The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1905-06-08
THE PASSING
OF UCK
fOriginai.1

contest he felt remorse at killing an
enemy.
NO" he replied. but 1 once fred a
death shot on the field of battle that
cost me a bitter pang."
Tell me about it"
81 began my military career on what
was then frontier ground. the plains,'
which was covered with Indians. and.
since | occasionally had to take to my
heels to say my scalp. l made a spe-
cial effort to secure a fast. horse. |
happened to find u thoroughbred among
the horses in the quartermaster's hands,
made a requisition for him and finally
bought him. How he got In with the
common herd | never knew. He was
1eet as the wiud 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 hin Buck.
IF ever man loved horse or horse
loved man | loved BucA. and Buck
loved me. | had owned him u year
before | realized his speed and endur
ance as well as his intelligence. One
morning u messenger rode from Fort
c., his horse falling dead as soon as
he cache us. to say that the Indians
had surrounded the post and would un
doubtedly take it before unset. My
aancee. the daughter of the comman-
dant of Fort c., was there. and you
can imagine the condition of my feel
ings. knowing the barbarity of the In
dians. who would murder every q
woman and child they captured. We
had no force to send. but ut Fort L..
fifty miles TO the north of us and some
'hirty miles from G. We're four CON-
panies of the til cavalry.
Il begged the colonel TO send me TO l..
with orders for the conmandant to
gallop to the relief Of G.. He a%ssenteI.
and, mounting Buck l made the run.
1 was beside myself with terror at the
probable fate of my love. and | begged
Buck to do his best for me. Do yOu
know, that horse understood me as we'll
as if he had learned English. He knew
lie had A long run, and in the beginning
xef,t himseIf we'll together. as if hus
banding his strength. but 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, and in twenty minutes more o
men were riding to the relief of c..
When they arrived the garrison was
about to surrender. but our men dash
ID in on the indians aud scattered them
to the four winds.
You may imagine that Buck. having
saved IL garrison. and especially the
me nearest my heart, became very dear
70 me. After that | was caught out
lIone on several OCCASIONS. had to run
%: it. and Buck always left the In
1 iianS behind. hen the civil war came
IN. and Buck carried me down over
Kentucky and Tennessee. taking me
through D0neIson and Shiloh. AT
Stone River | fell from his back shot
through the shoulder and would have
been left in hands of the enemy had
he not seized me ly the coat with his
teeth and helped me back to our men.
Poor Bucks emo came aC Perryvil!e.
IN n retreat l had got separated from
nv command and had run into d rebel
regiment. They called on me to sur
-ender. but turning Buck | lay fiat on
ais neck. and he carried me safely
away. receiving several bullets that
we're intended for me. He might have
recovered from these. but on jumping
/ gully he came down with his fore leg
In a hole. and the leg snapped.
II suppose if we had been in garri-
son | 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 Il
boy pass me [ stopped him. handed
him my revolver and told him to put a
ball into Buck s brain. | couidnt bear
to see him do it. SO | started away. l
heard a Whitney n turning. saw
Buck looking after me. saying with his
eyes more plainly than a man could
have said in words You aren't going
to desert me after all I've done for you.
are your
II went back. and, seeing that the
boys hand was trembling from the ex
citenent of the fight that was on. | took
the pistol from him and. sitting on the
| ground. laid Bucks head IN my lap. ]
gave him a hug. saying to him at the
same time:
'Ruck. 1t nearly kills me to do it.
You've done me more real service than
any living being. You've often saved
my life. ana once you saved a life dear
sr 10 me than my own. And now I've
got to rend-r you a last service. I've
got 20 put you out of your misery
II have always believed the horse un-
derstood me-. He laid his head down OIL
my lap AMI waited. | put the muZZie
Of the pistol against his forehead. and
he never WINGED though he knew as
much abopt a pistol as I did. Anxious
TO have it over. both for his sake and
mine. I pnl.ed The trigger. and Buck