The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1906-1907, 1907-02-15
How He Became
Chief of Scouts

comparing notes az 10 tIe why anu
wherefore Of their advancement dur
Ing their term Of active service. All
gave accounts creditable to themselves
till It was the last mans turn, when he
told the following story:
| enlisted In the ranks with the rest
of the boys l knew in 1861. / didn't
seem to have been cut out for a sol
der. / vas not easily disciplined.
was always struggling, and drills we're
to me intolerable. The only time !
could be relied on to show up for duty
was when there was fighting, and then
1t was not because liked 1t, for didn't,
| but because dreaded the sneers Of my
comrades. Nobody ever thought for a
moment OF my even being made a non
COM, much less decorated with shout
der strap.
| Well. one day when we were cavort-
| Ing around In Virginia, marching in
one direction one day, another the next,
never still fOrty-eight consecutive hours,
not having had regular rations for some
| time, | got hungry and took the first
opportunity to drop out and do little
foraging. passed house beside the
road with a door leading down into a
| cellar. / tried 1t and found it un-
! locked. So | opened 1t and went in.
There was nothing in the place but a
/ girl one of the southern girls Of the
period with an olive complexion and
hair cut square around her neck. She
was washing something
what d'y' want?" she asked.
"Tm looking for something to eat"
/ replied. II saw the door opening on
to the road very convenient, so
thought I'd just step In and see what
l could find"
That's just the way that door has
looked to all the stragglers in the
army" she replied. There's not been
less than 5000 men come in here. At
first we had some provisions, but
they were soon eaten up by soldiers,
30 we didn't put any more here. We
don't keep the door locked because 1t
would be kicked open. Are there any
Of your men near byY
"Guess not" said.
"Well, IL there amt don't mind
showing you where we keep our eat
ables. Do yau see that wall? That
shuts of q part Of the cellar. Come
upstairs and I'll show you how to get
into It."
went up to the floor above, and the
girl opened a trapdoOr. l went down
and was looking about for a snack
when l heard the door shut and locked.
There was no getting out, 30 after
awhile | stretched myself on a table
and went to sleep. | was awakened
by a tramplng above. The cellar was
dark, so knew 1t was night. Hear
ing the clank of a saber, l listened to
discover II some of our men hadn't
come in. They were not Federals, but
Confederates of high rank. l could
hear every word they said. 1t was a
council OF war. When at last they set
tied ON u plan to concentrate and at
tack our forces, they went over each
detail again and again to be sure there
should he no mistake. While they
were doing II was fixing It all in
my memory so that If | got out in
time | could warn our general
In the morning the trap was opened
and couple of Confederate soldiers
took me In charge, The girl wasn't
there, but an old man and woman
seemed to know all about my having
been trapped. l doubt IL either Of them
knew that their living room and kitch-
en- had been used for conference. I'm
: not sure they knew | was there when
D the conference was held. The soldiers
! took me away. and on the road we met
T the girl who had trapped me. l asked
to speak to her aud told her l had a
q watch in one Of my pockets and would
. give Il to her II she would get me OF
i. Her eyes sparkled, and she agreed to
3 try. She sent one Of my guards to a
( house where she said they hau u stock
+ Of hams aud while he was gone man
c aged 10 get the other ones musket
!, which she playfully fred at u tree.
e ran up and took II from her. she only
n pretending to resist. The owner see
ing that had the advantage Of him
ran away. Then l gave the girl my
watch. as had promised, ana took tt
o the woods till ran across some Of oul
d men.
q While | was ON my way to the gen
,. aral with my Information | wondered
,. how would explain my being made /
o prisoner without giving away the fac
n that | had been struggling Then /
n occurred to me that my story WASH
r. very probable anyway, Why didn't tn,
4. old folks tell the generals that Yam
m kee soldier was imprisoned in the Gel
Y lary Why didn't the girl ASK the sol
diers 70 take my watch instead Ut get
ting me away from them In order I
set 1t? can't to this day explain tn
n irst. and the only explanation cal
" give OF the second Is that the glrl dldn'
want any other claimant for it.
D. | made up 4 cock aud bull stor