The National tribune., 1899-08-17
5o'S1' 'zI@ax$ IbggE}$ b.
BY WASH. B. Pulls, 5Sth ILL.

one being reserved by either Of the men
they knew, they said, where to get more.
That night we were loaded on cars, ant
the next morning We're started for Memphis
After we were loaded a soldier came to the
car and called for Loney and Mccoy, say
ing they were wanted by the Officer of the
Guard. They promptly responded; the
rest OF us feared that the theft of the crack
ers had been discovered, and that trouble
was III store for them, if not for us; but they
assured us tnat it was all right; that they
had rather expected the summons, and
that 1t would probably result in an In,
crease of our stores. They carried extra
| haverSackS with them.
1t was just dawn of day when they came
back. and they came loaded, as before:
The new stock was divided as the old had
been. There were four guards in the car
with us, and they were pretty decent fel-
lows, too; but they inquired how it was that
we had such plethora of provisions while
| their haversacks were but scantily sup
piled. Loney and Mccoy said that they
had bought them, and the balance adopted
the lie, claiming to have been paid off few
days before, and tohave spent all our money
! i'll crackers. To make friends with the
guards we filled their haverSackS, and that
ended all inquiry; though if they had re-
ported tine circumstances to the officer in
command there might have been serious
results.
In one sense n part of the crackers
parts of both lots had been purchased;
that is, they had been paid for in work.
The first lot Loney and Mccoy had carried
from the commiSsary wagon into our
camp. On one trip Loney started with two
boxes, by an arrangement previously
made between them. Mccoy was return
ing for a new load when Loney entered the
circle with his double load. Mccoy had let
a few men into the secret, none of them
belonging to our regiment, byt men with
whom he was acquainted, AID whom he
could trust, and had them with him when
Loney passed. He dropped one of the
boxes, and Mccoy and his comrades i'm
mediately surrounded it, and in a mo-
ment it was hidden from sight. A few
moments later Loney joined the party, and
the spoil was quickly divided, the two
principals claiming double the quantity
that the others received, because but for
their plot there would have been none to
divide, and, without murmuring, the
others conceded their claim. For the time
they left their shares in charge of the others,
who honestly guarded them. The division
made, and thus for the time protected, the
two returned to the pile of crackers, and
aided in the general distribution. When
it was completed there was nearly half a
box left, not enough to go around again, so
the officer divided the surplus among the
men who had carried the boxes in, Loney
and Mccoy, of course, obtaining their full
share. Then they went back to where the
stolen crackers were stored, and, getting
them, returned to the squad.
When they were called out at night it
was to unload two cars Of crackers that had
just arrived from Memphis. There was
no opportunity of stealing box, but there
were boxes with cracks through which a
cracker or two might be worked out with
out much difficulty, and few were flched
in that way. One box was-accidentally
of course-broken, and it's contents spilled.
The officer in charge saw it, and ordered
merely thrown in, not packed, the box
would not again hold the original quantity,
and the balance the men at work appro-
priated. AS Loney and Mccoy had OBJ
tanned these goods, refused to have any
thing to do with dividing them. They did
that, after my positive refusal, and they
did it fairly, keeping for themselves only
the same number that the other men re-
ceived.
We reached Memphis Wednesday morn
ing, but it was late in the afternoon before
we were permitted to get out of the cars and
late at night before we reached the building
in which we were confined. 1t was an
empty warehouse within a block of the
levee, of which We had full view from the
rear windows, the buildings that had in
tervened having been burned out and the
walls leveled. The next morning-that
is, Thursday-other rations were issued to
us, and were very thankfully received.
Remember that, except in our squad, and
by few isolated men, two crackers to
each man was all that had been received;
that but few Of the men had eaten anything
but those two crackers since early Sunday
morning; that we had been constantly on
our feet during the whole time, the mud
having been foot deep in the camp near