Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1909-09-02

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gagement that day, with no other
loss of life. And upon the arrival
OF the remains | had at once ordered
the officer in command to make his re-
port.
with the death of the lieutenant
the command devolved upon his first
sergeant, a man we'll advanced In
years, who worshiped the very ground
upon which his lieutenant walked. 1t
seemed only natural, then, when de-
scribing the death of his favorite Off
Ger, before the members of my staff,
| that at times his voice would fail him,
| and tears dim his eyes.
1T was just the day after we left
he said, standing, attentive, that we
came upon their deserted camp. From
signs we knew that they did not have
much Of the start of us, and by noon
! we had located them. They had
| taken position among lot Of rocks,
and evidently intended to fight. The
| lieutenant called the second sergeant
and myself aside, and said The only
way TO get those rascals out is TO
charge them. | shall lead. Follow me.
Continue the pursuit until every one
is taken-alive, if possible!" We
wheeled into line, but before we were
fairly ready, he gave the word, and,
| putting the spurs into his horse,
bounded away far in the lead We
went after him as fast as possible, but
he distanced us, and was far in adj
vance when they opened fire. They
| fired only about six shots in all, and
| saw him discharge his revolver twice
in return, and then fall from the sad
| die. When we reached him he was
dead, shot through the heart. / stopped
TO make the examination, while the
boys continued the pursuit, as ordered
| They captured four, wounding one
| When the men returned | sent pri-
vate to report the engagement and re-
quest the ambulance
That was a gloomy afternoon, and
as | sat alone in my office looking
over the official report written by my
clerk and handed me for correction
and signature, | must acknowledge
that ! dwelt upon the death of my Of
| ficer with feelings of the deepest sor-
row. | forgot his failings of the past
year, and thought only of the bright
young fellow whose life had promised
so much 1t is no wonder that | wrote
after the closing lines of the report,
| An officer who was an honor to the
service and died a soldiers death In
! the performance of his duty
Just as | took up my pen prepare
tory to signing the document, my or
derby entered and announced that
Sergt. Hooper desired to see me.
Hooper was the sergeant who had
made the report of the lieutenant's
death, and thinking that he might have
some favor TO ask, | ordered that he
be shown in. He appeared, carrying
under his arm a bundle wrapped in an
old newspaper.
81 know l should report to the Off
have to say is something about the
lieutenant's death, and think | should
tell it to you alone
Something you have omitted from
your report | asked, and my voice
must have sounded rather stern. For
grave offense.
Eyes, sir. But what did not relate
before your staff intended to tell
you and the same tremor was notice
able in his voice as when he reported
the death. The facts of the fight are
! ;,,et I
over the lieutenant he was dead.
took off his coat, and when the boys
returned we wrapped the standard
about him, and went into camp to
await the ambulance. The coat | have
here and he undid the string of the
bundle he carried under his arm. IT
is the only evidence | withheld from
my report
He unfolded the coat. and held ii
up without a word AS / took it from
him, turning it this way and that, to
get the light upon it, something fell
from the inner left-hand pocket to the
floor. Very reverently the sergeant
stopped and gathered up-what? Sim
ply a delicate gold rim few scraps of
DlOOu-Sldlneu NtlNtlr anu WHAT SetHltu
the fragments of the miniature por-
trait of a woman, painted upon porce-
lain Yet though shattered beyond
recognition / think that as we viewed
it silently, neither of us doubted whose
picture, worn to the last over the
young officers heart, had been de.
stroyed by the bullet that took his life
Replacing the remains of the por.
trait, | held up the coat so that could
see the hole through which the bullet
: had gone. The blood had long since
dried, leaving its stain, but that was
not all-the cloth was badly burned
The garment slipped from my
nerveless grasp as hundred thoughts
flashed through my mind, and Selling
Hooper by the shoulders | cried:
Your report! You said no one was
near him
al told the truth, sir he replied
and his head was bowed for the first
time.
: MY Cod l breathed, you don't
mean
There were tears in his eyes as he
! a..