The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1899-02-10
DREW A BEAD ON ROOSEVELT.
A Crack slnrksmu,. Of the Ninth Resu-
lar Infantry Came Near Maxi
Ing a Mistake.


quit the service upon returning to this
country, was a man of the Ninth in
fantry known to the members of the
regiment as johnson, OF Maryland. He
was tall, lanly southerner, and the
pride of the Ninth, because of his
craftsmanship, which was so true that
johnson was head and shoulders over
all the others in handling Krag-Jor-
gensen. He appeared to be the most
contented man in Uncle Sans service,
end often spoke of reenlisting until
| an event occurred just before the close
of the first days fighting at San Juan
which caused him to change his mind.
! and he vowed never to handle Il gun
again. He would never speak of it to
his comrades, but they all knew why
he quit, and although they argued and
tried to persuade him to remain, John
son only shook his head and said: mo,
boys, can't stay with you longer I'd
| like to, but don't ask me again. Ican't
do it. l must get out"
One Of the members of Johnson's
company tells the story of what caused
/ the Ninth to lose it's crack shot.
1--WE had been engaged in the hot
test kind of work for some hours, and
after taking the first line of Spanish
trenches we were fixing them up for
our own use. The Spaniards had been
! driven back, but their sharpshooters
were still at it, picking off Cur men
Z here and there. The Mauser bullets
+ We're whizzing around us pretty lively,
/ and noticed that johnson was get
{ ting more and more impatient every
minute and acting as if he was just
aching to get at those Spanish sharp
shooters, and finally he turned to me
1 and in his drawing tone said:
'Say,it's tough we can't get a chance
at them
''He soon got his chance, however,
| for just as dusk began our captain or
Gered a dozen of us to advance short
4 distance ahead and we'll beyond the
/ trench our forces had captured. When
we arrived on the spot we were halted
on the edge of dense wood. Just ahead
OF US was an open space of clear ground,
and on the other side of that low,
thick brush, which extended as far as
l could see.
"Just before night came on we re-
ceived our final orders, which were to
pay particular attention to the brush
Just ahead of us on the other side of
| the clearing, and to shoot at the first
head we saw. We had settled down
to our tiresome occupation Of watch
ing and waiting, but always prepared
Il g.. Tol- y I
talking in low tones of the days fight
ing we had just passed through, when
VIC both heard the sound of a dry twig
breaking. We were alert in an instant,
and all the men in our line were look
ing straight ahead with pieces half
raised, ready for use. AS looked at
johnson could see him smile, APP
4 Rarently with the hope of a chance to
shoot. The sound repeated itself, this
time little nearer, but still quite in
distinct. An instant later we again
i heard it, and it sounded directly ahead
of johnson and me, and was beyond q
doubt cautious tread, but too heavy
4 for man. While we waited in breath
less silence for something to happen we
again heard the cautious tread, now
quite plain. 1t was the tread of a horse
and was just ahead of us. Suddenly
as the tread became palmer, a dark OBJ
ject appeared just above the top of the
brush. Dozens of guns were raised,
but johnson whispered:
"'I've got him.
"He crawled a few PAGES forward and
we saw him raise his gun, his fingers
nervously working on the trigger. At
that instant the brush parted and =
horse and rider stepped out. We saw
johnson stretch out his piece and we
expected to see flash, but just then
the rider turned in his saddle and by
the dim light from the dull red glow
that still tinged the sky we saw pair
CT eyeglasses flash. We all knew at
once who it was, but not one of us
spoke. We were probably too hor-
rified, and before could say a word
johnson turned to me, and with a look
on his face shall never forget ex-
claimed, in hoarse voice:
"'My God, Ben, Roosevelt! And
nearly plucked him.
with this he threw his gun from
him and just sat there and stared al
the place in the brush where Gel. Roose
Welt and his horse had entered. The
latter when he heard the voices of oul
men. came straight to US, and appeared
surprised to find us so far beyond the
trench. When he heard Of the orders
about shooting at the first head we saw
he smiled and said:
"'That is the first I've heard of the
orders. They were probably ISSUED
while ] was away on little recon
noitering on my own hook
"He spoke cheeringly to the mer
about and passed on. little thinking
how near he was to death few min
utes before. The more we thought Of
il after he passed the more in TIE dump:
we got. for every one of us loved thu
colonel of the rough riders.
eve were relieved shortly afterward
and as we marched back in silence
Johnson walked with bowed head ant
none of us spoke to him, for we mag
. ined that he felt as if he would lik'
a l