Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-12-01

iirid scar running from his left ear
under his chin UP to his right eye.
Every time no spoke the edges OF the
scar seemed to grow white. His nose
was broken and he had huge. shaggy
eyebrows. His hand was resting on
the rail Of the ship 1t looked like a
ham. and inwardly 1 figured out what
would happen to me IL that ham-like
fist ever came In contact with the point
OF my jaw. As We passed him he
showered us with few complimentary
remarks. such rs "Of all the lousy
scum have seen. this bunch Of lub-
bers is the worst, and this is what they
give me to take thirteen hundred horses
over TO Bordeaux" Later on / found
tins individual was foreman Of the
horse gang.
We We're ordered att and sat on the
after hatch. The fellow on my right
was a huge, hluegumned negro. He
was continually scratching himself.
urconsciously eased away from him and
dumped into the fellow sitting on my
left. After a good look at him | eased
back again in the direction Of tho
negro. don't think that he had taken
a oath since escaping from the cradle
Right then my upperInost thought was
no" j could duck this trip 70 France
fhe general conversation among tho
morse gang was: when do we eat?"
Meets Second Foreman.
We must have sat there about twenty
minutes, when the second foreman came
aft. took nftecn gucssrs at his ma
,ionality, and at last came TO the con-
clusion that he was cross between a
chinaman and 4 Mexican. IIc was thin
about six feet tall, and wore a huge
sombrero. Ills skin was tanned the
color OF leather. Every time he smiled
| mad the impression that the next min
ute he would plant Il stiletto in my
back. His name VAS Pinero. His in
PRODUCTION to Us was very brief: Get
up off of that b!nnkety blank hatch and
line up against the rail" We did as
ordered. Then he commanded: "All the
nigEers line up alongside of the port
rail" guess lot OF them did not
know what he meant by the port rail-"
because they looked very much Devil
dercd. With an oath he snapped out:
You biankety blank idiots. The port
rail is that rail over there. Come on.
Move or I'll soon move you He looked
well able TO DO this, and the niggers
promptly shufied over to the place
designated. He quickly divided us into
squads of twelve men. then ordered:
"All OF YOU who are descrtcrs from the
army or who have seen service In the
cavalry step out In front" -Four Others
man he came TO he Informed: You're
q straw boss Do YOU know what a
straw boss is" This man m.eklv an
swered. NO. sir" With another oath.
tho second foreman said: "All right
you're not a straw boss: fall back"
got The cue INN .diatcly. My turn came
next.
do you know what straw boss is >"
said. sure"
He said. ".,ll right you're "A straw
boss"
had not the least Idea of what he
was talking about. but made UP my
mind that ii would not take me long
to find out. Then he passed down the
line, Pick ING out straw bosses. / asked
one OF the men in my gang what were
the duties Of straw boss. lie had
been over with horses before and told
me that a straw boss meant to he in
charge of the gang 10 feed the horses
and 10 draw and keep careful check
of the straw, hay. oats and bran. Hav-
ing served in the cavalry, this job, as ]
figured. would be regular pie for me.
Assign. Straw Bo,ses.
In about an hour and half's time
Pinero had selected his straw bosses
and divided the men into gangs, and as
signed us to our quarters on the ship
These quarters were between decks and
very much crowded; the stencil was
awful Iron hunks. three deep. with
filthy and lousy mattresses on them.
were set into tl.e sides Of Tie shin The
atmosphere in that dirty hole turned
my stomach and I was longing for the
fresh air Of the deck. y dirty hum.
with tobacco juice running out OF the
corner of his mouth. turned to me and
asked: "Do the sraybachs bother YOU
much matcy?' a anuider ran through
me as / answered: Not much" But 1
figured out that as soon as | got them.
which knew in very short time
would occur. they certainly would
bother me. but l had to keep a stiff up
per lip if wanted to retain their re-
spect and my authority as straw boss.
One old fellow in my gang was Il
trouble maker. He must have been
about forty years old and looked as
hard as nails. He was having AN argu-
mcnt with Il pasty-faced looking spcci-
men Of humanity, about tweuty-six
years old. To me this man appeared TO
be in the last stages of consumption. I
told the old fellow TO cut out his argu-
mcnt and leave the other fellow alone.
Upon hearing this no sIuirted a we'll
directed stream of tobacco Juice
through his front teeth, which landed
OH my shoe. l inwardly admired and
respected his accuracy. l saw my au-
thority waning and knew that l would
have TO answer this insult quickly.
took two or three quick stops and
swung on his jaw with my fist. His
head went mp against the iron bunk
with sickenng sound and he crum-
pied up and fell on the deck, the blood
pouring from the cut in his head 1
felt sick and faint, thinking that he
had been killed. but it would not do to
show these signs of weakness on my
part, so without even moving toward
him I ordered one of the men to look
him over and see If he was all right.
From that time on he was the most
faithful man I'm the section and greatly
respected me. The rest of the men
growled and mumbled. and I thought
| was in for q terrible beating. Lying
close at hand was an Iron spike about
eighteen inches long. GrasYing this,
turned to the rest, trying TO be as
tough as possibly could:
Becomes Rcnl Boss.
"If any Of the rest OF you buns think
they arc boss around here, start some
thing. and 1 will sink this into their
head" Although l was quailns under
meath. still I got away with It, and
from that time on ! was boss OF nv
section.