The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-16
A LUCKY ARTILLERYMAN.
Rolling Stone That Finally Gath
cred Considerable Moss.
From the Washlngton star.

From the Washington Star.
zone of my swaddies, when l was SOL
diering in the heavy artillery on Alcatraz
Island harbor of San Francisco, a number
of years ago, was a clever Englishman,
surnamed St. Ronald on the muster rolls,
but known unto us of the command only
as Me I4ud,'" said a war department
clerk who put in a five-year stretch in the
artillery branch. 1--WE didn't call him Me
Lud' because he was in anywise pomp
Gus or stuck up-that sort of thing doesn't
go among the enlisted men of the Ameri-
can army-but because although genial,
amable, and a corking good fellow, st.
Ronald really had a mighty fine manner
about him, and, when it came 10 pinch,
he didn't have to take any dust from any
of the officers in courtliness and grace of
personality. st. Ronald was about z years
old when he first joined the battery, and
he was the very pink and picture of fine,
natural-born soldier. He had been a fine
soldier before he ever broke into our out
fit. He had a No. l discharge with ex-
tremely complimentary remarks attached
thereto from the Cape Mounted Police of
South Africa, in which he had served
three years as a sergeant campaigning
all the time.
Then he had a No l discharge from
had served for two years. So when ne
drifted into our heavy artillery outfit he
didn't need to be told the difference be-
tween a cartridge belt and a fatigue cap.
He was such a crackajack from the day
that he got among us that he was rated
corporal and then a sergeant within three
months, and we were all glad of 1t, for he
was way ahead Of the buck private class.
1 figured st. Ronald out from the first as
b,I 1nt nf ia W in
fact he was, although he rarely spoke
about his past except to two or three of
us who were very chummy with him. He
had his ups and downs in our battery
got busted from sergeant to buck private,
and put in a thirty-day trick in the
guard house for trying to tear San Fran
cisco loose from its foundations, then had
to go up to his former non-commissioned
rank again by slow stages, and in general
had the usual career of an American sol
der who doesn't belong to the goody
goody platoon. Whatever happened,
though. Me Lud' was game for IL, and he
never had a dick coming, and several
times when some fellow In the battery
got into a general court-martial scrape
and was dishonorably discharged and
turned adrift without a cent, with nothing
but the uniform TO his back Me Lud' was
the boy to turn IN his whole months pay
10 help the unfortunate out and to get the
rest of us to do something on the same
general order.
after doing his three years with the
battery, ST. Ronald took his discharge and
went over to San Francisco He didn't tell
anv OF us what he was going TO do, and he
only had about s25 or $50 when he was
paids off. a week later he left Alcatraz a
number of us went over to San Francisco
one night on leave. We were walking up
Kearney street when we pushed into a
crowd surrounding fakir. The fakir was
goften up la stage ranchero style-velvet.
bell-bottom trousers, with gold tnsel run
ming down the sides: velvet jacket, loose.
ruhied spotlessly white shirt. and enor-
nous white sOmbrerO. with two or three
heavy silver cords raining around H. The
faltir was telling EN- of some perpetuauy
fiaaran; beans that he had discovered on
a TOUR Of south America. The beans were
devised 10 take the place Of sachet powders
or OF lquld extracts. 8nd the perfume
SAID the fakir-ncver Jeff them. ne certain
~ had q great spiel about those beans. aud
ho sold 'em hke hot cakes 81 the rate OF
b cents for a paper bag holding about a