The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1898-10-01

! : ! ! ! !: !. J: ! !: !: ! !
eSlEiSGiEA for three hundred
T WS seil1 ~-miles-s plain so
,:SsgssE, fat and sterile
Sssg I'M ~ that its very
SIH Emi monotony is men
fa acing. To the
g. Ahf s5st north, foothills
EssS2sS: tSEs. covere d with
e eseSssAs"-e 9 stunted pin es;
ITO the south tongue of sandy desert;
to the west a succession of barren
ridges, on which neither wolf nor buz-
zard can find drop of water nor a
morsel of food. Right there, hun
dred miles from the nearest pioneer
hamlet, they buiit Fort Brown and
garrisoned it with men, who thought
of suicide day by day as they looked
upon the dreariness. There was a
skeleton company Of infantry and a
skeleton company Of cavalry-the last
of B troop. There was time in the
history of these horsemen when B
numbered full hundred men, and
when its officers were the proudest
men in the regiment, but there are
fatalities..in army lifs as we'll as else
where.
= One day, over in Green valley, as B
troop rode gaily along, five hundred
Indian warriors rose up in the dry
gullles and emptied forty saddles at
The first voley. There was court of
inquiry, and the captain resigned.
Again ter. troopers were sent over to
cover O. wagon train, and the Indians
slaughtered the whole number. In
the next three months five troopers
deserted and three committed suicide.
One afternoon the first lieutenant of
the troop rode out for hunt but had
not gone mile when he was thrown
from his horse and killed. Onemore
Two troopers were sent out to catch o
horse which had broken Loose and was
cayorting around within half q mile
of the post. They were on foot, and
as they ran they were bitten by rattle
snakes on which they trod, and both
were dead before sunset. The army
said that B troop was under hoodoo,
and the remnant Of the company felt
themselves almost outlawed. The
day they rode into Fort Brown they
numbered thirty-seven men, and they
were under the temporary command
of second lieutenant. Captains and
first lieutenants assigned to B troop
always fought off the day Of joining,
and some had pull enough at Wash
ington to have the assignment coun-
termarded. There is superstition in
The army as we'll as out of it.
F'Here IS our graveyardr' whispered
The men Of the troop, as they caught
sight of Fort Brown and its lonesome
environment, after their long ride to
reach it. They looked at the foothills
TO the north-at the plain to the east
at the desert to the south, and the
ridges to the west, and man turned to
man and repeated:
*:Here is our graveyard--the last Of
the troop!'
? IF you know an unlucky man you
pity him, but You also avoid him. The
infantry at Fort Brown could not avoid
the unlucky troopers, but they pitied
Them and displayed no fraternal feel
ing. It was so from the colonel down
to the last private. Wo smile in de-
rision at the idea of hoodoo, and yet
we do not like to rub elbows with peo-
pie who are pursued by ill-luclz. The
freshly graduated cadet knew nothing
about the hoodoo when he was assigned
to B troop. With boys ambition
and impatience he had hurried from
West Point and home into the wilds Of
the Far West to take active service.
There was no superstition about him.
He had heard of the fatalities--he saw
the dispirited look of the remnant Of
the once gallant troop-he was made to
believe that he was under ban, as it
were--but he was not disheartened.
Army records will tell you what hap
pened at Fort Brown within a week
after troop B rodo through the gates.
The infantry had been there three
months, but not an Indian had been
seen. \ corporal and three men were
sent to the foothills for fuel, when
they fell into an ambuscade and were
Gut off. The four troopers we're
mounted, and yet all we're killed,
while the teamster made safe escape
On foot. This was The hoodoo again.
That there might be no cavil about it,
, trooper hung himself in the barracks
that night. Thus five more men were
wiped off the rolls within week, and
the troop reduced to thirty-two. The
Indians had no sooner wreaked their
rengeance on the unfortunate four
than they disappeared and none were
seen again for long weeks. It was as
If they had come to assist at the final
extermiaation OF the troop. When
the Deys reached the east q captain
9aAISp nad been assigned to B and was
At ss,sssye Chicago, began pulling
md n about three days @
H., 9s52997