Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-07-19
THE SOLDIER LIFE STRENUOUS
Every Man For Himself In the coun-
tries TO the South.

Every Man For Himself In the Souh-
tries to the South.
Taking 1t all in all, believe that
II. 1 possessed any sort Of hankering
for the martial life, wouldn't do my
soldering either in Central or South
America" observed Milton Blumen-
berg. official reporter Of the senate,
who has spent number Of summers
in the Latin-American countries. 'Too
many peculiar things are liable to
happen to the Central or South Amer
lean buck soldier. 1t isn't in the least
necessary for him to face the enemy
in order to gain his free and sudden
passage over the big divide.
I'm not naming any countries, for
l have occasional little business trans
actions in quite a number Of them.
But while in one Of the main garrison
towns Of one Of the Latin-American
countries a couple Of summers ago I
heard from the American consul an
engaging story Of a little incident that
had happened there few days before
my arrival. One of this republics bi-
monthly revolutions was on at the
time, I should add.
"a recruit serving in one Of the
government regiments at the garrison
skinned his whole outfit at cards one
pay day. There was no knowledge on
the part Of the skinned ones that the
recruit hadn't been perfectly square
with his game but, nevertheless, he
was regarded as being whole lot too
monte-wise for a recruit, and, any
how, he had corralled all the money in
the layout, which was bad enough
without any crookedness.
Being a recruit, this young soldier
person didn't know enough to under
stand that, having got by with the
big cleanup Of his comrades silver, 1t
was his cue to disappear. So he stay
ed along.
1.-The better to thwart the plans of
the revolutionary army, the govern
ment troops were stationed on a plat
eau overlooking the town. There was
a lull In the hostilities while the insur-
gents were reorganizing themselves,
and so to keep the government SOL
diers busy and tuned up they pulled
off a sham battle.
1.-The recruit who had displayed all
Of the money-getting monte wisdom.
went down with the first rattle Of the
guns Of his company. I was told that
it took some six and several men to
pick up the punctured, not TO say
sieved, rookie up from the ground
and place him on a stretcher, the poor
cuss was so heavy with the lead that
had been poked into his system by his
brothers-in-arms. Every man in his
outfit had, apparently, handed him at
least one pellet.
Hearing this story led me to make
some inquiries. and I found out that
the soldiers of the Latin-American
armies like a whole number Of things
better than they do these sham bat
ties 1t is so easy, you see, for Jose,
who has bit Of grudge against Ra-
mon, to make a mistake, so to speak,
to slip a ball cartridge instead Of a
blank into his gun! I was told that
the soldiers down that way will do
lot Of things to get their names on the
hospital report or sick list when they
hear that a sham battle Is going to be
pulled off, especially those soldiers
who have good reason to apprehend
that they're scheduled to stand for
plugging from the rear. The mere
announcement of an approaching
sham battle starts an epidemic Of SCI
entific malingering in one Of the gar
risons. And when the desperate ones
can't make the sick list they jump
their outfits in squads, platoons and
battalions.
"Oh, yes, after the blanks are serv-
ed out for a sham battle the cartridge
boxes Of the soldiers are Of course
carefully inspected. There was a time
when disliked officers used to attend
to this inspecting part Of 1t in a per-
functory manner, but they get real
busy at 1t now, I understand. The
disliked officers grew exceedingly care
full in their inspections Of the car
fridge boxes when a whole lot Of them
became the victims Of mistakes on
the part Of their men. They not only
peeked into the cartridge boxes, but
they paved around in the clothing Of
each man to spring any thoughtlessly
hidden ball cartridges.
when they first began to do this
they made a lot Of hauls, and the fell
lows with the secreted bullets were In
continently stood up before the walls
with bandages before their eyes and
made sieves Of. Then the forgetful
men in the ranks learned wisdom.
They no longer tried to hide the ball
cartridges, meant for their officers or
enemies in the ranks, in their cloth
ing, but salted them away and COW
cred them up with the dirt of the field
on which the sham encounter was
booked to take place. They made
veritable lead mines Of these fields,
and each man remembered just where
he had planted his little lead cache.
Then, in the middle Of the sham ac-
ton, all they had to do was to give
the ground a kick where they had
made their plants, stoop and pick up
the ball cartridges, and then calmly
push their bosom friends or the hated
officers over the rim Of the next world.
"Of course the officers learned
about this one, too, and they met the
scheme by changing the location OF
the sham battle at the last moment.
I myself saw this done once. It was
really touching to observe the express
sions Of acute chagrin on the counte-
nances Of the little barefoot soldiers
when, after they had cached their
bullets all so handily in the field an
nounced as the scene Of the sham bat
tie, the word ran around that another
spot for the mock encounter had been
chosen. They looked as If mean
and underhand trick had been played
upon them.
"A military prisoner, too, in Latin
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