The Oskaloosa herald., 1914-04-02
THE FORTUNE TELLER
Incident of War Times At Head
quarters of Gen. Rice.

Galesburg Mail Is of interest here, as
Oskaloosa was the home of General
Samuel A. Rice. 1t is from the pen
of a comrade, Mr.. Henry Enrich and
runs: ...
"A few days ago received a letter
from one of my old comrades and in
il he said Henry, why don't you
write up and publish how you and ]
tested that fortune teller at Little
Rock?' have told the story at sew.
eral soldier gatherings in Knox coun.
ty, hut the story is still a good one
and will probably be enjoyed by many
readers Of the Evening Mail who have
not heard it. So here goes;
D.. ~ .~ A Soldiers Story.
In the winter of 1S63-64 the head.
quarters of Gen. S. A. Rice, command.
ing the First brigade, First division,
Seventh Army Corps were located in
an office building on the U. S. Arsenal
grounds at Little Rock, Ark, and my
self and three other comrades were
attached TO these headquarters as
orderlies. On one of the streets lead.
ing to the camp of the four regiments
and battery composing the brigade a
woman had erected a sign-"Fortunes
told here" She did a good business,
for many of the young men and even
a good number of the older ones We're
| anxious 10 know whether they would
get home again or III The girl they left
lbehind them in the North was still
ltrue, to the lover who had gone south
to battle for his country.
OF course we four were as anxious
as any OF the others about what was
likely to happen TO us in the uncer-
tain future and we wanted our for
tunes told but the woman charged
| fifty cents a fortune and as money
was very scarce article we wanted
some evidence that the fortune teller
could do what she claimed she could
do. One day, while, debating the
question, Reuben Webb, now living
at Detroit, suddenly said: Il have it
boys. That woman has nice little
pig in her back yard which weighs Is
or 80 pounds. Now tonight We will
go out and get that pig and put il in
bic barn with our horses and In the
morning Henry and i will go over to
the fortune teller's and il she can
tell who took the pig then OF course
she can tell fortunes"
They Get the Pig.
Well, we got the pig and the next
morning Webb and ! went over to see
! if she knew who took her pig. When
we arrived she was lamenting the
loss OF her pig and blamed the 18th
Iowa, who were camped. at the south
end of her lot, with taking her ami
NAL, while the real culprits were in
the room talking to her. We told her
that if she could tell who had taken
| the pig, and that she ought TO be able
TO il she could tell fortunes, the
news would go to all the. regiments
and she would make big money. But
! of course, she could not do so and
we left her in her sorrow. Getting
back to our quarters we told the other
! boys the result OF our visit and then
we held a counsel OF war as TO what
TO do with the pig. The evidence was
conclusive that the fortune teller was
fraud and that she had fooled many
of our comrades out OF their money
and that consequently the pig was
cOntraband OF war and should pay
the penalty. So that night we butch
! cred il and to ease our conscience
little we gave half of him TO the gen
erals mess. After the dinner at watch
the pig was served General Rice
asked his orderly where he had got
ten that splendid pork roast for din
ner George replied that the Orderlies
! had contributed it, The orderlies,
said the general, ,wnere did they get
such delicious pig?' Don't know,
said George. ~.
A Fine Pig.
Later on in the evening the four OF
us were summoned TO the generals
office. where we found the general
and his four aids. Boys said the
general that was a fine pig you con-
! tributed to our dinner. II was the
best roast pork ! ever ate before, but
where did you get it?' Well, we were
iup against it and looked at Webb,
silently asking him what We should
| do. He nodded and | concluded that
honesty was the best policy and re-
lated all of the incidents leading up
to the death of the pig. General Rice
and his aids could appreciate Joke
and they laughed until the tears
came. When they had finished laugh
ing, General Rice remarked: Well,
boys, that is a good one, the best
ever heard, and want to tell you
that | prefer to keep you boys with
me, for we expect to go on a cam
paign soon and probably VIII need
such good foragers as you are to
keep us in good things to eat And
with that and a smile that again won
our hearts we were dismisses to our
quarters. The next day. however. |
saw George coming away from the
fortune teller's and | have always be
lieved that General Rice sent the
woman fair price for her pig"
EaaI A EariH