The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1900-01-26
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: HELEN BLAZES :
N: BY Frederick Van Rensselaer,. AZ
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BY Frederick Van Rensselaer,.


of almost incessant fighting before
Petersburg and Bermuda Hundred.
She lost her life in a scrimmage in
which she was nearly the whole thing,
for she had way of taking matters
into her own control and carrying her
rider into the thickest of the fight,
whether he liked it or not.
She was such warrior herself that
when she got worked up to the proper
pitch she paid no attention to bugle
calls or orders, and always started in to
thrash the enemy single handed. That
was one reason why she was called
Helen Blazes. But there was another
her temper.
The name was not spelled just that
way by the boys of the Third New York
cavalry, but Jeb Smith, the man who
rode her-and the only man who ever
could ride her-was a minister before
the war broke out, so he changed the
original three words of her name into
two, thus quieting his conscience and
satisfying 'the boys" at the same time.
She was picked up one night on a
scouting expedition. Wink Tomllins
brought her into camp the next morn
ing, and he was a sight. You could hear
kim swearing at Blazes when they were
a mile away, and between his curses
and the laughter of his companions,
and the plunging and kicking, biting
and striking of the mare as they APP
preached, it made a pretty sight for
tired cavalrymen.
''There, by thunder!" said Wink.
give landed her here, COS I said l
would The fellow that can ride her,
can have her, for all L care" and he
pitched the lead rope to me.
Blazes was beauty, there was no de-
nying that, and old McNamara-our
captain-had his eye on her from the
moment he saw her.
Well, there's no use in describing all
that happened then. 1t took six of us
to get saddle and bride on her, and
three out of the six were laid up unfit
for duty for a week after it; and after
that she threw, one after another,
pretty near the whole company.
Nobody could ride her until Jeb Smith
came along. He had just been relieved
from guard and was tired, but when
his eyes lighted on the mare, he bright
ened up.
'That's beauty, boys" he said, for
he was a great lover of horsefesh, if
he was parson. The mare was stand
ing idle at that moment, as docile as
kitten, and nobody in the world would
have guessed what devil there was in
her. Tompkins drawled out:
sect on her back, parson, and try
her."
Mind you, there was not one in the
crowd who had not tried her, and who
could not show a substantial bruise
for his temerity. But the parson never
caught on at all, and we all stood back
while he handed his piece to a COM
rade, and without a moments hesita-
tionf walked straight up to the mare
and began to rub her nose; and what's
more, she seemed to like it.
You could have purchased the whole
company for very small sum at that
moment, for we felt mighty cheap. We
didn't know whether it was jugglery,
or what it was, but the fact remained
that the mare did not treat him as she
had treated us.
"Say, parson," bawled Wink Tomp-
kins, ''have you ever seen the critter
before?''
Certainly not" was the calm reply.
"Why?"
"Well, I'm bowed! Boys, there's
suthin' in religion after ALL
While he was thus expressing him
self, Jeb leaped into the saddle, and in
moment more he was riding around the
place as easy as you please. Blazes
single-footed, dog-trotted and cam
tered, and you'd have thought she was
a Christmas-tree-rockin for all
the ugliness she showed then.
"Who owns her?" asked the parson.
'You do, Jeb; you've earned her."
said old Mac; and he walked away with
a scowl on his face.
Well, Jeb was delighted, and he lis
tened with amazement when we told
him what circus we'd been having. 1t
was plain that he did not believe all of
it. and presently he led her away to the
stable, took the saddle off and tied her.
There was only pole between the
horses, and Jeb hadn't got half way
back to where we were sitting, when
there was the worst racket in that sta
BILE you ever heard. You'd have thought
the rebs were after us for the
noise and tumult. The horses
neighed and squealed and you could
hear boards splintering and timbers
falling. Blazes had kicked herself
loose, laid up two horses, Scared for
life half dozen more, and paved her
way right through the back of that
place to liberty. She was pointing for
home, too, when Jeb saw her.
''Here, you!" he yelled, and she
stopped and waited while he went up
and caught her.
We fixed up the stable, but we passed
unanimous resolution that Blazes
couldn't tarry there any more, so the
parson took her about 20 rods away and
tied her to fence. Then he gave her
some oats, and you'd have thought she
was the three graces rolled into one she
was so quiet; but it didn't last long.
She finished her oats, and maybe she