Evening star., 1902-08-02

of securing the loan from the government
of the monitor MiantonomOh for use as an
armory and practice craft. The application
will be acted upon as soon as the Secretary
of the Navy returns to this city.
Must Buy New Uniforms.
The officers of the local brigade are mani
Testing much interest a present in the reg
uIations for the new uniforms of the United
States army just made public Radical
changes from the existing attire are or
dered. OF course, the District National
Guard will follow the army in the matter
of clothing and equipment. Procuring tie
new dress will entail considerable expense
to all officers
That Mule Trip to Leesburg.
Through the friendly offices of the Sec
retary of War, Adjt. Gen. Corbin, Brig.
Gen. Leonard A. Wood and Brig. Gen. Wal
lace F. Randolph, the army mule has re-
ceived another fiattering certificate of
merit, says the Army and Navy Journal.
1t happened this way: Secretary Root had
accepted an invitation to be present on
July 20 in the camp of the National Guard
of the District of Columbia at Leesburs,
Va, forty-seven miles from Washington,
and at his suggestion the three officers
named Joined him for the trip. They drove
to Cabin John bridge, seven miles from
Washington in the Secretary's carriage.
seated Dougherty army wagon, to which
were hitched four mules, the outfit having
been provided by Maj. Theodore E. True,
L. 5. A, depot quarterma Ster in Washing
ton, who assured them that he would get
them to Leesburg and back in a single day.
The driver was Albert Mccullough Cher
okee Indian, sixty years old, who has spent
forty years in the government service,
mostly in the army. He knew how to drive
all right, and for the first sixteen miles
after he cracked the whip for the start the
wagon hit the road only in the high places.
Mccullough evinced a grim determination
to get through on time or little ahead of
1t, consequently he hurled language at thu
mules, and the officers in the back seats
held on tight. but said nothing. At the end
OF the first sixteen miles a relay of mules
was ready and they were soon made to
understand what was expected of them.
No Bones Were Broken.
An inspection at this stage of the jour
ney showed that no bones had been broken
as yet, and that the travellers were stand
ing the ordeal as well could be expected.
The driver brought increased powers of
persuasion to bear upon the mules. The
pace increased, the landscape got all
tangled up and the officers came nearly
getting ter-soaked-externally- a big
storm which they overlook in their mad
rush. but Mccullough was in command and
ne brought the outfit into camp in time
for the evening review of the troops, hav-
ing covered the forty miles from Washing
ton in five hours and ten minutes not
counting the time for crossing Whites
Ferry. The return trip was still faster
having been made in four hours and TWEEN
ty-hVe minutes not including time for
ferriage. In other words. the round trip
of eighty miles was made in nine hours
and thirty-five minutes, an average of a
mile in seven and three-SiXteenths min
utes. The record of this exploit shows be-
yond all doubt that the army mule still
knows the art Of getting there or there
abouts. This ride indeed bids fair to be-
come as famous as the exciting one that
Horace Greeley took in the Rockies with
the redoubtable Hank Monk on the drivers
seat.