Omaha daily bee., 1920-01-11

| V2e1US and ReU1eUS
General Pershing Lets Omaha
Get Re-AWuainted With HIM
Omaha has had an opportunity to become re,
acquainted with General Pershing and to find
pen pictures Whatever folks may think OF his
| oratorcal abilities, he showed himself good
! fellow, agreeable and accommodating, ready to
meet people, untiring in shaking hands. will
| ing inspiration to the youngsters, appreciatlve
OF the enthusiastic reception accorded him. Gen
in the early nineties and his part in the inter
state military tournament held here in the sum-
| mer of 1892, for which he trained company OF
! university students who walked off with $l,sOO
| in cash as one of the big prizes. Those were
the days of the Omaha Guards, the Thurston
Rifles and the Creighton Guards, when the boys
| in uniform held the center and were admired
and applauded by the multitude as they. went
| through their evolutions on High School
| grounds or Jefferson Square.
General Pershing also referred to the
friends he counted amoni; the leaders Of Oma-
has civic and business life, among them my
father, with whom, as have before indicated
he kept in touch after he left Lincoln, going up
| the ladder of military fame An extract from
letter he wrote from the field in Santiago is
S aqed i Ky ptsr 1t Mr. f.fs "y M 1875
Though the news of the fall of Santiago
| has gone to the world by wire, yet perhaps
! letter from one who has gone through the
| heat and rain and fighting may be of interest
| Really, | think no army has ever endured
| what this one has. 1t is wonder there are
any left. Still, nothing succeeds like success.
That success is due to the valor and patriot
ism of the individual line officer and enlisted
man-these by their combined efforts have
brought glory to American arms,
We'll it was hot fight that July |.
Thown into the middle of it at the crossing
of the San Juan river, under the fatal balloon,
where the converging artillery and infantry
fire made life worth nothing, we waded the
river to our armpits and formed line in an
opening in dense underground facing our OBJ
lectlve, the San Juan block house, all the
while exposed to volley firing from front, left
front and left flank and you know what it
means to be uncertain as to the position of
the enemy. On the dusky troopers trudged,
their number being gradually diminished until
they reached the open in front of the position
when they advanced by rushes almost half
Eay, then went the balance with charge.
Spanish small arm fire is terrible The low
Hat trajectory of the Mauser is only equaled
by that OF our own Krag- Jorgensen. Men in
the third and fourth lines are in as much
danger as those nearer, indeed less casualties
occurred close to the entertainments. The
dusky 10th cavalry is my regiment. and IT
was inspiring to accompany them Our losses
were ~ per cent killed and wounded-50 per
cent of officers were lost-a fearful rate. I
doubt the expediency of attacking intrenched
positions from the front. the enemy being
armed with modern small arms Artillery
and Hawking fire are safer, to say the least.
It was costly, but it decided the fate of San
tiago. We done and ought to go home
but fear we are not to &c YETI
The week marked the passing of former Gov
ernor Ezra p Savage in his 18th year out in the
Puget Sound country, where he had lived since
leaving Nebraska shortly after the con-
clusion OF his official career as governor of this
state Governor Savage enjoyed the distinction
OF having been also the first mayor of South
Omaha. South Omaha, be it known, was laid
out on paper in 1884. and its inhabitants were
soon organized as village of which Colonel
Savage, one OF the pioneers of the live stock
COMMISSION community there. became mem
Der of the board of trustees A contemporary
account of South Omaha at this nascent stage
January |, 1882, gives this description:
South Omaha is curious community
and we'll worth days time of the sightseer.
1t is combination of the city and the west
ern country town. East of the railroad tracks
upon rought ungraded hillside, are punched
the frame and brick houses composing the
general trading point of the village. ! The
dwellings scatter in all directions and vary in
point of architecture from plain .unpainted
ture upon which the designer must have
passed sleepless nights in originating fancy
work. There are no sidewalks. and the man
with the broadest sole makes the best prog
ress alter rain storm.
Here there is wonderful absence of So
clal distinction. The elegantly attired bust
ness man, with head covered with shiny
tile, hobnobs with the farmer. who has come
to town with his wagon load of truck wear
ing his blue jeans and sou'wester, which has
fhor Al,
long boots, flannel shirt and wide-brmn1ed hat,
IS to be seen chatting faniliary with the dan-
tily dressed city chap, whose stylish pants
are rolled up out of the way OF dirt, which
cings to his pointed shoes. Everything gives
way TO the one idea of building up. South
Omaha. Merchant and farmer, capitalist and
laborer, Christian and skeptc, prince and pau
per, are all equal, when on bended knee be-
fore the shrine of the almighty dollar"
his was the South Omaha which made Col
onel Savage its chief executive. History records
the momentous date of the transition from vii
lage to city as the 9TH day of April 1887 after
an exciting election at which "a bitter contest
took place at the polls and some blood was
shed, though it came mostly from broken
noses" and resulted in triumphant victory for
the ticket headed by Savage;
Colonel Savage became governor wholly by
accident. He was put on what looked like a
iorlorn-hope ticket as the republican candidate
tor lieutenant governor in 1900, and went
through, along with the others as result of
the tremendous effort exerted to carry Bryan's
state for Mckinley. A legislative deadlock
over the choice of two United States senator's,
lasting three months. was finally broken by
the election of two dark horses, one of them
being. Governor Charles H. Dietrich. Governor
Dietrich could possibly. as had David B. Hill Of
New York, have served as both governor and
senator, but he did not-on the contrary, he at
once publicly announced that he would resign