Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1918-12-20

a
lead horse by the halter up our run.
He was looking back at the horse, at
the same time Juggling and jerking on
the halter. You could see the white
in the horses eyes. and / knew right
away, from my experience with horses.
that this was bad one, or, as we
would term him in the cavalry, an
"outlaw." The drunk was cursing and
swearing and kicking up at the horses
head. The. foreman saw this and di-
rected his barrage at the offender.
'How in HI do you expect to lead
q horse while looking at him? Turn
your back to him, you lousy bum. You
are blocking the whole run. Turn
your back to him, / say. You can't
lead him that way. If I come down
! there to you, TIL soon show you how
to get him aboard"
The Bleary-eyed one became bewil-
dered and in his excitement lost his
footing on the slippery runway and fell
underneath the horse, at the same time
lOosening his hold on the halter chain.
The horse jerked his head loose, reared
up, turned around and made a break
for the deck. The man on the gangway
tried to scramble out of the way The
horse, in wheeling, let fly with both
heels and caught him below the right
ear with his near hind foot. With
piercing shrek the drunk clasped both
hands to his head, fell over backward
and rolled down to the foot of the gang
plank, and lay there in a crumpled
heap, the blood pouring from his nose,
mouth and the wound below his ear.
Upon hearing this shrek several of
the men leading their horses, in their
fright turned them loose, and there was
a mad stampede on the deck.
The pasty-faced horseman, whom /
had helped out little while before in
the argument about his bunk was
standing near the runway, holding on
to horse. He turned his horse loose
and rushed to the bloody mass, which
was twitching with cOnvulsiye shud-
ders. The foreman, on seeing this ac-
cident, snapped out long string of
curses, which almost froze my heart.
"What did I tell you? Didn't I tell
you not to look at him? I knew you
would get 1t, and damned good Job,
too; blocking that run with your fool
tricks"
Then he noticed the pasty-faced
horseman STOPPING over the bleeding
man.
Get i'm by the heels, you cross be-
tween a corpse and mummy, and drag
him out of the way. We've bloody we'll
got to get this ship loaded to catch
the tide"
The pale-faced man kept on with his
examination without paying any atten-
ton to the fOreman's instructions. The
foreman got blue in the face and bub-
bled over with rage.
"Do you hear what I tell you? Get
i'm out of the way This ship has got
to be loaded or Til go down there and
pound some obedience into YOU"
The man still paid no attention. The
foreman was speechless. In a few sec
onds the STOPPING man Strengthened UP,
and looking the foreman straight in
the eye, calmly replied: "He's dead"
This did not seem to Tease the fore
man in the least and he beloved out:
"How do you know he is dead" The
man answered simply: ''Tm DOCTOR"
Then the foreman once again explod-
ed ga doctor! Blawst my headlights,
a doctor! Well, if you're doctor,
what in hi are you doing on horse
ship? You ought to be rolling pills
for the highbrows."
The doctor never took his piercing
look from the eye of the foreman. The
foreman was now like an enraged bull.
Splitting all over himself, he clustered
out: "Well, if he's dead, there is no
doctor that can do him any good. A
couple o. you black skunks over there
addressing two negroes who were al
most blanched to a blush white and
who were trembling near by, get
ahold of him and drag i'm out of the
way" One of the negroes, with q
ieeering grin, replied: II shipped on
this here ship to handle bosses, and
] don't allow nohow that it's my work
to tote corpses around
Just then the second foreman rushed
over, gave the negro push out of the
way, and, grabbing the heels of the
dead man, pulled him away from the
run. I turned away, sickened with
disgust. The foreman then took an
empty oat sack and spread it over the
bloody head.
Just then the changing bell of an am
bulance was heard and a white-clothed
doctor. followed by two men with
pushed their way through
the crowd of horses and horsemen.
They were accompanied by police
man. The body was put into the am
bulance and taken away, while the po-
lice-officer went on board the ship.
The pasty-faced doctor was holding
onto the rail of the runway and cough
ing. | thought each gasp would be his
last. The second foreman was talking
to him. The doctor paid no attention.
Going up behind the DOCTOR the fore
man coolly measured his distance and
swung on the point of his jaw. The
doctor crumDled I'D and fell on the |