The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-07-26

] ana an lOGE OF TWO 10 cNttl1 D0Apl 2
/ time to don pea jackets and railroad
/ trousers, for one Of the social functions
[ in the hospital bic city Of Natchez. The
/ gentlemen fell To spinning yarns, as
! those of their profession often 90.
/ One of the three newspaper CORE
{ sp0ndents, making the famous trip on
/ the great vessel remarked about a
/ New Orleans reporters love for dogs
and cats, and the brief reference served
/ to move Father ". H. l. Reaney, ship
chaplain, to relate a rather stirring tale
! he had heard while the Mississippi was
/ lying mOOred at the wharf above Jack
1 son avenue i'm this city.
Father Reaney is one of the most pop
/ ular men in the service. and as chaplain
/ he has accomplished so much good that
/ he is considered a valuable acquisition
/ to any ship. He is beloved by officers
as well as men, irrespective Of creed,
/ and aside from his splendid Qualifica-
/ tons as a priest, he has a peculiar
/ power as a story teller and fund OF
! wit that seems inexhaustible.
/ Speaking of dogs reminds me of a
| story I heard while we were i'm New
! Orleans last week Father Reaney be-
/ gan, signalling to Monday, one of the
| white-coated Senegambian walters, to
/ bring on some fresh cigars. land the
/ story / thought a most unusual one, as
I il shows how very near man love
/ for his faithful dog came to giving pos
I sibly another result 70 the famous hght
/ on Chalmette plain. where Jackson ana
| the Americans beat the British under
/ Pakenham. The story has TO do with
one of your famous French families. the
! Where's. and il has a touch of pathos
I to il that all lovers Of animals VIII
/ readily appreciate
! AS the story goes. the Where planta-
/ ton house stood few miles below the
/ field where the battle was to take place,
and when the British started their
march ON the city they soon reached the
plantation and surrounded it,
I General Jackson, up in New Orleans
/ knew nothing of the red coats approach.
! It is true he was making mis- prepare
| tons to meet the enemy, but just
! where the Britishers were ne was in
doubt. his scouts not yet having come
| upon them. The general was having
trouble getting his raw recruits into
l shape to meet the soldiers who had par
/ ticipated in the defeat of Napoleon S
| best mdrshals in the peninsula, and 1
| dare say that a man of less natural
courage and military genius would have
wanted to give the whole task up as a
bad job and retreat before the great
army that was known to be menacing
the city.
Everything was i'm a sort of chaotic
state the people were terror stricken,
as the threat Of the English to sack and
pillage was talked of in all quarters.
Jackson had his tried and trusted Ten.
nesseeans and Kentuckians-.0ng rifles
the Indians used to call them-with him,
and rallying to his banner came the
brave Baratarians, under LATTE, the
intrepid CreOles; in fact, all the able
[ bodied men Of the city and surrounding
country. but at the very best he could
! hardly muster more than five or six
/ thousand men. and the force. the better
part of il raw recruits. was expected to
oppose an army twice its number, made
up largely of seasoned soldiers who
had helped in the downfall Of SOult
Massena and other of NapoleOns best
marshals, and participating in such dar-
/ ing feats as the storming of Ciudad
Rodrigo and the taking Of Badajoz.
I'VE Americans are proud of Andrew
Jackson, and indeed we should be, for,
as history tells us. Old Hickory made
the best of everything, worked miracles
with his soldiers and had his uncertain
force in fairly good shape to repel the
invaders. Our troops were making eX-
tensive preparations to meet the enemy,
drilling every day, digging trenches all
about the city and working as only sol
diers work I'm the time Of war, but
meanwhile the British were advancing,
hoping to take Jackson by surprise and
capture New Orleans without much of
a struggle.
When the Villere plantation was
reached by the vanguard Of the English
the slaves in terror fled from the fields
and rushed screaming toward the great
house where the family lived. The
vanguard was composed Of light horse
men and dragons, and the troopers gal
loped after the fugitives, intending to
surround the place and prevent any one
getting away to the city to warn Gen
eral jackson.
They succeeded in throwing a close
circle around the house and combining
the fugitive negroes in. the barns and
outhouses and thought that they had
accomplished their work. But in the
house was young Villere. son of the
family. who had been making his prep
arations to go to the city and join
Jackson in the defense of the flag. and
the man at once realized that the Amer
leans must be notified of the British
approach. or the intended surprise Of
the enemy might be effected.
X = =
'VfIIere saw the troopers all about the
place, and running to the other side OF
the room and peering from the window
facing down the river, ne QlSCeTned in
the distance on the long, straight road,
the solid lines of marching columns. II
was the approach of Pakenhams entire
army. and Where determined upon
desperate venture. He would rush
through the lines gain the thick
swamps which lay close to the rear of
the house. make his way over the mo-
rass. and quagmire to the city and warn
the general.
He heard the tramp Of heavy boot
ed feet and the jingling of spurs on the
front VeTanda.. A Tesounding knock
shook the thin panels of the front door,
and a hOarse voice cried, open in the
name of King Georger While a fright
ened nanny shunled down the hall to
obey the imperative order, Villere
rushed TO the hack door and threw it
open. He slipped quietly out on the
back porch. closing the door behind him,
and. springing into the yard, lodged be-
hind a pile Of wood just In time to es-
cape a rain of bullets from the short
carbines Of a dozen Of the horse who
had seen his wild dash. The cavalry
men zalloped furiouslv toward Where's
place of COnCealment. but the young fell
low. running in a crOuching position
behind the friendly barTicade, reached
a point only a few yards from the
swamps which Tesembled a submerged
f0re-t q e q rae11ff of the late winter