The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-06-06

with two big pieces of leather running
back to the crupper, and the saddle and
pack are dashed to the animal by a
broad canvas girth or cinch. Singular
to say, the favorite pack saddle of the
soldiers from the west is of Spanish
make and is called the "aperaro." Some
| mule trains have gray mare, known
as the bell mare' which the cook
| rides. 1t is a we'll known fact that
mules will follow an old gray mare just
| like flock of sheep will follow the
| bellwether. With a train of experienced
mules and experienced men, the fifty
pack animals can be saddled and packs
adjusted and ready for d march within
fifty minutes or one hour.
In the process of training yesterday
at the barracks sixty-three mules, or
one train, were placed in a corral at
one time. Tom Horn, who will be the
boss packer of what will be known as
Horns train not only superintendent
the training of the mules but also of
| the men who intended to serve as pack
ers Only strong men physically are
selected, as packing is one of the hard
! est and most tiresome duties in the
army service. The mules, being unac-
| customed to a strange place with
strange ceremonies, ran from one end
| of the corral to the other and engaged
in kicking matches. A particular wild
mule would invariably refuse to be led
when a strap was fastened to his hall
ter and he would elevate his head and
rear and plunge and pull backward
while the soldier would pull the other
way at the other end of the strap. Thus
| would be seen veritable tug-of-war
| between man and beast. One amusing
| spectacle was when a big bay mule
4 lay back it's ears, sent its hind feet into
the air. and then ran from one end Of
the corral to the other, with a small,
chunky soldier at the other end of the
strap going over the ground at a hop,
skip and jump. But the plucky soldier
held on to his end of the strap, and the
mule jerked him hither and thither
among all the kicking and excited
mules in the corral. He appeared to be
in imminent danger of losing his life,
but he escaped unhurt. Finally the
mule was conquered and saddled, and
/ then the spectators applauded. After a
saddle had been placed on a mule he
was turned loose and allowed to go, SO
/ that he would become accustomed to
his new araphernalia. After an hour
of this training the mules were caught
and the saddle removed. Sometimes a
contrary mule gave the packers a chase
but big Tom Horn only had fun by
dexterously throwing the moose over
the nose, just as the notion seized him.
The most difficult lesson for the mules
was in teaching them to form in line
before a long strip of canvas to be fed.
No rations are used in this training,
but a long, straight row of saddles was
covered with a strip Of white canvas.
Then Tom Horn and his men, using
ropes for whips, drove the mules to-
gether toward the canvas-covered row
of saddles. The mules kicked and cav
| orted and often a half dozen would
break away and run, while those be-
fore the canvas would not stand still.
Finally one mule after another was
caught, and a strap fastened to the
halter, and then led up with his head
to the canvas. The halter straps We're
tied together.
This tedious process was continued
for one hour. until all the sixty-three
mules We're tied together, their heads
to the row of canvas. They appeared
to be tied to one long strap in a way
similar to chain running from one
hitching post to another. AT first few
mules jumped over the row of saddles,
but they were quickly made to jump
back into their places, within twenty
minutes after all the mules had been
thus tied they were standing in line
quietly before the strip of canvas
Packer Horn said that every mule in
the train would learn to stand in line
before the canvas without being tied
after week or ten days training, as
the animals would then know that they
would get something to eat when they
stood at the canvas on the ground.
The manner in which Tom Horn
managed these unruly mules proves
that gentleness is far better than brut-
atty even in the treatment of the
stubborn mule. While a mule cannot be
coaxed into doing something and force
must be used, yet Packer Horn used
only gentleness ana dld not permit any
of his assistants to yell angrily, much
less use any brutality in whipping.
When the mules were driven together
they were only tapped lightly by the
ropes in the hands of the men, Gener-
ally the men swung the ropes round
and round over their heads and did not
touch the mules, but simply drove them
back quietly. When dealing with a
stubborn mule Packer Horn never used
club or whip, but simply said "Yuh!"
Yuh-h-hi" in a soft tone of voice. He
even threw up his hands and exclaim-
ed, "Shoo-o-o!' when SEVERAL mules
ss.sS.sS,& ~, ~. ~ 70 - Z %.% 4. 4. 4 4 Z /