The Taney County republican., 1903-10-22
How Bumps
Joined the Army
Copyright. lac, BY p,ily siory rub, Cos
OILY smoke Bumps is an o.
BERNARD HAGGERTY

foreman Of the Chamberlain OUTFIT. to
his fellow COW punchcrS grouped neg
ligently around the camp fire on tho
narlit Texas prairS "Th' little cuss:
who'd thought that little chap would
ever wear shoulder straps an Q
sword"
The members OF the Chamberlain ont.
Ut were resting after u hard days work
nj the roundup The big foreman drew
closer 10 the light Of the fire and read this
paragraph. under the heading Of army
and navy orders. from the newspaper he
held In his hand:
To be second lieutenant In the cav
AIRY. First Sergeant John Chamberlain.
OF the Sixteenth cavalry"
"Yu' fellows never knew tn peculiar
circumstances under which tn kid
j!ned tn regular army an how he came
by tn nickname Bumps. did yu'?' con-
'inued Foreman Jim TO his lounEnG au-
ditors. We'll. III tell yu'. Yu' see. tn
Kid was born rIgh, here on this ranch.
the mother died when the boy was lcss'n
year old
Col. Chamberlain gave IN lad all tn
attention he could. considerln' III busi-
ness he had TO handle but at that tn
hoy did pretty much as h. pleased III
he was 10 or lG years OF age. Young
Jack saw more of III COW punchors than
he did OF anybody else about tn ranch
an m result was that when he arrived
AT tn age just mentioned he could ride
an shoot with tn best man In tn out
NJ.
HE was a nice little hid an not n bit
proud because his dad owned tn biggest
ranch in Texas. An talk about dcviltry
why that boy was mp 10 more of II than
any Indian Kid ever born on tn prairies
When he could raise no other excitement
he'd 20 ont an stampede herd just to
sec In cowees do stunts on horseback.
A. these times he wasn't so popular with
tn boys. but they soon forgot III lads
tricks as they watched him grow up n
fair an square little cuss.
There was one thing. which. TO speak
hruratively. was always n thorn In tn
outdoor work had made tn boy as hard
as nails. but when he was 1G an I, was
secn that he'd reached his full growth.
he was only about five feet four from tn
prairie This stuck In tn kids crop an
made him scrappy whenever anyone
spoke OF his shape. II also stuck In III
colonies crop. TIL colonel had about
this time commenced TO notice that III
lad had sand.
"Yu' know tn colonel was In tn army
III tn big war broke out between tn
north an tn south Then he lined III
army Of tn south an came on, OF tn
fyacas n colonel Tn colonels grand
father an father had fought In tn wars
against England an III greascrs. so III
army foclin' was deep In tn old mans
heart. He sort Of calculated TO pu, Jack
In m army. but when he came TO size
tn hoy up he knew N lad would never
pass them army doctors on accom-. Of
his size So he gave up III idea Of hnyln'
Jack AZ army officer.
"Th' Kid knew his dad wanted him to
jlrc tn army an also knew tha, his
sawed.off figure would keep him out He
fclt pretty bad about II an made things
hum '-ound IN ranch for awhile III tn
feel.n' sort of wore OF Well. things
went along for awhile. when the hid was
sent 10 San Antonio 10 school tell yu
twas mighty Lonesome round tn ranch
without young Jack.
"Well. tn first thing we know. along
ZONES tn news that III Maine Is blown
up By III SDaniards We all knew that
tn news meant war an In few days
tn ranch was MS clear Of cowees as tn
prairie is Of grass after n fire. calcu-
lated 10 stop round few days 10 help
IT, colonel put things In shape before
making a bee-line for Dallas to get Into
. blue Uniform
4 could see that III old man felt
mighty baS because his family would
>ot be represented In tn war. an so
..ept kinder quiet about IN comm scrap.
Well. who should come lopin into IN
corral one day bu, tn Kid, lie made n
jump for his dad an commenced to conS
him to get tn wires goin so that he could
get into tn army, Tn colonel could have
rot III boy In by just writin' few words
to Austin. but he wasn't that Find OF n
man. He figured TINT when one OF his
family couldn't line tn army on his own
hook II wouldn't look good for him TO
advertise tn fact,
80 he was Kind 10 III hid an patted
him on tn back an told him TO return 10
school an forget th' army. Young Jack
baked at thnt an tn next day when
sadded up to ride to Dallas to jine. III
youngs,er was on his brorcho hittin' tn
trail 'longside me. | tried to turn him
back but he wouldn't turn worth cent.
90 we rode into Dallas together.
Il jined tn Rough Riders. SO that's all
there Is about me. About tn kid. though.
He went IN 10 tn regular army recruitin'