The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-02-24
LAST DAYS OF "BUCKSKIN JOE
VIII Irwin in Golfers weekly.

Will Irwin in Golfers Weekly
SAW him first in the summer of
1902 He was then df am to believe
the war department records) rising 95
years old.
The veterans of the Old Soldiers
Home at Hountville, Cal, had just fin
ished the stiff and pathetic ceremonial
Of daily guard mount. Among them,
As they tottefed away to their quarters,
my eye caught the one who was differ
ent. At a distance his gait and carriage
marked him. Little, stiff, and old
though he was, he walked with curl
Gus freedom of the hips. His body
sloped forward with each step at an angle
wholly unmilitary, and he planted his
feet parallel with the line of his course.
AS he came nearer the blurred outlines
under his SLOUGH hat grew to an extra
ordinary face.
The wonder of 1t was not SO much a
certain aquiline nobility in the mold
spite of his creases and wrinkles-as
the contrast between mis- leathery skin
gray-blue, they showed no plurs across
the iris, no tinge in the eyeballs. Gray
agates in globes of porcelain, they had all
ways the appearance of looking far away.
Even as he approached, saluted the
eommandant, and pursed his lips into a
familiar smile, they seemed to be observ-
ing something in the distances beyond
"A plainsman or a trapper If ever I saw
one" / said.
Right the first time,' answered the
commandant, land the Oldest living,
guess. That's Buckskin Joe O'Donnell.
Kit Carson's chief scout in California. Oh
Joe,"- he called.
The old man turned on the word, and
came nearer. His voice broke and
cracked as he spoke.
'Mornin' colonel. Wha's Old Bess?"
"IIis gun" whispered the colonel. HE
lost his gun before they brought him
here 1t was as though a ghost had
risen before us-a ghost of the old west.
For 1t is dead dialect that he spoke;
they say thar" and "whar" and "ba'ar"
no longer in all the length and breadth
of the western country. Here was a
man speaking that dialect and. without
affection. giving a pet name to his
gun!
Buckskin Joe had caught the whisper.
VI want Old Bess!" he said with kind
of defiance They took away Old Bess
No more hunting for Joe O'Donnell and
thre squa'ars a day; I want Bess"
The commandant hailed q passing vet
eran and borrowed Springfield rifle.
Let's see how you shott, Joe," he said,
A change came over the old man; his
face set itself in stern lines, his back
stiffened. He brought the implement OF
his craft to shoulder, and held 1t, steady
as a rock. on a distant horse. His trig-
ger hand was nigh, his trigger finger had
the long, sensitive reach of the expert
shot, and neither you nor could keep a
muzzle so steady.
| Suddenly he grounded the butt. 1T
amt like Bess," he grumbled. mo new
| tangled guns as good as Old Bess" And
he was gone toward his quarters.
| "They found him on q ferry of the
San Joaquin" said the commandment. He
was feeble and little touched. and peo-
pie vera afraid he'd drown. The sheriff
found his Mexican War papers and ship
Led him I'D to us. His hair was on his
shoulders-I bet 1t hadn't been cut for
40 years-and such a time as we had
shearing himl We thought he hadn't
long to live, but after we fed him up he
Frightened y lot. His mind wanders some,
though I've noticed that when he talks to
Charlie he talks pretty straight
who's Charlie?" I asked.
| The commandment smiled.
we've some pretty queer stories WIZ
here This is the queerest, I suppose
Buckskin Joe gets his one drink OF
whisky day--doctor's orders-S O'Clock
at the canteen He's himself for while
after that, and talks straight. You'd
better ask Joe about Charlie and-every-
thing"
I found BuckGkin Joa In the canteen al
g.: we sat and talked while he slipped his
his glass of whisky, while his mental
faculties gathered themselves, The story
came out at first In fragments, in excla-
nations broken by Spanish words. by
phrases from forgotten Indian tongues
But whcns guided him In the right IL
rection,~ he talked WILDLY, consecutively
lf46 spoke. too, In the fashion Of the YER,
cid impersonally, az about some one else