The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-20

guess got it pretty wei mixed up, but by
the time 1 got fairly into the fight l must
have forgotten to stop saying it. l know
my tongue feels kind of tangled yet"
The explanation was accepted. and the
trooper was thenceforth known by his self
given nickname. A similar case of battle
field nomenclature is that of Tarantu,a
Hank, who was fighting Valiantly I'm the
trenches until one of the hideous and fero-
cious spiders came darling along toward
him, whereupon he turned and fled, nor
could he be persuaded to return until
COmrade had smashed the tarantuia with
the butt of carbine The Rockpicker" is
a trooper who, while fighting in the
trenches had his carbine ruined by Maui
ser bullet, whereupon, in a wild access of
wrath, he rose ana began to hurl rocks to-
ward the Spanish lines with furious impre-
Gallons.
AS the nearest Spanish fire was directed
from a spot fully a third of mile away,
it is not supposed that he added apprecia-
bly, TO the days carnage. Pills" a name
which by right belongs TO the troop sur
geon, has been bestowed upon corporal
who during a swift advance, was heard 10
rattle like rain upon a tin roof, phenome-
non afterward explained by the fact that
his shirt was full of pin boxes. Later on
those pills were of great vaEue to his troop.
Many of the nicknames are conferred in
spirit of derisi6n, their basis lying in con-
trast Two men of diametricaiiy opposite
type were assigned to bunk together in the
same tent, and essentially became sworn
friends. One'w the typical fastidious club
man, the other a tobacco-chewing, cursing,
rough bad man from the middle
West. Immediately the clubman was chris
tened Tough RE and his bunkie be-
came known through the regiment as that
damn dude" or for short, "the D. D."
metropolitan Bill" is a citizen of the far
West whose chief claim to being a city
man is that he has an aunt living in New
York "Sheeny Solomon" sometimes called
"Old clo'es," is red-headed Irishman,
feet in his stocking feet The "Immi-
grant is a trooper whose family helped
settle New York. "Rubber-Shoe Andy dis
tinguished himself and won his name on
scouting duty by invariably tumbling over
something with a great claIter at the very
moment when silence was most essential.
There are three bald-headed men in one
troop, known, of course, as the Sutherland
Sisters-Sister Jane, Sister Anne and Sis
ter Araminta A young fellow-and
mighty good fighter, too-who is proud of
his Jewish blood has accepted with per-
feet equanimity the nickname of the
Pork Chop In the same troop with him
is a private who is probably the mildest
spoken man in the army. One evening,
however he got excited over something
and was plainly heard by several audi
tors whose testimony is unimpeachabe
to exclaim: "Oh thunder!' That settled
his case. He has been known ever since
as "Blasphemy Bill" A Mississippi river
gambler, noted for his quiet demeanor, is
called ''Hellroarer," while the most pic
turesquely and fiamboyantly profane in
the regiment rejoices in the appellation
of "Prayerful James" The fun-maker
for one troop is a light-hearted Swede,
always full of jokes, and because of his
propensities and his nationality called the
weeping Dutchman.' ''Nigger" is a
young fellow who is so white as to be
almost an albino 'Beefsteak John" has
many times called down the wrath of his
famne-stricken comrades by describing to
them just how he would like a steak
cooked at that particular moment, how it
should be two inches thick, delicately
brown outside and deep red inside, and
how the melted butter should flow over
il. AS soon az they can get him to the
city his fellow troopers are going to make
him buy steaks for the crowd To cow
boy who arose one night and fled through
the camp in has dreams, under the impress
sion that he was being pursued by an
army of scorpions, his Eastern bunkie has
given the name of The Wicked Flea
because, as he says, it was a plain case
of mo man pursueth," until a sentry cali
Jared the fugitive. 1t goes without say
ing that at the start all the fat men were
called Living Skeleton, y 'Bean Poie,"
Shadow Starvation Bill" "Dr. Tan
ner," and so on, while the thin troopers
We're generally designated as Jumbo"
Heavyweight" "Anti-Fat" and the like.
Before the return the former list had
dwndled to nothing and the inventive
genius of the seh-apponted godfathers
was taxed to find new names for those
who had fortunately preserved their bones,
but left most of the covering thereon in
Cuba.