The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1905-03-02
THE PASSING
OF BUCK
Ioriginal. ]

IOriginal.l
Sitting in the Army and Navy club
evening with a retired cavalry
man, I asked him If in a hand to hand
contest he felt remorse at killing an
enemy.
NO." he replied, but 1 once fred a
death shot on b field of battle that
cost me a bitter pang."
"Tell me about it"
al began my military career on what
was then frontier ground, b plains
since l occasionally had to take to my
heels to save my scalp, l made a spe-
cial effort to secure q fast horse. l
happened to find a thoroughbred among
the horses in b Quarternaster'S hands.
made a requisition for him and finally
bought him. How he got in with he
comm herd 1 never knew. He was
fleet as the wind and had more intelli-
gence, than many a man. l asked my
fancee-now my wife-to name him.
and, being from the Buckeye State, she
called him Buck.
eff ever man loved horse or horse
loved man l loved Buck, and Buck
loved me. 1 had owned him a ear
before 1 realized his speed and endur
ance as we'll as his intelligence. One
morning a messenger rod from Fort
c., his horse falling dead as soon as
he reached US. to say that the Indians
had surrounded the post and would I'm
d~oubtedly take 1t before sunset. My
1lancee, the daughter of the comman-
dant of Fort c.. vas there. and you
can imagine the condition of my feel
ings, knowing the %barbarity of the In
dams. who would murder every man.
woman and child they captured. We
had no force to send, but at Fort L..
fifty miles to the north of us and some
thirty miles from c., were four com
panies of the til cavalry.
81 begged the colonel to send me to l..
with orders for the commandant to
gallop to the relief of G. He assented,
and, mounting Buck, 1 made the run.
I was beside myself with terror at the
probable a of my love. and I begged
Buck to do his pest for me. Do you
AAO"s Ahot hOLoS dAoCloAOSu Liz oo
as if he had learned English. He knew
he had a long run, and in the beginning
kept himself well together, as If hus-
banding his strength. bat with every
ten miles he Topped off the distance
he increased his speed. making the last
part of the journey in quicker time
than the first. We reached L. in six
hours ond in tvVnntU minutes moro 200
men We're riding to the relief of c.
When they arrived the garrison was
about to surrender. but our men lash
ed in on the indians and scattered them
to the four winds.
"You may imagine that Buck. having
saved a garrison. and especially the
n nearest my heart, became very dear
to Inc. After hat l was caught out
alone on several occasions, had to run
for it. and Buck always left the In
dams behind. Then the civil war came
on, and Buck carried me down over
Kentucky and Tennessee, taking me
through Donelson and Shiloh. AT
Stone River l fell from his back shot
through the shoulder and would have
been left in hands of the enemy had
he not seized me by the coat with his
teeth and helped me back to our men.
"Poor Bucks enc came at Perryville.
In a retreat L had got separated from
my command and had run into a rebel
regiment. They called on me to sur
render, but turning Buck 1 lay fat on
his neck. and he carried me safely
away, receiving several bullets that
were intended for me. He might ave
recovered from these, but on jumping
a gully he came down with his fore leg
In a hole, and the leg snapped.
AZ suppose if we had been in garri-
son 1 might have been foolish enough
to strap him up and try to save him-
But in any event you can't keep a
horse still long enough to enable a bro
ken bone to knit, and Buck must be
put out of his misery. Everybody was
busy at the time, but seeing a drummer
boy pass me [ stopped him, handed
him my revolver and TOLD him to put a
ball into Bucks brain. I couldn't bear
to see him do 1t, SO / started away. I
heard a Whitney and, turning, saw
suck looking after me, saying with his
eyes more plainly than a man could
have aid in words, You rent going
to desert me after all I've done for you.
are your
II went back, and, seeing nat the
boys hand was trembling from the ex-
element of the fight hat was on. 1 took
the pistol from him and, sitting on b
ground, laid Bucks head in my lap. /
Rave him a hug, saying to him at b
same time:
Buck. it nearly kills mt to do it.
You've lone me more real service than
any living being. You've often saved
my life, and once you saved a life dear
er 10 me than my own. And now Tv