Los Angeles herald., 1910-12-25
Los Angeles Twenty Years Ago
BY HARRY c. CARR

California boys. They were games i'm
ported from the middle west and which
were, no doubt, very, very old and
messy green with tradition. Among
those games were "old sow and "pris-
oners base and run, sheep, run" and
Spaniola' evidently a corruption of
BspanoD, "nigger baby" and many
marble games
But our best games were military. At
the beginning of summer we would or
ganize our armies and they would last
sometimes until school took in" in the
fall.
With my hand on my heart. and
pledged to the truth, I shall have to
admit the armies were formed on the
Artemus Ward plan-mostly officers.
Nevertheless, we drilled with severe
regard for the niceties Of the old
Upton tactics.
In the neighborhood was n bent,
feeble old gardener who had been a sol
dler iut the German brigade" under
Franz Sigel. lie used to give us ad-
vice and good counsel until another
family moved into the neighborhood,
whose gardener had recently been mus
tered out as sergeant major Of the
Tenth negro) cavalry and we cruelty
deserted our old friend for the regular
At that time Los Angeles was the
Headquarters of the department of
Arizona. The headquarters were at
first located in an old college whose
fine grounds occupied the entire block
from Sixth to Seventh streets and from
Hill to Broadway Ghen Fort street..
Afterward the headquarters were more
prOsaically located in the BrysOn block,
The officers were very kind to US ana
used to take an interest in our little
armies and give us suggestions.
I remember that our particular
friends were Lieut.. Gen. Adna R. Chat
fee. then a major who lived in the hope
Of possibly attaining the rank of col
onel before retirement: Maj. Gen. H.
c. Corbin, then a lieutenant colonel
and Lieut.. Collins. l don't know what
had become Of the latter.
Our captain was usually q young
man who is now manufacturer ana
dealer in engines. one of our ser
geants is leading architect. I re
member that the first lieutenant Of one
Of our companies was Col. George
Nathan Black, now big real estate
broker and politician.
one Of our little companies interested
Gen. Chaffee so much that he person
ally took command and acted as its
CAPTAIN. | ina gine that this fact is
about the proudest boast of everybody
who was on the rolls of that company
Usually we had infantry companies
. DQI StfltllllltS We VI 7eliIiA1'A oIiiHNCN~ -
signal corps and our flags wig-wagged
from the high hills surrounding the
city. our crOwning achievement, | re-
member. was to establish a chain of
signal stations between the mountains
back of Hollywood to the top of the
Hotel Green, Pasadena.
once we had an artillery company
We took a big piece of timber down to
a planning mill and an ingenious work
man turned out a small wooden hoWit-
Zcr for us The boy sergeant who COM
manded it saw other howitzerS and
other artillery squads. He afterWard
became the most famous cOXswain in
the United states nayy-Ben Green of
the Oregon, whose gallantry in the
Philippines Won him a commission.
Sometimes we used to go on Ions
hikes" arrayed in the most wonder
full. alarming uniforms and armed to
the teeth with muskets made Of broom
handles and rudely fashioned stocks.
The level plains and prairie lands
over which we fought and marched
are now covered with gorgeous homes.
( Our favorite camping ground was
near where the famous log cabin
now stands on Adams street.
/ Another amusement that was popu-
! lar among young boys Of that day,
but which seems to have been for
gotten was playing town"
We used to stake out a townsite i'm
somebody's back yard, construct
streets. houses and municipal i'm