The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-08-25
PETS OF THE FRONTIER.
HILD ANIMALS FAMED BY SOL
 DIERS

In the West-An Elk Tn at Loved Mu- sic-A Mascot Deer That Deserted th Troop for His Wild Companions.
 The origin of domesticated animals is, after all, less to be wondered at when one comes to consider that all savage tribes and men far removed from the centers of civilization are fond of pet animals and for ever capturing and tanning them in large numbers around their habitations. Travellers in the Am azon valley of South America have of- ten been struck by the vast number of tame parrots, monkeys, curassows, ta pirs, peccaries, agoutis and even jag uars. about the huts of the Indians of that region, and the same conditions occur elsewhere.
 Not only are savages given to keep ing and tanning wild animals of every description, but civilized men as well, once they are withdrawn from the cen- ters of poullation. For example, this was strikingly illustrated in the case of the regiments of soldiers stationed along the western frontier from 1855 to 1892. Nearly every company had from one to several pet deer, elk, otters, prai- rie dogs, coyotes and occasionally pet buffalo, bear or Big Horn sheep, anil mals which they had captured when young and which had grown up among the men of the different companies, troops and batteries of infantry, caval- ry and artillery.
 Recently a Post reporter had the good fortune to fall in with an old frontiers man who had served throughout the Big Horn and Yellowstone campaign against the Sioux Indians in 1876, and who is now a member of the District police force, who, in relating his expe- riences of life and times on the plains from 1870 to 1888, told the following very interesting stories of some of the pets that he had seen during his term of service on the frontiers:
 Tn those days" he said, nearly eve- ry company and troop had a pet of some variety, and the same was the case with many of the officers and men, who made it a point to pick up lawns and cub bears wherever they found or came across them. No one objected to them, for they were good company and amused us by their tricks, and I'll tell you that everything of that sort count ed in place as lonesome as some of the frontier forts and posts were along in the seventies. The most amusing and remarkable pet that I ever encountered was, to my notion, a tame elk that the boys called Nancy She belonged to ho ct ar ,a+ Fof,f Tar mia Wyo., during the time I was stationed there with Company c of the Four teenth infantry, which formed a part of the garrison of that outpost during the two years following the Big Horn cam paign. This elk had been captured during a hunt by the quartermaster when quite young, and had been raised at the fort.
 Nancy was a peculiar animal and so fond of music that I believe she would have followed brass band to the ends of the earth. No matter how hungry she might be, neither sugar, apples nor any other dainty would tempt her away from the band when it happened to be playing. Of course, as at all military establishments, the band always played at guard mount and no matter how far off she was, or what she happened to be eating, Nancy would drop everything when she heard the bugle-call for guard mount, and come at a dead run to the parade-ground. Usually, she was on hand and waiting several minutes be- fore the call sounded, but in case she happened to be absent she never failed to come tearing in at a gallup when she heard the call.
 Reaching the parade-ground, she would follow the adjutant on his round of inspection, and then, at the conclu- sion, when the band would strike up, she would go cavorting about, cutting the most extraordinary capers you ever saw, and following the band wherever it went about the parade-ground. One day Nancy proved the means of getting