Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1902-06-21
A BRAVE DESERTER.
BY EDWARD d. LARK.

never was any gO0d IN a ueseIleI Nth'
you've missed it by just one, and have maze
q four instead Of a bulls eye. Didn't you
ever bear tell OF Jim Benson, Of II troop, OF
tie Twelfth? Jim was a G~eserter, 20 Wash
ilgton people said, but jim loved the flag
and his duty to it better than nine tenths
OF the fellows who serve their fun 30 years
and taen get let out with Uncle sans
thanks and a small bit OF money every
month for life.
what made him desert2 Well, what
should make an old soldier desert but a
woman Some poet or other once told
about a fellow WHO had been tempted all
kinds Of ways. Money couldn't get him;
glory couldn't get him; nothin' could get
him, so all the wise ones thought, and she
got him, or, as the verse singer put IT, WON
an tempted and he lsll.'
Jim was in the service % years before he
struck his flag to a petticoat. Like all those
fellows, when he got kit he was hit so bad
that none of your surgeons who are up In
matters OF sentiment could probe and get
out the bullet, or perhaps I'd better say ar
row, for that's the kind Of ammunition the
little chap who shot Jiri uses. You see,
Jim was nigh onto 50 when he got his sights
fixed and held on to this pretty young crea-
ture with blonde hair, blue eyes and pink
cheeks It's always the way with the old
fellows, when they get stuck on something
young. 1t goes hard with them. You see.
the girl bad heard how it was that jim had
always been steady, had never seen the in
side OF the milf except as a member of the
guard, and, moreover, how he had $4,000
drawing four per cent. with TIE paymaster.
Jim always went into a fight to win. and
he got on to the track Of chat girl and hung
to it just as he did to the Kids trail down
in the Apache country when II troop was
chasing that red devil through the Arizona
he'll. TIE girl led Jim for a while coquet-
fish like, just to make sure Of him. | guess.
| don't suppose she ever cared a rap for him,
but she was of a kind to whom Jim's little
pot of money and his retired pay meant a
heap.
"Jim wasn't any beauty. He looked like
one of this artist fellow Remingtou's pic
lures Of us fellows. All muscle and bone,
but as thin as the company cooks soup
when the beef doesn't show up. Moreover,
Jim had a scar on his face that was deep
enough to drop a Springfield cartridge in.
He got it along with a medal Of honor when
he was trying to save a kid trumpeter from
being gobbled up by the Sioux ont on the
Rosebud. The medal Of honor didn't mean
anything to that girl. 1t might to some
wlo wear skirts, but not to one of her kind.
"Well. finally we MI { ought that Jim had
coraled her all riCht. II was given out that
the Twelfth's chaplain was going to have a
job wing the two up. More Of the boys con-
graduated Jim too hearty. because most Of
them had sized the affair up right, ard
wouldn't have it that the girl was good
enough for Jim Benson. She might be all
right for a rookie, but not for an old fell
low who had seen more campaigns than the
girl had years. ! ought to nave told you Be
fore that this particular petticoat was visit
ing ct the post. She came from down Iowa
way somewhere.
One night she gave it out that she was 60
ing home, ard tAQt jim must 60 down there
for the splicing. She cleared out. ard IN a
few days after the old fellow gets a furlough
and clears out, too. following the trail, as we
Seard after, way down to Iowa. Now, you
must just get hold of this fact. Jim was kind
OF a pious chap, but he loved the flag better
than any Bible that was ever printed, but
for a short time that girl was above the
flag. Jim was just crazy for her. THE story
is that she wouldn't come back, and
wouldn't marry him unless he quit the army
then and there. Jim tried 30 quit through
tie REGULAR red tape channels, but they
wouldn't have it down in Washington.
elm Benson, veteran. medal of honor.
s man. fighter in a hundred fights, lover OF Ais
4 fag and country. and az good a soldier -
ever wore auartermaster's shoes. deserted,
ard deserted for a petticoat. | forgot to say
that Jim got his wad Of money from the
payna~ter before his 'eave was M.
''There was another Gesertion inside Of 4
month after Jim quit the c)lors. This time
4 woman dil the de.erting. though a fell
low helped her to DO il. and along with the
woman and The fellow went ,Jim's money.
/ don't suppose during the honeymoon the
full force Of what he had done went home
to the bulls eye with Jim. 1t went home.
however, w en- the girl quit. Jim wanted
to be rein ated in tie service. He was
willing TO Take the heaviest penalty for alb
seuce without leave, but he knew now bow
II felt to- be a d%eserter. and more than that,
he remembered how all good soldiers de
spi~e a fellow who quits.
"Jim's heart was clean broke. He got in
communication with his old captain some
ow, and he tried to work the thing through
t1e department for Jim, hut there'd been a
bean Of deser;ions about that time. and de-
spit- Jim's medal and his % years with nary
q blind nor a day IN the mill against him,
the honorable, the secretary Of war said if
Jim was caught he must take his medicine.
1T was rumored around old Fort John.
son that Jim had been seen on the edge Of
the woods looking at the old place and seem
ing kind of wildhke. One night one of the
old quartermaster shacks got on fire. 1t
was just before target practice season, and
the building had dozen big boxes of ammu-
milton IN IL. There was a pretty stiff wind
blowing, and it looked as if the barracks
and a lot of other things would go. Ii that
stuff mad exploded the other buildings would
nave gone sure. The fire was fairly eating
around those boxes and the fellows foughi
say OF the flames a little, good soldier stuff
Though they We're.
"Al at once while the crowd was bear
ing back somebody jumped clean through
the line and plump into the fire. He grabbed
a box and threw it out clear of the blaze,
and then another and another, though the
flames We're burning his clothes and going
up wreatAlike about his head.
stANnnr La k,l lou. -. t..z- -