Omaha daily bee., 1919-09-09

walked out the back door. His son
was with him.
"A moment later two Of the bush.
whackers stepped up to me. They
pointed their guns at my head and
demanded the key to the safe. I told
them Mr.. Pershing had it. They
looked as if they were going to ea'
me up. They didn't touch me, how
ever. They took few articles and
walked outside.
Meantime tragic events were hap
pening outside. And little John, who
had slipped away from his father
actuated by childish curiosity, wa.
witnessing them. A soldier named
Dave Crowder fired a shot from q
window. 1t. James Nave of the
bushwhackers was wounded. An
other bushwhacker returned Crow.
der's FIRE. Crowder was hit. He
crumpled and fell dead.
Squire John H. Jones, lawyer
started to run. Others followed
him. They were ordered by the
bushwhacker to halt. Jones kept
on running. A bullet struck him
and he pitched forward. Mr.. Perish
ing picked him up. Little John tried
to help. Mr.. Pershirg carried the
wounded squire into the store. John
toting along beside him. The squire
died few minutes later.
Two Men Escape.
There was much commotion now
Captain Holtzclaw ordered all the
people in the square to gather about
him. He addressed them. He said
he was sorry the two man had been
killed. He had come to Laclede, he
told us, to get two men who had mis-
treated southerners.
"While the captain talked the two
men he sought escaped. They slip
ped out of town and to Brookfeld,
where they notified the railroad
An engine. with steam up,
was waiting in the sidetrack. A car
was coupled to it. Militiamen were
ordered aboard and the car was
started tor Laclede.
"The bushwhackers evacuated the
town before the militia reached it.
The wounded lieutenant was placed
in a hack. The soldiers pursued it
and the man driving it was wounded.
But the men escaped. A few days
one of them was cap
tured.
Soldiers Catch Treasurer.
"The man turned out to be the
treasurer of the gang. About $1,000
worth of jewellery and other property
that had been stolen was recovered
from him. A mass meeting was held.
No one claimed the property and it
was divided between the widows of
Crowder and Jones'"
Such was the opening incident of
General Pershing's military career.
Wooden Stick for Sword.
The earliest recollections Laclede
folks have of General John Joseph
Pershing picture him as tow-head-
ed boy, a pretty, blue-eyed, light
haired child, a wooden stick for
sword, a disphan for a drum, lead
ing 'his army" of similarly &C
coutred children against an imagin
airy enemy entrenched in the old
stockade of Laclede's park.
He has always been a leader. He
will die a leader.
First impressions. conscious or
even as early environ
ment, are compelling and determin-
ing factors in any mans life.
His Weakness and Strength.
. The truths of this RECEIPT are strik-
ingly established as one traces step
by step from birth the life of Cen
eral Pershing and re-lives that life
guided through the paths Of it by
those who knew the general-his
weakness, his strength.
The bushwacker raid. probably,
was soon forgotten by John PERISH
ing, boy-baby, rather. But it left
an impression. 1t instilled in the
boy a love of soldiery. There was
tidt dooul dPldlii A4ottISAoW, lily
bushwacker leader, which stirred
the child's Imagination. Indeed,
there was that about the times in
which the boy began life which
could not help but stir his magma
ton.
General Grant His Hero.
He came into being with the civil
war. Boom of cannon was heard
length and breadth of the land al
most Immediately after he was born
into it. War was then tearing our
country asunder even as it tone En-
rope asunder. In Laclede, a border
town, the war made itself strongly
felt. There were other raids. Men
went away never to return. Men
went away and did return-returned
to tell stories of the war.
So it was only natural that the
war should play a vital part in the
lives of the children of that day as
our war today is playing a vital