Albuquerque morning journal., 1906-09-09
HOW "BUCKY" O'NEILL
GOT HIS NAME


Rough Rider: Judge BERNARD S. Ro-
dey writes from Porto Rico a most in
teresting story Of the way "Bucky'
/ acquired his sobriquet Writes the
apostle Of statehood:
Il am one of perhaps not more than
three or four persons, who remember
how the famous Arizona rough rider
got his sporty sObriquet of "Rucky'
ONeills II occurred In this way, at
was in the memorable year Of 1881, at
Albuquerque. New Mexico. that hur-
rah year, when the newly discovered
southwest was at its widest and wool
lest. William O. O'Neill and myself
were hardly more than boys at the
time. He was court stenographer If
the second judicial district of the ter
ritory, and l was private secretary for
the general manager of the great
trunk line of railroad then being con-
structed west to California. Being the
only stenOgraphers in the place, and
congenial we naturally chummed ii Il
good deal. Karl A. Snyder, now i
practicing lawyer at Roswell. n. NJ
was then clerk of the court at Albu-
querque under Judge Parks. Snyder
was then and still is one of the staid-
est and most religious lawyers you
ever saw, but a fine fellow with all, al
though as O'Neill put it; he wouldn't
sleep in room with a pin cushion,
because the needles have eyesl Now
O'Neill was never a recluse, and while
not immoral in any gross sense, would
never have been a success as a monk,
and as gambling surrounded every
body and everything there in those
days like the cannon at Ralaklava ne
naturally bucked about everything IN
the shape of a game Of chance that
his leisure, his luck or his salary per-
mitted. This caused him to be late at
court few mornings and as he never
made any secret of his doings he Often
told Snyder of his good or i'll luck the
previous night. Snyder once in a white
took him to task about his devotion
to the goddess of chance but it did
not appear to have any effect. AT last
the clerk got to calling him "Bucky'
and asking him each morning We'll,
Bucky,' what sort of a layout Were
you up against last night? One morn
ing when he was more than usually
late and a case was called requiring
the services of the stenographer, the
clerk rushed into the sheriff's office
and told that official to send tJr
"Bucky" O'Neill quick, as he was
needed. The sheriff sent deputy out
to make inquiry for 'Bucky," and IS
was the custom i'm the west in those
days nicknames stuck, and so this one
stuck, and stuck hard 1t followed
him to Arizona where he shortly went;
1t followed him through all the years
and towns and mountain ranges Of
that great territory, and finally it fol-
lowed him into the Spanish American
war; and into the trench where he m t
Ia &c 1,
risking his life for star. Just before
he left for Arizona he came to me ona
evening and told me of his intention,
and told me to go to the judge and get
his job, that it would give me an op-
portunity to finish my reading for ad- |
mission to the bar, etc. ! did, and got |
the job. We then and there pledged |
eternal friendship to each other !
agreed to keep track of each other |
and so on. Time passed on. O'Neill |,
became successfully ranchman, miner, |
sheriff, etc, and ran for congress.
practiced law, broke into the legisla-
ture and into congress, but eacn |
watched the others fortune with the |
interest Of a brother. O'Neill's history |
is now interviewer with that of the |
nation; his name is in the hall of
fame. Peace to his heroic ashes |
When the Spanish war broke out
there were two men i'm the nation who I
could no more help going to it than |
the lOadstOne can help turning toward
the north they were Theodore Roose-
welt and William o. O'Neill. They !
both went. When O'Neill passed my
home town on his way east to the war
with his company, he wired me to
come to the depot to see him. II
course l went. He enthused me in51 |
laying aside everything and making |
up my mind to raise a company and |
go along. | went right to the tele-
graph office and wired our governor |
for commission / got an immediate |
answer that the last one had been CIV /
en- fifteen minutes before to Major |
Llewellyn. Then tried Roosevelt, hut /
he had reached the limit also, and |
couldn't get to GO" That was and !
is the greatest regret of my life. Let !
me say this, If O'Neill had lived ! am
sure he would have divided the honOrs !
of war with the president. He had /.
In him to do it. But ii was not to be. |
the fate. the foreordnation, the pow |
err, or whatever it is, that had Theo- |
dore Roosevelt born when he was, go |
to college to ranching and to writing !
as he did, that endowed him with the |
brain he has, that sent him to war, ,
made him governor of New York, vice !
president and president, that willed 1t !
that Mckinley and Hanna should step |
aside as they did, willed it otherwise. i
O'Neill, the generous, the chivalrous. !
aye the brave, sleeps where southern |
vines are dressed and Roosevelt be-
came what he was made to be, the |
greatest man of his time "