The National tribune., 1902-01-30
Awaiting Restitution.

CDIIOR 4>AlIONAI d jRlBbNE. MY NtI
satile friend and comrade, Col. Theodor
L. Allen, whilom of the valiant and much
enduring 7th Ohio Cav, is ''lOng on fig
ures,' especially when he undertakes thC
computation of interest preparatory t
striking balance sheet"
In The National Tribune, Jan. 2, tht
Colonel, at one time Adjutant-General o
Garrard's Brigade, tells a little story, en-
titled "A Confidence Game" in which {
sympathetic Federal soldier, for and il
consideration of one bogus Confederate
dollar, managed to cheer one of Morgan
men, captured at Burlington Island, by The
potent contents of his canteen, which, by
the way, contained only one drink.
Col. Allen, 4 mathematical genius, hai
been doing some marvellous 'hgurIng,
and announces, as the result, that, by
some process of evolution, the one drink
of mean whisky imbibed long years age
on the transport en- route to Cincinnati
has grown in Interest to two full gal
Ions of Kentucky's famous, good liquor
The daring Colonel mOdestly O. suggest,
that the two gallons" shall be sent Il
him in payment for the aforesaid ''Ont
drink" of ''villainous lightning" with
which one of his soldiers unsuccessfully
tried to kill a home-sick prisoner in "thC
long ago"
Now we surrendered "Confedrits. dis
posed to be liberal, despite the fact that
we are not in financially opulent condi
ton, will send Col. Alien the two gallans
of "Old Kentucky Elixir" provided he
shall practice reciprocity by returning tC
us the two thoroughbred horses, or theil
value, with interest, that he stole from
our camp at Rogersviiie, Tenn, when ht
unceremoniously and surreptitiOusly rode
..I.@
down the valley and DER the hills fan
away in East Tennessee. He never re.
turned, and 10 this good day we have
never received restitution for those stolen
horses. In all conscience, the stealing OF
one horse and giving us the slip" was
enough, but the appropriation" of two
horses was the unkindest cut Of all. BY
this time, adopting the ColOnels magic
method of computing interest, he must
owe us a whole battalion of thoroughbred
Kentucky horses.
If he win forward those horses to me-
in advance, i hereby pledge him my word
which, of course, is as good as my bond
perhaps better-that will send him the
two gallons That much powerful
liquor" will probably make him as drunk
as n billed OWL" but i shall have nc
conscientious scruples if | succeed in
knocking him out" and putting him in a
gallons" Like the Indian. ! can neither
forget nor forgive. The Adjutant- General
Of Garrard's Brigade had no business
stealing two horses lat one time In two
motions"
In recent issue of The National Tri
bune my friend, Col. Allen. referring tc
my story, The Crossing Of the River
very pleasingly compliments me, but calls
attention to the fact that it was the 9TH
| Ohio Cav. and the Sth Mich. that made
the day unpleasant to Morgan and his
men at Burlington Island: that the 18th
Mich. was mot in it." Well, my getting
the 18th Mich. and the 7th Ohio mixed
was simply slip Of the pen. or course
l meant the 9TH Ohio Cav. The fact is
we had met the 'Michiganders' and the
| "Ohioans" so often in battle array down
in Tennessee that the two had become
convertible terms, the cavalrymen from
Michigan and those from the Buckeye
| State being holy terrors''-the one th,
same as 'tOther. Now, when Col AlleI
shall have filled up one more time will
! fried chicken and blackberry pie, anC
washed the ''fillin'" down with two gal
| Ions of Kentucky Bourbon, and | shal
have received the battalion of equines. nj
will be lovely and the goose will be swing
ing altitudinously.-GEo. DALLAS Mos
GROVE.