The Washington herald., 1913-07-13


I've got.to." and rose. looking past him.
AZ I rose struck quick and hard with
my right Just to one side Of the point OF
his jaw. hitting with my left - ]
straigftened ont. and then again with my
right He fired the guns. but DO not
know whether this was merely convv'-
sfve action Of his hands or whether hs
was trying to shoot At me. When re
went down he struck the corner OF the
bar with his head. II was not care IN
which one could afford to take chances.
and II he had moved I was about r.
drop on his ribs with my knees: but he
was senseless I took away his guns. and
the other people In the room. who were
now loud In their denunciation OF airi.
hustled him out and put him In oned.
got dinner a. soon as possible. sittinG
In corner Of the dining-room away
from the windows, and then went up
stairs TO bed. where 1t was dark. 20 tnat
there would be no chance Of any one
shooting at me from the outside. How
ever. nothing happened. When my as
sailant came to, he went down to the
station and left on a freight
s.Being q Father" to People.
Az have said, most Of the men Of
my regiment were just such men as
those I knew In the ranch country: In
deed. some Of my ranch friends. were
in the regiment-Fred Herrig. the forest
ranger. for instance. In whose company
shot my biggest mountain ram. After
the regiment was dtsbanded the careers
of certain of the men were diversified oy
odd Incidents Our relations were OF the
friendliest. and, a. they explained, they
felt "as II was q father" to them.
The manifestations Of this feeling were
sometimes less attractive than the phrase
sounded. as II was chiefly used by the
few who were behaving like very bad
children indeed The great majority OF
the men when the regiment disbanded
took up the business Of their lives where
they had dropped 1t a few months pre-
vicusly: and these men merely tried to
help me or help one another, as the oc-
ccsion arose: no man ever had more
cause to be proud Of his regiment than
l had of mine, both in war and in peace.
But there was minority among them
Who in certain ways were unsuited for
a life Of peaceful regularity. although
often enough they had been frst-ciass
soldiers.
Il was from these men that letters
came with a stereotyped opening. which
always caused my heart to sink-"Dear
Colonel: l write you because I am in
The trouble might take almost
any form. One correspondent continued:
Il did not take the horse. but they say
/ did" Another complained that his
had put him In Jail for
In the case Of another the in
cident was more markworthy. / will cali
him Critic. He wrote me a letter be-
ginning: Dear Colonel: I write you
because I am in trouble. I have shot
n lady in the eye. But. colonel. ! was
not shooting at the lady. I was shoot
Ing at my wife," which he apparently
as a sufficient excuse as be-
tween men OF the world. ! answered
that drew the line at shooting at la
dies and did not hear any more Of the
Incident for several years.
Comrades.
Then, while I was President, a member
OF the regiment, MAI. Lieweliyn. who was
Federal District Attorney under me In
New Mexico. wrote me a letter filled,
as his letters usually were. with bits
Of interesting gossip about the comrades.
1t ran in part as follows: Since last
wrote you Comrade Ritchie has killed a
man In Colorado. I understand that the
was playing a poker game. and
the man sat into the game and used
such language that Comrade Richie had
to shoot Comrade Webb has killed two
men In Beaver. Arizona. Comrade Webb
10 In the Forest Service. and the killing
was In the line OF professional duty. j
was out at the penitentiary the other
day and saw Comrade Critic. who. you
may remember. was put there for shoot
Ing his sister-in-law tthis was the first
had had as to the identity
Of the lady who was shot in the eye)
Since he was in there Comrade Boyne has
run OF to old Mexico with, his (Gritto'O
wife and the people Of Grant County
think he ought to be let out" Evidently
the sporting instincts of the people Of
Grant County has been reused. and they
felt that. as Comrade Boyne had had a
fair start, the other comrade should be
let out In order to see what would hap
pen.
The men Of the regiment always en-
thusia stically helped me when I was
running for ONCE. On one occasion