Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1906-01-11
Giving Him a
AhnVvJ By {. b.
SAAOV LEWIS
Copyright, 1905, by X. A. Whitehead

There were only thirty days between
his graduating at West Point and his
arrival at Fort COnChO, and he was
only boy of twcnty-one at that.
Things were at loose ends at the fort.
The colonel was away on leave with
three or four other officers there was
much sickness among the troops, and
the hundred iufantrymen able to do
duty were almost in state Of mutiny
owing to a general laXity of discipline
ana the fact that they had not been
paid off for four months. The arrival
of the boy lieutenant under the circum-
stances was hoOted at.
Roy Blissfcld had been assigned to
Company +, and he soon discovered
that his captain was paying more at
tention to whisky and poker than to
discipline and that the worst men in
the fort seemed to be members of his
company He was told to go in and
Straighten the men out, but his first
move showed him that he had his hands
full They were sullen. uncivil and dis
:
himself almost helpless. He should
have been Loyalty backed by the non
commissioned officers; but, aside from
the orderly sergeant, none gave him
open support. Indeed the ringeader
appeared to be the second sergeant,
and after few days it was realized
that until his influence was removed no
Improvement in the morale Of the com
pany need he looked for.
81 wouldn't fret over It," replied the
easy going captain when complaint was
made to him. we are at peace with
the Indians, the weather Is Internally
hot. and the men are short of ratiOnS
and pay. Let them take things easy
for awhile They'll be feeling better by
and by"
That was the Fort Concho way that
summer, but it was not what the young
officer had been taught at West Point.
The men knew that they had him at
disadvantage ana they made things as
unpleasant as they could. They were
sent to the guardhousc by the half
dozen. only to be released next morn
ing on their plea to the commander
that the officer had misunderstood
them. Things went along in Il bad way
for a month.
Thompson" said the officer one day
to the second sergeant, Il want you to
take walk with me down by the cor
raj l want to have little talk with
you"
"All right" was the reply, without a
salute or 'Sir."
When the two We're out of sight Of
the barracks and headquarters the lieu
tenant halted and began to remove his
outer garments. The sergeant watched
him for u couple of minutes and then
queried:
"Wcll, what is it?"
IF you wish to remove any Of your
clothing do it now. | have been told a
hundred times over that West Point
Scallops don't 90 here, and now I'm go
ing to find out the reason why, You
appear to be the leader, and it has be
come a question which Of us is going
10 run things"
rs it to be a scrapping match"
1T is"
But | shall be court martialed and
imprisoned for striking an officer"
! Not at all. | promise to make no
complaint against you, and l presume
half the company is hiding behind the
! stables over there and will be your
witnesses. Strip off,
Il shall best you. sir"
"Oh, you have got sir out at last,
have you? Perhaps you will continue
! to improve. If you best me there will
! be no complaint. Are you readyT
The thirty or forty members of Com
! pany + who saw that scrap from dis
| tance will talk about it all their lives.
| The sergeant was the taller and heav-
! ier, and he was a self taught boxer
! who thought he knew all the tricks.
| Encouraged by the lieutenant, he did
| his best but at the end of a quarter Of
an hour he was knocked out and had
| to be carried to his quarters. The first
| thing his comrades did was to swear
each other to secrecy. 1t had been
/ square fight and the best man had won.
| On his side the officer said nothing, and
no report was made to captain or com
mander.
Say" said the defeated champion
when he got on his feet again, the
boy is game and shall have a square
deal We want to quit making him
| trouble and give him a show"
! There was immediate Improvement in
the morale of Company L, and things
| moved more satisfactorily for the next
! fortnight. Then the wood choppers
went out under guard to get new
/ supply of fuel among the hills three
miles away. The guard was composed
Of ten men. and the boy from West
Point was In charge with Sergeant
! Thompson as second. There was peace
in the land, and when the wagons had
reached the hills every man laid aside
his musket and took up an ak.
The officer had received no instruc-
tionS. He had not been told that a
treaty or n truce with the red man was
only a farce and that a band Of hos
tiles might seek to Jump the outfit
any moment. He found a seat from
which he could overlook the work, and
for an hour all went well. Then there
was sudden alarm. A band of thirty
warriors crept up and opened fire, and
teamster and his four mules were
killed by the volley.
The attack came so suddenly that
the boy officer lost his head. He issued
commands and countermanded them
and put his men in just the wrong posi-
tion to make defense. 1t was the ser
geant who cut in on him and straight
ened things out. and after two men had
been wounIad r.. u,;le command was
well in haul "u7 lighting FOR its life.
The Indians r.,i a flank movement
The boy o.tcnr issued commands, but
he was wrong again. Had they been
obeyed not man would have saved
his -calp. The. "er" superseded by
orders from the sergeant. ana the fight