to go back and have it properly dressed.
| But Dad" wouldn't let any amount OF
! coaXing keep him to the rear. He was
| on the fighting line TO the finish and he
| received no further injuries until he rode
into Santiago on mule. Then he got his
| leg caught between two pack mules and
| the calf was crushed in a manner that
must have caused excruciatlng pain. No
one was able to tell it by looking into his
placid face, however.
| Leg just bent a little" he said when
asked about it.
Dad" sat at his tent door yesterday.
| sewing button on his army shirt. He
wore a pair of ancient spectacles. which
were the only thing about him that sug-
| gested his fifty-three years. His dark
hair was thick under his gray hat. and
| there were few white hairs in his busy
| mustace.
While he uses glasses for sewing and
such work, there is no weakness indi-
/ Gated in the gray eyes that look out from
I under heavy eyebrows with that steadiness
that comes from looking often along the
! sight of a rifle. His face wears a shrewd
| smile that while friendly enough. does
not Indicate garrulity. In fact. il is diff
| ficult to get into Dads confidence
enough to get him TO disclose some of
the most interesting chapters of his past
I When he was asked whether he killed
any one in the Cuban campaign, he re-
| Piled:
I Don't know how many killed. But
know killed one. He was a sharps boot
err and he was tryin' to pepper me. Final
! 'ly he landed ball so near me that he
threw dust in my eye. I saw him in a
tree two hundred yards away. and 1 miss
ed him.. The second time he came fan
ing down OUT of the tree, and if the bullet
didn finish him, the fall did
Where was l born? In Ohio, bur
went to Nellie Bend, Mo- with NV folks
! When j five VVhen I ,.y,, +,,--t-..-