Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-01-09

IL q. N. once he went, with only the
man in charge of the boat, up the
Pasig river into Laguna de Bay. II
was a black night The enemy were
OF both banks, and he was in deadly
peril every moment. as these boats
| frequently get fast in the mud of the
bank of this twisting and winding
stream. He did this for the purpose
| Of finding the gunboats and giving
| the orders for the movements in per-
son instead of sending somebody else.
He would 90 without sleep in order
| TO have everything done just right. l
| remember on one occasion when /
| awOke a little after sunrise I missed
Lawton. but found him in the belfry OF
| the cathedral. He had been there since
dawn, surveying the surrounding coun-,
try and preparing TO execute certain
| movements at the earliest possible mo-
ment. He had practically not gone to
bed at all. This he did week after
week"
1.-The Filipinos were much afraid of
him?''
Yes; they called him the soldier of
the night because he was on the go
night as well as day. He represented to
chem the opposite of the spirit of Span
ish generalShip. He was simply tire
less. He appeared to need neither food
nor sleep, and more than any other
man / ever saw did not spare himself
any hardship, storm. fierce, tropical
sun, danger-alI the terrible elements
of war. He was truly great soldier.
He was. believe. the most silent man
ever knew. and yet, strange to say,
ho hn
did speak and did not have the least
bit of affectation about him. He was
as simple minded as child. Some
times he reminded you of a child in
the clearness and simplicity of his re-
marks.
He was not searcher after person
al glory. | don't think Henry W. Law
ton ever spent ten minutes of his life
thinking about fame. He thought
about duty. as is best illustrated by
the speech he made on the trip the
president took through the south. |
think it was at Montgomery. Ala. Aft
er the president and General Wheeler
and all the members of the cabinet
who were present had spoken some
body called for General Lawton. He
arose. bowed and sat down. But they
would not release him, and so he rose
and said:
"'Fellow citizens, I am not an ora
tor; am only a soldier. l am not
hero: am only a regular. Thank you.
To my mind that speech is classic"
You saw n great deal of him in the
Philippines"
Yes, | was fortunate enough to see
much of him. After l returned from
the southern islands most of my time
was spent with Lawton. We ate to-
gether. slept in the same room when
we slept at all. rode together and all
that. But that is no news. Don't put
that in. In this way. though. l came
to know him very intimately. and the
more l knew him the better l liked
him, and finally l came to love him.
That is the only word for it. and that
is the experience. too. of everybody
else who had the honor of knowing
him"
''As to his home life?'
THAT is too sacred a subject to say
about, further than that it
was so tender and beautiful that it
was ideal Mrs. I-awton is out there |
now with the children. How my heart |
bleeds for heri She was as truly the |
soldiers wife as he was the soldier"
Did you urge his promotion after |
Shafter was retired:"
"Oh, yes, of course. and it is the vio- |
lation of no secret now to say that the |
president had decided upon it."