The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1918-11-29


TO be In the last stages of consumption
I told the old fellow to cut out his
argument and leave the other fellow
alone. Upon hearing this he squirted
q welI-directed stream OF tobacco juice
through hla front teeth, which landed
On my shoe. inwardIy admired and
respected his accuracy. / saw my au'
thority wanIng and knew that would
have to answer thia Insult quickly. !
took two or three quick steps forward
and swung on bis Jaw with my est.
His head went up against the iron
bunk With a siekenIng sound and he
erumpled up and fell ON the deck, the
blood pouring from the cut In his head.
felt sick and faint thinking that he
had been killed, but At would not do
70 show these signs Of weakness ON
my part, so without even moving to-
ward him ordered one OF the men to
look him over and see II he was all
right. He soon came around. From
that time on bio WIS the most faithful
man In the section and greatly reapeet-
cd me. The rest Of the men gr0wIed
and mumbled and thought was La
for terrible beating. Lying close at
hand was AN iron spike about eighteen
inches long. Grnsping this. turned to
the rest, trying to be as tough as /
possibly could:
If any Of the rest OF you buns
think they are boss around here, start
something, and / win sink this into
his head" Although | was quaiIing
underneath, stIll got away with 1t,
and from that time on / was boss OF
my section.
Now every man was smoking or
chewing tobacco. Pretty soon the hold
became thick with smoke. and / was
gasplng for breath. when the voice Of
the foreman came down the compan-
lonwny:
Turn out ON deck and give a hand
loading the horses. Look alive or I'll
come down there and rouse you out
pretty ----- -- quick"
have been IN cavalry regiment
when hurry-up orders were received 70
entrain for the Mexican border and
helped 70 load eleven hundred horses
on trains. The confusion on that dock
was Understandable. rhe horses were
loaded by three runwuys. My gang
ana l were detailed on the after run
why. The foreman was leaning over
the rnli, glarIng down upon us and
now and then giving Instructions mixed
with horrible 0aths He had huge
marlinspike IN his hand. On the dock
was the second foreman, in his large
somhrero, a red neckerchlef around
his neck, wearing d blue shirt with the
sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and
In his right hand a colled lariat. Ii
did ones heart good TO see him rope
the horses which broke loose. Upon
watching his first performance knew
was correct when / figured him as
having Mexican blood In his veins.
A hlearS-syed drunk was trying TO
ltnd q 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 dl-
reeted his barrage at the offender.
How In hi do you expect to lead
horse while looking at hlm7 Turn
your bacl TO him, you lousy bum. You
are blocking the whole run. Turn
your back TO him, say. You can't
lead him that way. III / come down
there TO you, III soon show you how
70 get him aboard
The bleary.eyed one became Devil.
dered and In his excitement lost his
footing on the slippery runway Ind fell
underneath the horse at the same time
loosenlng his hold on the halter chain.
The horse Ierked his head loose, reared
up. turned around and made break
for the deck. The man on the gangway
tried 10 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