The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1916-11-16
Whitehead Meets BOYS
Taking a Texas March

AS the night progressed ''norther"
came. A "norther" has tendency like
a Dakota blizzard except that it is more
! impetuous. Within five minutes it
| changed from glorious summer night
to damp and cold one. The wind
| blew and the rain fell. Captain Evans
of Williston, hadn't seen so much wat
er since he swan the Missouri. The
little dog tents, each intended to shell.
ter two soldiers, dropped when their
aluminium pegs pulled out, and fell
upon the shivering inmates. Captain
Eckman, who has become the cham
pion mule skinner of the border, found
his couch very, very wet, and it is
probable that he pined for dear old
Grand Forks for several minutes. The
mules herded close and the horses did
the same, the wind swept the city and
the rain came down in torrents. That
Oliver boy from Lisbon had to pull his
feet in from out doors to keep from
getting splashed on. And through it
all one could hear Major Angus Fraz-
ier sleeping on and on. Getting his
kits wet is the only thing that can
awaken that Scotchman. Major
Wright, of Jamestown, was at first per-
picked and then nonplused. He decid-
ed that this was mighty poor hospital
ity toward a man who had bled for
15h miles while he rode toward a
town which he supposed was nice. At
O'Clock Col. Frame came up to the
hotel to see me about that storm and
found that I was, myself, tenting at
brigade headquarters in another pOr-
ton of the city. A little after dawn
we took up the unfinished business and
the sun came out and the day was
beautiful. But the dust had turned to
mud, and the weather still threatened.
The North Dakota Boys decided to
stay over one more day. And it was a
good day, too. Every hour or so Lieu.
tenant Hamilton would get a telegram
from North Dakota, and he would call
Colonel Frame and Major Henry aside
and there would be mutterings. Once
felt sure that l had heard a cuss
word, and then | realized who they
were and knew that l was mistaken,
that it must have been Captain Welch,
of Bismarck, or Captain Gray, of Jam,
estOWn. There were several telegrams
that day from North Dakota of which
l worried not until late in the evening
when l was advised that among other
things" the people of North Dakota,
the sovereign voters, had decided in
their wisdom that they would trade
Judge Fisk for Judge Robinson as
supreme judge. And the sun went be.
hind the clouds. Thus had watchful
waiting triumphed again, and the
Pfefferian period has dawned upon
North Dakota, following rapidly upon
the heels>of the black rust. Here were
more than thousand men seeking for
news from home 1000 miles away, and
Col. Frame faced his duty like a
dauntless hero and told them what had
happened. l would not care to say
here what Col. Frame said regarding
the results in another close race up
there. | have never used such lang
uage in a newspaper.
Captain Richie, of Valley City, was
fairly composed, though he was disap-
pointed. He took silver of mesqite
and cleaned the mud from his shoes
and insisted that "the Slope" was still
to be reckoned with. Captain Sprague,
of Grafton, was either too mad to
fight or to proud to speak about 1t.
And Captain Eckman merely remark
ed 'Pd like to see Steve Brynjolfson
now There was great deal of Ian
guage used about the North Dakota
election and when the news came that
Wilson had carried the state Virgin
ian asked Captain Anderson, Of Fargo,
what state he was from and the COM
pany commander replied: IF the
weather clears off we may get away in
the morning." 1t is probable that Cap
tain Anderson merely misunderstood,
but it was the most polite reply given
for half hour or more in all of that
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