The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-10-20
COLONEL BUNKER.
He Tells How History and Cocktails
Got Mixed Up


Speaking about cocktails. sub" SAID
Colonel Bunker as he slipped lovingly
at his mint iuleD and smacked his HIs
in ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS about cocktaliS
and their influence on the pohtics o.
the country let me tell yO' a little III
cident 1t was a few years after the
wah, sub, and Just after the noth haa
introduced the cocktail to the soutu-
1t was a new drink to us. but we TOOK
It up very literally. General BOD
Taylor was running for governor OF
this state that year with a thousand
chances to one in his favor. l was 60
meet him here at this hotel to talk ovah
matters and came out on this Veranda
to find him drinking cocktail 1t was
his forth while waiting for me.
/" 'Howdy kurnel? says he as SITS
down.
what he is drinking. He orders another
Tor himself and one for me, ana we zen
to talking about the wah. Bob layioI
was a majah, sub and he was nIaVe
and gallant man. He hadn't talked long
.Kurnei Bunker. yo' were at the
battle of Malvern Hill. 1 believer
80 7 was. sub.
"'And yo' must have seen the charge
/ made with my regiment on the six
guns in the center. I had only 500 men
under me. and the enemy numbered
fully 5000. but we started with a cheeri
sub, and we swept forward with yellS,
Buut ana lniuBl L lDSA 1Oo AAAIAA L DACNeo--~
back the guns
e Bless you Matah Bobv I says But
you've got things mixed up. made that
charge myself Any history of the wan
Will give me the credit
But I must have done it
But you are mistaken
The ma5ah seemed lost in thought
for awhile and ] was wondering II ne
didn't feel well, when he woke up anu
said;
'Kurnel Bunker. yo' was at the
battle of Gaines Mill, reckon
I was. sub.
DO you remember when the enemy
massed to crush our left and came down
like a wave of the seaY
I do. sub. II looked to be all day
with US just then.
And it would have been. kurnel. it
would have been if I had not put my
self at the head of my regiment and
led a living wedge against the enemy
and broken him. YO' may remember
that I received the thanks of our gen
eral then and there
.Maiah Bob SAYS I as I began to
breathe hard there are no less than
ten histories of the wah out already
and mo- coming, and every one of those
histories will prove that I myself LED
that living wedge and saved the left
wing of our army. 1 was mentioned in
general dispatches and special orders.
sub, and if I could have brought my
self to leave my brave boys 1 could
have had command of a brigade
with that l got up and walked about
and wondered what had got into the
man, and perhaps it was five minutes
before he said:
'Kurnel Bunker. am mistaken in
thinking yO' were present at the battle
of Chancellorsville?'
sYo' are not, subj I replied. Tt has
been said that 1 personally brought on
that battle
If 20 were there. kurnel. 20 must
have seen me put myself at the head
of the Silver brigade and roll the enc
my's right flank up like so much pa
per. Yes, sub. yo' must have seen it
with yO'r own eyes. and no doubt yo'
were one of the thousands who cheered
me after the charge was over
'Majah Bob Taylor SAYS I some
what stiffly. am not a humorist I
seldom smile. and 1 never laugh. Do
yo' mean it for a toke when yo' take
the credit Of things 1 did myself? If
so. sub. let me tell yo that I don't APP
preciate it
'Kurnel Bunker says he in a SLOW
and deliberate fashion and meaning to
insult my very name. it gives me IN
alleged pleasure to observe that yo' are
a caitiffp
sub! suhr
"a catiff, a coward and a liarr
Cad, sub, but I don't know why l
didn't take him by the throat then and
there and throttle the life out of him
NlA START 10 90 H. 1 DelltNE. Out CduSnl
myself in time. It was five minutes before
] could speak. and then my words were
few. I simply told him to expect a visit
from my second and strobe away. As
turned the co'ner met General Polk and
when I told him of the insult he threw
up his hands in amazement. IA couldn't
doubt my word. but it was a hard thing
to believe. OF co'se he was willing to act
as my second. and in fifteen minutes it
had been arranged that Maiah Bob and
I were to meet at sunrise. Thirteen prev
ious meetings of the sort, with my
escutcheon unstained made it an almost
everyday affair for me-that is 1 ate and
slept as usual, and no one saw any
change in me. I had differed with men,
suh-dinered with them on astronomy ge-
ography or the curl Of pigs tail and
zone to the field to uphold my honah by
simply piuking them. but here was the
grossest insult of my life. I had been