The San Francisco call., 1899-12-20
LAWToN ALWAYS LED.
An Officer Who Never Told His Men
to Go On.

General Lawton was one of the most
picturesque characters in the army. Soon
after the battle OF FL Caney. in July, 1873,
where Lawton's bravery and gallant lead
ership won for him new laurels, a friend,
II. S. Garfield, wrote Of him:
'Lawton reminds me always OF Scott's
Norman Baron. Front de Boeuf. He has
better morals, OF course, as well as a very
pretty taste in red wines and reed birds.
but he is as big as the giant slain by
Richard OF the Lion Heart. Is as direct in
his methods, and in personal or general
combat every bit as savage. There is
plenty OF the primal man in him. What
of justice. but his temper is terrific and he
is not gentle He requires Of his subor-
dlnates the utmost endeavor, and gets IT..
lie asks no one TO do work that he Is not
competent and willing to do himself. Nat
urally a leader. he goes first, and the
more difficult or desperate the undertake
ing the faster he goes Upon the gray
bones of a Confederate officer who sleeps
on the magnolia-petaledu uplands OF Loui-
siana is an inscription: He never told his
men TO go. on That will do for Lawton
when he dies.
He is six feet three inches high. He
weighs 30 pounds, and nearly every ounce
OF II is bone and blood and tendon and
muscle. He is IS years old and as sprtngy
as youth. His capacity TO go without
food. drink or sleep is seemingly unlim-
tied. 'Macumazahn, the Zulus called
Quatermain-'the one who has his eyes
open Macumazahn Lawton will keep
them open for a week at stretch, when
necessary, and then walk, talk, eat, drink
or fght a dozen men to a standstill. lie
has lived life of peril and hardship. His
only rule of hygiene is a tub in the morn
Ing. He has taken no sort OF care OF him.
self. yet so splendidly was he endowed by
nature that there is no perceptible weak
ening OF his forces. Apparently he is as
powerful and enduring as when saw him
first; That was more than ten years ago.
He had completed one OF the most re-
markable feats of strength and persever-
ance chronicled in the long annals OF the
Anglo-SaXon race, but he was as fresh as
a rose In the morning.
He stood in the Government reserva-
ton at San Antonio surrounded by the
tawny savage band of Chiricahua Apaches
whom he had hunted off their feet. Near
him, taciturn but of kindly visage, stood
young Chief Naches, almost as tall as ne.
In tent close by lay Geronimo. the medi-
cine man. groaning from a surplusage OF
fresh beef eaten raw. The squat ngures
of the hereditary enemies of the whites
grouped about him came only to MS
shoulder. He lowered among them. stern,
powerful, dominant-an incarnation OF the
spirit or the white man, whose war drum
has beat around the world. Clad In a
faded, dirty fatigue jacket. greasy far
mel shirt of gray. trousers so soiled that
the stripe down the leg was barely visible,
broken boots and disreputable sombrero
that snaoeu the narsn features burned al-
most TO blackness, he was every inch a
soldier and a man. To the other officers
at the post the Indians paid no sort of at
tention. To them General Stanley and his
stan were so many well-dressed lay fig
ures. standing about as part of a picture
done for their amusement, but the huge.
massive man with the stubble on his chin
had shown them that he was their supe-
rior on hunting grounds that were theirs
by birthright. and they hung around his
lightest word
For the tenth time Geronimo's band
had jumped the San Carlos reservation.
Inc spring grass was two inches high and