Sistersville oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1896-1901, 1898-08-17

impulse. And he could not under
stand why anyone should make a
fuss about it.
O'Neill and l were "bunkies."
Our hammocks were hung together
at San Antonio; we had stateroom
together on board the transport
when we sailed from Tampa, and
after the landing l shared his
blankets in the field. have wax
en- d in the night more than once
to find him spreading the whole OF
the scanty cover over me. When
we arrived at Siboney on the night
of the cath, after the fat1ging at,
ternoon march, and camped down
on the hard coral road, O'Neill was
the most cheerful man in the regi'
ment. He was not going to bother
about supper, because the man who
who usually cooked his ration fol
him was dead beat; but a sergeant
who adored him brought him
some coffee, which he insisted
should share.
I honestly did not want the cot
fee or anything else but just to rest,
for I was utterly exhausted, and ]
think there were few men in the
regiment who we're not. Ten OF
twelve dropped out by the wayside
and came staggering in at intervals
through the night. Then it began
to rain, and O'Neill must needs
drag out canvas wagon cover
Ito keep the bedding from getting
wet" he said. Don't imagine its
on your account, you irritable
brute, and stop swearing or I'll
put you under arrest" Then he
crawled in beside me and thrust
something deliciously soft under
my head-a real pillow give got
another one here" he said. Know
ing him 1 had my suspicion, and
cropping through the darkness,
found that his head was resting on
a canteen carefully adjusted in a
coiied catrldge belt.
AS popular man he had, OF
course, to have nickname. The
Arizonans called him Buckle" on
account of his having in his unre'
generate days "bucked the tiger
in very royal and audacious style,
leaving the beast scarcely enough
sinew to wriggle out of town with.
On the muster roll after that fatal
fight I read his name among the
killed - "Buckle' ONeill, cap
TAIN"
His belief in his luck was invlnc-
ible, and he looked on the bright
side of everything One thing he
said impressed me at the
time. 81 have never had friend
to go back on me-" l am
sure that he spoke the spoke the
truth. He was a man to inspire
loyal friendship. He firmly be-
lieved, too, that he would come
Safely through the campaign. He
felt it, he said. This feeling may
be accounted for by the fact that he
had so often escaped a violent
death at the hands Of border out
laws, Indians or Mexicans. Captain
Capron was another who had en-
countered innumerable perlls OF
the same description, yet he was
nearly the first to meet lis death.
Custom had made both reckless.
I saw O'Neill last an hour before
he tell. From Grimes battery l
was going to the left as troop A
moved to the. right. Once in a
while a Spanish she'll would tall
uncomfortably close, and two or
three of the rough riders were al
ready down, wounded by the flying
fragments. O'Neill was directing
his men to march at intervals OF
twelve feet. There will be fewer
of you hurt" he said. We talked a
minute or two, and then parted, to
meet no more. His first sergeant,
himself wounded in the foot, told
me the next day how he fell and
twice as he told me he bent his
head and hid his face in his arms.
After we left you," he said, I'VE