The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-06-06
TRAINING PACK MULES.
How the Pensive Hybrid is Fitted t,
Acquit Himself Creditably in War.

Acquit Himself Creditably in War.
A Government mule of long training
has reputation that is bad, but it is
not to be compared to the contrary
green" mule. To one who did not
understand the process of training it
seemed that Tom Horn and his five as
sistants had simMy driven sixty three
mules into pen and were gently
whipping them with ropes and lassoing
them just for the fun of seeing them
kick. But after three hours of disorder
and discord punctuated with brays,
grunts, and kicks, chaos finally ceased,
and the mules stood in line almost as
docile as so many sleepy kittens.
To understand the process of train
ing, one must first know the routine
duties that a pack mule in the army
is required to perform. Each mule is
branded with the letters ~. S." on the
left shoulder. Each mule is given a
number, and when in line he must
number. The number is branded in
the bottom of the left fore hoof. Each
morning and evening long strip of
canvas is spread on, the ground and
shelled corn or oats are placed on the
canvas as the rations for the mule
train. The trained pack mule must
know his exact place in line before the
canvas without any help from the men.
Then when the men start to place the
saddles and packs on the mules, the
animals are supposed to stand stock
still until ready for the march.
The green mules yesterday were
receiving training which will eventu-
ally bring them under this perfect dis
cipline. The Government has just
purchased another 1000 mules in this
market, and they were branded at the
National Stock Yards under the super
vision of Capt J. B. Aleshire, Assist
ant Quartermaster and 600 of them are
now at Jefferson Barracks, under
charge Of Capt Won Schroeder, Quart
master, and Capt Knight, who Is now
Quartermaster of the post. The mules
at. the barracks are being trained for
army pack service, and this work is
being done under the direction of Frank
Benham Master of Transportation,
who is an oldtime freighter from the
Western plains.
In the army service the pack mules
are divided into trains, each train hav-
| ing sixty-three animals. With each
train are one boss packer, one cargo
dore, and eleven packers, making thir-
| teen men in all. One train, therefore,
| has fifty pack mules and thirteen rid
| ing mules. One cook and one black
| smith look after each train. The boss
| packer superintends the packing in
general. The cargodore looks after the
| physical condition Of the animals and
adjusts and equalizes the loads they
| are to carry. He washes the sore backs
with castle soap and hot water, and
adjusts the saddle so that a sore back
| will cause as little pain as possible. The
| blacksmith examines the hoofs of the
| mules, and sees that they are kept in
good condition. Contrary to general
| belief, an army mule receives much
| better treatment than most mules own
| ed by civilians. The army mule is look
| ed after almost as carefully as are the
men. Tho short chunky mule, about ID
| to Az hands high, is the best for pack
| purposes, especially in a mountainous
| country. However, a great many mules
now at the barracks are Is hands high.
| They are a fine lot of animals, sleek
| and well fed, for which the government
| paid 1914 head An army pack mule
carries a load weighing from $50 to 800
| pounds. Each train carries ammunition
| and rations for men and animals and
| cooking utensils. One pack may be
made up of two boxes of ammunition
| and two sacks of oats or shelled corn,
all weighing $50 pounds. Another pack
may be composed of sides of bacon ar
ranged in layers and thrown over the
| mules back in saddle-bag fashion. An
| other pack may be made up of cooking
| utensils and -four, and another of bed
| ding, etc. But each pack is adjusted
so that it will weigh only from 25C
| to 900 pounds. 1t takes an experienced
packer to adjust these packs by the
! weight quickly. A boss, packer receives
| 500 month salary, a cargodore SIS a
| month, and common packer $50 a
| month. The saddle used is known as
the Tom Moore pack saddle. The name
comes from the inventor. Tom Moore
| an Irishman, who was master Of trans
| portation under General Cook during
| the latter's Indian campaigns in the
west and southwest Moore is dead
and his military monument is his army
pack saddle. 1t is a spring bowed sad
die, with soft cushions on each side