The Washington herald., 1919-09-10
EARLY LIFE OF
GEN. JOHN J. PERSH HING
AUTHENTIC STORY
OF THE BOYHOOD DAYS
OF THE FAMOUS GENERAL
By HAROLD F. WHEELER
By HAROLD F. WHEELER.

put the key in his pocket He walk
ed 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 de-
manded the key to the safe. told
them Mr.. Pershing had IT. They looked
as II they were going to eat me up.
They didn't touch me. however. 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, was
witnessing them. A soldier named
Dave Crowder fired a shot from a
window. Lieut. James Nave, OF the
bushwhackers, was wounded. Another
bushwhacker returned Crowder's fire.
Crowder was hit He crumpled and
fell dead.
Squire John H. Jones, a lawyer,
started to run. Others followed him,
They were ordered by the bushwhack-
ers to halt Jones kept on running. A
bullet struck him and he pitched for
ward. Mr.. Pershing picked him up.
Little John tried to help. Mr.. Perish
ing carried the wounded squire into the
store, John toting along beside him
The squire died a few minutes later.
There was much commotion now.
Capt Holtzclaw ordered all the people
in the square to gather about him.
He addressed them. He SAID he was
sorry the two men had been killed
He had come to Laclede. he told us, to
get two men who had mistreated
Southerners
While the captain talked the two
men he sought escaped. They slipped
out OF town and to Brookfield. where
they notified the railroad militia. An
engine. with steam up. was waiting
in the side track. A car was coupled
to it Militiamen were ordered aboard
and the car was started for Laclede
The bushwhackers evacuated the
town before the militia reached it. The
wounded Lieutenant was placed in
hack. The soldiers pursued it and
the man driving it was wounded. But
the men escaped A few days after
wards one Of them was captured
The man turned out to be the
treasurer OF the gang About $1,000
worth Of tewelry 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
Gen Pershfng's military career
The earliest recoTlections Laclede
folks have Of Gen John Joseph Persh-
ing picture him as a tow-headed boy.
pretty. blue-eyed, liEht-haired child.
wooden stick for a sword a dishpan
for a drum, leading "his army Of
similarly accoutred children against
a n ma n ha
old stockade OF IacIede's park
Then. a child of but a few years,
John or Johnny. as the Laclede folks
call him became a leader.
He has never relinquished that posi-
ton.
He has always been a leader. He
viii die a leader.
First Impressions, conscious or un-
conscious. even as early environment,
are compelling and determining fac
tors in any mans life
The truths of this precept are strik-
ingly established as one traces step
by step from birth the life of Gen
Pershing and relives that life guided
through the paths OF it by those who
knew the general-his weaknesses, his
strength
The bushwhacker raid. probably, was
soon forgotten by John Pershtng, boy
baby, rather. But it left an i'm
preston. 1t instilled in the boy a
love Of soldiery. There was that about
Capt Holtzclaw. the bushwhacker
leader. which stirred the child's imag-
nation Indeed, there was that about
the times in which the boy began life
which could not help but stir his
Imagination
Gen Grnnt His Hero
He came into being with the civil
war. Boom OF cannon was heard
length and breadth of the land almost
Immediately after he was born into
it War was then tearing our country
asunder even as it tore Europe asun-
der. And in Iaclede. a border town,
the war made itself strongly felt