El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-10-31
GHLVESTON'S
DICTATOR.
(Contiuued from 81 page

ed man said something and then there
was an explosion.
Fire that man out of the Office and
see that he doesn't get in here again. -
he adjutant said to the militia officer
on duty at headquarters and the fell
low was put out with the smallest
amount of ceremony imaginable.
What do you suppose that little In
dian has been hanging around these
three hours for?" he said.
confessed that / had not the slight
est idea.
Why he wanted to tell me | was
making a whole lot of mistakes. as
didn't know il a thousand times better
than he did
And SO il went on.
One day a negro barber went to the
adjutant generals office with kick
IL SO happened that McCaleb was not
busy and was looking over the head
lines of a newspaper This barber was
intelligent He declared a press gang
Rad gathered up mis- bootblack and put
him to work
If / had given the soldier a dollar
ne would have turned him loose" said
the barber. These soldiers are just
grabbing people TO get money"
John" replied the adjutant. looking
quietly at the negro. how long do you
think IL would take these soldier peo-
make such a lying charge as that
That BARRIERS face was a study. He
saw through the thing in about 'steen
seconds and. turning to the adjutant,
begged him to keep the bootblack and
work him until he dropped. but for the
good Lords sake To- say nothing about
his charging the soldiers with holding
up people
Pathos and Tears In Plenty.
But humor was not plentiful in
headquarters office while McCaleb was
adjutant The dragnet of the press
gangs caught all kinds of fish. The
necessities of the situation were so Sc
we're thai the most drastic measures
were necessary. Thousands volunteered
for the grewsome work of recovering
and .burying the thousands of dead.
But the unwilling were here even in
the face of the necessity for all to
work. Under martial law these were
made to work. and the order went out
that no man unprovided with a pass
should be spared by those who were
charged with the work of forcing the
unwilling to labor. One day n little.
sad-eyed. pale-faced woman entered
the adJutant's Office. Timorous and
shrinking. she fought her way To Nc
Caleb
What can / do for you2" he asked
Hey nave TAKEN my DrplneT ana
put him to work.
It is possible; We must all work:
We
But. oh, sir. my mother is a raving
maniac. My father. brothers. sisters
SOMEWHERE killed. 7 must have him,
: just can't
4 change came over the seemingly
cruel man as he turned to an orderly
and directed him TO go at once with
~. he ~ Ha
that he might return to the stricken
home.
My God, IL is hell when such
things happen. And yet we must do it
We must work or this deadhouse of
town will become a madhouse as we'll"
he exclaimed.
All Forced to Work
The hurricane which leveled Gal
weston proved a great leveler of caste
As well Under the peculiar despotism
which ruled the town during the first
hours of the struggle to regain its feet
no man had pull" and many a
proud head was laid low as il came
in contact with Gen. Scurry's adiutant.
Men were impressed everyweher.
Only two lines of business had any
status with this despotism- These
were burning and burying the dead
and feeding and clothing the living.
c'-rsive1y that he was actively en-
pIoyed in one of these lines his chance
of escaping work was wonderfully
small One day a young merchant, |
who is also the local consul of a con-
tinental government. ushered himself |
into the presence of the adiutant and |
straightway proceeded to kick vigor-
0usiy against impressment of men
whom he had employed in his private |
business. McCaleb said he was sorry
hut private business would have to |
take its chance until the dead were |
buried and incidentally that the mer- |
chant was luck to- have missed the /
press gangs himself
This was too much for the young 4
consul and he went on to give the ad-
jutant to- understand that he was his |
majesty consul and would do all sorts
of things If anybody fooled with him.
Col. McCaIeb heard him through. Then /
the consul was told some things he |
will probably never forget to his dying
day
This government is the biggest |
tding in Galveston just now" said Nc
Caleb. land if you don't hustle out of
here you'll find out more about things
which are possible under martial law
than you ever dreamed of in all your
puny philosophy. You'll take your
chances with the rest of us. and don't
let me hear any more about your be-
ing somebody's consul. or il won't be
good for You" This was the last of the
consul bluff
Another case: \ rich man went to
the adjutant to demand that men EN-
ployed on his private property be not
with. He said the property
was his and he proposed TO save ii.
There was something wonderfully in