Omaha daily bee., 1909-10-16
STORY OF FlFES AND DRUMS
Russ that Saved New Mexico Post
Mensoed by NavajoS.
JIG MUSIC DID THE BUSINESS
shriIl Music of IN Fifer EHcites In
dian Curiosity and Thus They
Were Done For In =
short Time.

see they have been trying to Danish
drums from the French army and that to
prevent II dramatist has written a play
around drums, and the Parisians howl like
mad as a battery Of drummers thunder
across the stage. One critic questions
whether II Is applause or execration, and
says either would be uninteliigent and no
criterion, since the drums make too much
noise for anyone to hear himself think.
The Eleventh and Seventeenth infantries
were the last regiments in our service that
Retained the fifes and drums. 1t is op-
tional with the colonies to have bugles or
flies and drums. r.
I was in the midst OF a bugle and fife
and drum controversy as soon as 1 Joined.
Our post there in New Mexico was a two
company post. one company from a bugle
regiment. the other from a fife and drum
oatfit. ,sehyartz, a Pennsylvania OF Ger
man descent commanded the bugie com
pany, while McAndrews, a Pennsylvania
OF Scotch ssnuestry. had the solace Of fife
and drum The two captains mould get
rather testy debating the claims OF the two
Kinds Of music.
~ Schwartz for h BugIe.
Schwartz said a drum was not depend
able. When wet, not only was its sound
faint, but the sticks were liable to punch
through the soggyi head. A fife without a
drum was helpless. A bugle could be
played and heard in any weather and was
so small that a bugler could fight as we'll
as anyone, while a drummer couldn't do
much but carry his drum.
THE fife and drum are instruments OF
ssvagery," said Schwartz. THE only music
q fife is tit 10 play are the Wild Scotch and
Irish airs, and so It is that all but the
two English speaking armies have kicked
It out. II is in the blood of the British
stock to like that sort Of music"
IT wasn't long before Schwartz had a
great triumph. Morella, Mexican store
keeper, hired, the sbuglePs to play at his
place five afternoons. a week, the people
enjoyed It so. A bugle is so limited in its
Performance that this seemed strange.
The Unknown Quantity.
About this time an epidemic of runken-
ness began in our We couldn't
discover how the men got the liquor. The
guardhouse was full, and things were I'M
pleasant. A month went by and the MexI-
cans didn't get tired OF bugling, and the
soldiers kept on getting drunk. he bug
iers each had two bugles. You change the
key of a bugle by putting in q crook. One
day McAndrew said:
Schwartz, IL you put a c and q crook
on an F. bugle at the same time you'd get
about X, wouldn't your That represents
the unknown quality OF whiskey your
buglers have been bringing in. They al
ways carried both bugles, and when l
finally realized that they also always had
both crooks on that led to my discovering
this was a device to increase the capacity
OF the instrument as a receptacle for
whisky. Don't talk to me. Schwartx.
Flies and drums never debauch a com
mand."
The Navajos began cutting up and. we
went after them. McAndrew's company
and half Of schwarts's, with the result
that at The close OF a September day we
found ourselves cornered In the foothills
by 800 or coo Indians. Back Of us was a
range with whose geography we were UNI
acquainted. In that country you keep
ont of a district unless some one with you
knows where the widely separated springs
are. In front OF us, where the plain met
the hills, lay the Indians. It would be a
hard and dangerous task to push on