The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1918-04-16
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] looked up and the dugout WIS
damned. An. artillery captain and two
officers had also entered and stayed
for the finish. Wilson spae out an
enormous quid Of tobacco, looked up,
saw the captain, and got a. red az q
c~arnation. The captain smiled and
left. Wilson whispered to me:
'Blime me, Yank, I see where I click
for crucif1ion. That captain is the
same one that chucked Us Goldfakes
in his dugout and here I have been
'chucklng me weight. about In his
hearing"
Wilson never clicked his crucih1don.
Quite a contrast to Wilson was an
other character in our brigade named
Scott; we called him "Old Scotty" OH
account of his age. he was ffty.seven.
although looking forty. "Old Scotty"
had been born in the Northwest and
had served in the Northwest Mounted
police. He was a typical eowpuncher
and Indian fighter and was a dead shot
with the rife, and took no pains to
disguise this fact from Us. He used to-
take care of his rife rs II It were q
baby. In his spare moments you could
always see him cleaning 1t or polish"
ing the stock. Woe bet1de the man
who by mistake happened to get hold
Of this rife; he soon found out his
error. Scott was as deaf as q mule,
and It was amusing at parade to watch
him In the manual Of arms, slyly
glancing out Of tho corner Of his eye
a4 the man next to him to see what
the ortler' was. How he passed the
doctor was a mystery to us; he must
have bluffed Ills way through, because
he certainly was independent. Beside
him the Fourth Of July looked like
Good Friday. he wore at the time a
large sombrero, had q Mexican stock
saddle over his shoulder. a lariat on
his arm, and a "forty-nve" hanging
from his hip. Dumping this parapher-
MALTA on the floor he went up to the
recruiting oflcer and shouted: I'm
from America, west Of the Rockies.
and want to Join your ID army.
I've got no use for a German and can
shoot some. At Scotland Yard they
turned me down; said I was deaf and
80 I am. I don't banker 30 ship in with
q - underwriting outfit, but the
cavalry's full, 80 I guess this regi-
ment,s better ithan none, 50 trot out
your papers and I'll Sign 'em." BE told
them he was forty and slipped by. I
was on recruiting service at the time
he applied for enlistment.
It was Old Scotty's great ambition
to be a sniper or "body snatcher," as
Mr.. Atkins calls It The day that he
was detailed as brigade sniper he cele-
,brated his appointment by blowing the
whole platoon to flags.
Being a Yank, Old Scotty took q hk-
ing to me and used to spin some great
yarns about the plains, aHd the whole
platoon would drink these In and ask
for more. Ananias was q rookie com
pared with him. .'''~ ga" r',
The ,ex~-plainsman and discipline
could not agree, but the officers all
liked him, even II he was hard to man
age, 80 when he was detailed as a
SHIPPER a sigh Of relief went up from
the. officers mess. . 49,. 1902.
'nO1d Seotty had thu freedom 6-the.
brigade. He used to. draw two or.
three days ratom and disappear with
his glass; range finder and rife, and'we
would see or hear no more of him
until suddenly he would reappear
with a couple Of noteheo added to
those already on the butt of his rifle.
Every time he got a German 1t meant
another notch. BE was proud Of these
inotches.; =:
= But after q few months Father
Rheumatism got him and he was sent
to Blighty; the air in the wake OF. his
stretcher was blue with curses. Old
iScotty surely could swear; some Of his
outbursts actually burned you.
! No doubt, at this writing, he IL
"~somewhere in Blighty" pussy footing
1t on a. bridge OR along the wall Of
some munition plant with the "a. T."
or Home Defense corps.