Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1906-12-08
A WEST POINT STORY
ODD INCIDENT THAT MADE GENERAL
BUELL. BREAK A RECORD.


General Wno Never Laughed Roar
Ia Spite OF Ills Grimness.
General Blcll, whose timely arriga!
ut Shiloh some military critics hol3.
saved General Grant from defeat, was
known il the Old army rs ''the mar
who can't laugh" General Buell. was
no. grave merely; he was grim. Yet
two yearling cadets at West Point
made General Buell. break q record
1t was hot Oh the plateau above the
waters of the Hudson hotter than the
cheek of a feldpiece that has been in
action, SO hot that the leaves on the
elm tree shri3eled ana the feet Of the
pacing sentries burned from contact
with the only paved path on the gov
eminent reservation.
The plebes had reported and were
quartered in two divisions of barracks,
the upper class men having been turn
ed out to share quarters with their
comrades in the other divisions.
The June examinations were on.
The board of visitors, of which Gen
eral Buell. was a member. had paid its
perfunctory visits to mess hall, to AGA
denic building and to barracks. 1t
was 10 O'Clock in the morning. Two
cadets had been thrown by fate and
| by the arrival of the plebes into the
same room of the fifth division of bar
racks The thermometer in the shade
of the guardhouse registered 80 de-
! greSs. In the room in which the two
cadets We're quartered doubtless it
stood 10 degrees higher.
There had been one m0ruing inspec-
ton of quarters by an army officer and
the two yearlings, gasping for breath
in room into which the sun beat with
/ no regard for cadet feelings, had every
reason to believe that there would be
| no further inspections that morning.
| They had stood the ordeal of the exam
| lnging board at 8 O'clock, and. with no
| studies III hand, they thought they We're
safe until the first call for dinner
BY the law of the academy every
| cadet in quarters was to be in full dress
| uniform until II O'Clock. He was not
| allowed to smoke His bedding was to
be neatly piled at the head of his bunk.
| cadets person were to be properly or
| dered and properly arrayed for inspec-
! ton.
ITS hot" said the cadet who was to
become an artillery officer
ITS hotter than that" said his COM
| rade
Lets strip" said the one.
Dome said the other
| And forthwith they stripped. Then
the mattresses We're pulled from the
| hunks and thrown under the window,
| through which occasionally came a
whiff of breeze, grateful though heat
laden.
I'D like to smoke" said the future
| artilleryman rs he threw himself ON
one Of The mattresses
I'm going to smoke" said his com
radp
And instanter pipes were lighted, and
the room began filing with fragrant
| blue fog
There was a cIink of a sword heard
in the hallway. It's sound brought con
| srernation An inspection was on. Be
| fore the two yearlings had time to
| think there was Il rap, and the door
! was thrown open, and in came. not the
| ordinary second lieutenant inspecting
| officer but Lieutenant Colonel Henry
| NJ. Lazelle, commandment of cadets and
| Major General Don Carlos Buell. Unit
| ed States army.
Discipline strikes in. The two cul-
plIt cadets sprang to attention in
,,rrSS,1
naturally and the little fingers where
| the seams of the trousers would have
| been if they'd had any trousers on.
The future artilleryman was clothed
| In one sock, and in this attire he was
| one sock the better of his cOmrade.
| They stood there rigid. The position
| of Il soldier was never better main
| tanned COmmandant Lazelle turned
purple with rage at this graceless
breach of discipline actually paraded
before a major general of the United
States army and member of the
board of visitors.
The cadet who one day was to com
mand battery had dropped his pipe
The hot bowl touched his great toe
and the burning was too much for
even a soldiers stolidity, and he emit
| ted very boylike "Ouch"'
General Don Carlos Buell. took in the
spectacle and all the glorious humor
of the situation His grimness was
| not proof against such a sight as this.
He leaned back against table and
roared, and not even the wrath in the
commandments face could check his
roaring.
Come general" said the comman-
dant; ''let US go l shall report these
young men for three fragrant viola
tions of the rules of the academy"