Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1898-03-03

mind in connection with a droll scene.
1t was the day after the hardest fight at
Stone River. Boney had been left in
an exposed situation as guard for the
knapsacks of the company. In this way
he had been kept out of the fight on the
I'd of January, and after spending the
most Of a miserable rainy night in try
ing to find the company, he came to
where our brigade was bivouacked, an
athematizing everybody, from the or
derby sergeant, who had detailed him
for llnapsaclS guard to the general COM
handing the army, At that time it
was clear that the confederate army
had retreated, and the men who were
not asleep were drawing the damp
cartridges from the guns, and some of
them, under special permit, were fir
ing the loads, so as to have their guns
in good order for the pursuit.
"Boncy came on this scene exploding
with the concentrated irritability and
indignation of his long vigil. lie re-
ported to the captain, explained that
he had carried his gun in the rain all
night, and he couldn't draw the load,
and, as other men were shooting Off
their rifles, he would like to make sure
of his. He was given permission to
shoot, and he asked where he should
90. The captain waved his hand and
said: oh, any place In the rear of
41,o ,oc,;,,,o,,+ 6,,t l,o oovoFr1 10 Grn IND r,
a tree or stump Boney stepped back
about 20 PAGES, and, seeing a large
stump in the foreground, took delib
crate aim and b,azed away. lie did not
know, as the other boys knew, that that
stump had marked, during the battle
and since, rcgimental headquarters,
and at that very minute the colonel,
lieutenant colonel and others were
asleep behind it,
"Such was tie case, however, and the
shot precipitated a most astonishing
commotion. The bullet knocked bark
and splinters from the stump, and so
startled s,eepers behind it that the
colonel rolled out on one side, the lieu
tenant colonel on the other, and mem
BEES of their staff jumped here and
there, the general effect being that of
n squad demoralized by the explosion
of a shell. AS the colonel, who wore
his hair long, and was proud of very
long reddish brown beard, came up on
his hands and knees, he looked like a
raging lion. The scene, however, was
so comical that Boney laughed in spite
Of himself.
GAS he stood, with the rifle dropped
to the bend of his elbow, taking in the
comical side of the situation, the colo
mel glared at him, so angry that for n
minute he could not utter Il word. Then
he burst out with:
"'What do you mean, sir? What do
you mean, sir, by such conduct? If
you ever do thing like that again, sir,
by the Lord, sir, I'll cut your ears Off
"By this time all the company were
interested spectators, and they were
anxious about the fate of Boney, Boney
himself was cool and self-possessed. He
said, in an easy conversational way:
"'Colonel, that's what my old grand
mother used to tell me when she want
ed to scare me. She didn't scare me
then, and it don't scare me now. But
1 beg your pardon. II didn't know
that the army was so reduced that the
colonel of the First Kentucky had to
find refuge behind a stump.
Explanations followed, and the af-
fair ended by the colonel saying to
Boney, confdentially, that if ever an
other battle was fought, he would see
that Boney Meredith was at the front;
and he kept his promise. Chicago In
ter Ocean.