Evening star., 1915-10-01

in the piece and let it fall with a ring
on the breech. He treated the gun i
had in similar manner. only the ram
mer did not ring on the breech, but
stood out four inches, showing the
piece to be loaded. The officer brought
the gun to his shoulder. pulled the trig-
+ ger and the musket went off with a
noise that l heard for months.
Every boy in our neighborhood who
was imbued with martial spirit pos
sessed q frearm of some kind. Ny
first gun was a saw-off musket barrel
with homemade stock manufac-
tured by my brother. After several
days of continuous effort our gun was
finished. 1t was without lock and the
manner of firing was to hit a cap with
a tackhammer. Procuring powder and
ball we proceeded to the woods to try
our handiwork- The gun was loaded
which my brother took aim and di-
rected me to strike the cap with the
tackhammer when he said fire As
a human gunlock / failed in my first
gun went off. the barrel blew off the
stock and fell ten yards in our rear.
We spent some time trying to repair
the damage but without success. While
busily engaged in our work we were
interrupted by squad of soldiers ap-
preaching and hating near us. A non
com demanded why we jeopardized the
lives of soldiers by firing dangerous
weapons in the direction of their
camp. We explained that we were only
firing at a target and that the gun
was more dangerous to those who fired
it than it was to any one else. we
were informed that the bullet from our
piece" had cut limb from tree
near a tent. We were ordered to leave
the vicinity at once and never be
caught there again. The regiment was
Scott's Nine Hundred and as far as my
information goes that was the only
Rode Horses to Water.
1t was great sport to visit cavalry
camps and ride horses to water. Hos
tiers would lead strings of horses and
were always willing the boys should
ride The troops Of the 5th and I'd
cavalry were camped. at different
pariods, in eth street park. then To-
Gated where now is the baseball
grounds. The same old building that
now stands on the east side of Geor-
gia avenue, near the ball park, was
used in the Sos as a. hotel. The
tanned a dancing pavilion. and were
used every evening for picnics by clubs
from various parts of the city. sun
day was no exception to the sale OF
drinks and dancing. The soldier ele-
ment was very friendly to the young
citizen who gave picnics. Fights there
were occasionally but were either
among the soldiers exclusively or be-
tween the several factions represented
at the dance Once l saw two men of
a German regiment start for field for
the purpose of fighting duel with
swords. But friends intercepted and
they were induced to return and wash
out their enmity with beer
.tY1rr
Georgia avenue, were Halls woods, ex-
tending from halfway up the steep hill
beyond Boundary to the top OF the
elevation. At this point was low en-
bankment, now cut through by Fair
mont street, where troops occasionally
was thick and several kinds of berries
grew profusely. While picking black
berries there one day a playmate and
myself got the fright of our lives.
Busily engaged. we were totally oblivi-
Gus of the alarms Of war" and un-
aware that a battalion of yankees"
were preparing to fire into the en-
bankment referred to and that we were
directly in the line Of fire. The right
and left of the line of men extended
the fianks to fire at an angle and to
shoot over the ground. The first in
timation we received of the presence
of soldiers was a crash OF musk etry,
the hum of bullets and falling limbs
from trees. Exchanging frightened
glances, we stood undecided. ..--s,ss-sess
Sheltered Behind Tree.
Lets rum" said I.
run where" was the reply. Lets
get behind a tree"
We both ran for the same tree, for
getting there were other trees.
Lets lay down." whispered my COM
panion.
Down we lay and could not get close
enough to the ground.
Boy" said my chum, "lay close, and
when they fire again We'll run to the
top of the hill. SOS they'll see u.s.
We distinctly heard the preparatory
commands. followed by the word fire"
The roar of the guns and the rattle
of falling twigs this time impaired
feeling of relief. We hastily arose.
darted to the top of the hill. where we
faced a line of blue uniforms. Orders
to ''Skeedadle out Of that" were
promptly obeyed.
One morning. 1 think Saturday. my
playmate and I started for a day in
the camps. East of 7th street and
south of Boundary was a broad stretch
of level ground, known as the Level.
where all arms of the service would
battery of artillery was drilling.
Hearing the firing, we decided to wit
ness the drill. As we arrived in plain
sight of the field we were startled to
see smoke and fame shoot high in the
air. followed by terrific explosion.
caisson had exploded. killing and
wounding a number of men. Some time
later another accident occurred on this
same ground. An artilleryman was
ramming home a charge. when it be-
came ignited. blowing off both Of his
arms. / think these accidents happened
to the Rhode Island battery.
During the early period OF the war
the metropolitan police force made its
advent, superseding the old Auxiliary
Guard. The new cops were not. at