Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About Hemingford herald. (Hemingford, Box Butte County, Neb.) 1895-190? | View Entire Issue (Aug. 12, 1898)
rr .it ay x KILLING IN MODERN WAKS. Pcrcontago Light "Wliou Com imrcd with Rattlo-Ax Period. V Washington. "Give, me the fighting era of the sword, lance, mace and bat. tte-axe," remarked a member of con gress yesterday. The speaker had been reading of the terrible wounds made by the Mauser bullets of the Spaniards and the frightful effect of a shell from one of the battleships exploding among the sailors of Cervera's late lamented fleet "When a man went up against another In hand to hand combat," con. tlnued the congressman, "he at least had a lighting chance for his life. But how unfair to pit flesh and blood against such death dealing missiles as the modern shell or bullet." There were many assenting voices anions the group that composed the congressman's audience, but one dls sentient Bpoke up who had a very de elded opinion on the contrary, and who was prepared to support his state ments with carefully prepared statis tics, which show that modern battles are for less awful, so far as killing Is concerned, than were the battles fought In the brave days of old. It was pointed out by the champion of oW time methods of fighting that when missiles were employed but lit tle and the contest was decided by sword play, the vanquished were gener ally almost annihilated and the vie tors suffered enormously. At Cannes 40,000 Romans out of 80,000 were killed; at Hastings the victorious Normans lost 10,000 out of 60,000; nt Crecy 30,000 Frenchmen out of 100.000 were killed without reckoning the wounded; while at Bannockburn 153,000 men fought and 58.000 were killed. No better Illustration of the extra ordinary amount of metal missiles nee essary to kill one man could be given than the recent sea lights, In which the Spaniards wasted tons and tons of shot and shell and scored no more vic tims than could be counted on the lin gers of one hand. What an nwful ex penditure of powder and shot It took to kill that one man on the Texas, and the little handful of heroes on the Wlr.siow Such fighting teems child's, play when compared with the whole sale slaughter of the day when ships grappled on the waves and armed men poured over the sides to fight foot to foot on the blood-stained decks until all on one side or the other had gone down or surrendered. The record of land battles la all the same way. The mortality In the Cri mean war was very slight when the number of shots (lied are remembered It Is estimated that the British troops fired Often million shots and killed 21.000 Kusslans, or 700 shots for every death. The French fired twenty-one million 'shots and killed 51.00 Russians, or 590 shots for every death, while the Russians fired forty-five million shots and killed 48,000 of the nllies, or every nine hundred and ninetieth shot was successful In the Italian campaign of 1833 rifles were used on both sides, and the num ber of casualties at Magenta and Sol ferlno was 33 per 1.000 combatants. The Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 was the first In which breech-loading rifles were used, and, strange as It may seem, their Introduction only cor roborated the foregoing facts that sci entific war is less deadly than natural. When It Is remembered that for hours ur men faced volley after volley of Mauser bullets and a storm of shells and shrapnel during the greatest day's fighting around Santiago, It Is re markable that the casualties were so few. Equally remarkable is the small damage to life done during the bom- bardment of Sqntiago by the tremen dous guns of Samp&on's fleet. A French liner goes down in an ocean collision and more lives are lost than the great est efforts of scientific military warfare can account for in a fierce bombard ment lasting for hours. Since gunpowder was Invented the propoillor. of killed and wounded atr.one Hie troops engaged has been re duceo fr'in about one-third to be tween one-fourth and one-fifth from 330 per l.uOO to between 200 and 230 pel 1,000 And the adoption of breech loading rifles diminished it to about one-ninth (111 per 1.000). though that is Kteainr than the mortality in th Franco-Prussian war. Military au. thnrlties now hold that rapidity of fire Is more essential to success than range and precision; mnrksmunshlp. indeed, counts for little In battle, and modern arms ar certainly less deadly than onrient. The old proverb that every bullet has Its billet, has given place to the military maxim that It takes a ton of shot to kill a man This applies pquully to artillery and rifle Are. War does not Ir.cifare the mortality among soldiers so greatly as one would expect. In South Aftlca In 1S75, 64 per 1.P00 Firitlth roldler aled or were killed, while in Egypt In 1SS5 the edath rate In battle averaged a trifle over 1 pei 1.000 In twelve years of small war? 1.3DH British holdlers were killed out of 92.650 engaged, a shade over 1.5 pei cent. The return for the American civil war were got out with great care, and they showed that the total deaths dur ing the live yenrs were 166.G23 and av eraged 70 per 1.00Q of the force engaged In the Franco-German war the mortal ity was 30 per 1.000 of the troops engag ed during the seven months; offlcla stutlstlrs show that 116.812 German sol diers were wounded. Of these 99,566 re covered, 11.023 died in hospital and 6.22 tn the field of battle. It appears tha a soldier's lower limbs were most frc quentl wounded. Of the cases treate In the German hospitals the wound were, distributed as follows; Lower extremetles 43.SS Upper extremities 33,31. Chest and back .. .......11,435 Head 11,011 Abdomen , 4,5(1 Neck .. 1,92 These figures show that very few men are killed outright nowadays, and that the wounded generally recover, whereas In the dnys of the sword and Innco men were killed outright or fin ished oft after the battle was won. In fact, thero would be more slaughter In a battle between the ancient Hrltons and the Romans, armed respectively with stone axes and short swords, than between two modern armies equipped with magazine rifles, smokeless powder and powerful artillery; the question would be settled just ns satisfactorily and with less expense, for It, costs $7,000 to slay a man In modern' warf ate. BttAVEKY OF LOVEK1NG. Disgraced Ouieor Retrieves Him self in Buttle. Just a year ago Captain Leonard A. Loverlng, of the Fourth Infantry, Fort Sheridan, was In serious trouble. Ho was forced to submit to a court martial on the charge or brutality to on enlist ed man, soys the Chicago Chronicle. He was convicted and sentenced to n reprlmnnd In orders. July 1 and 2 of this year ho did much to redeem him self ftom the cloud on his reputation, which chafed unceasingly from the morning the "Hammond affnlr" became public property. LfoverUig's sltuatlofi at Sheridan was peculiarly embarrassing. The Ight Ing Fourth succeeded the Fifteenth In that pleasant station. The regiment In whose lines Grant and other renown ed officers served while subalterns took station at a post which had become notorious. Scandal after scandal had marked the lour of duty there of Gen eral Crofton's command. It was the desire of the war department to dispel the cloud thus gathered, and In nld thereof the Fourth was called In. It was a harmonious regiment, and had never been Involved In post disturb ances. Eighteen months pasesd away and the Fourth maintained Its high reputa tion for harmony and excellence of de portment. The officers were popular and gentlemanly fellows and Chicago congratulated herself on their acces sion to local society. Then one morning In July the news was spread abroad that Captain Loverlng, while acting us olllcer of the day, had been guilty of extreme cruelty to Private Hammond, a prisoner from another command. Col umns were printed concerning the af fair and General Brooke caused a rigid Investigation. This was followed by a court martial, and the publication of the officer In orders. Nothing could be more galling to a high-strung man than this same publishing in orders Secretary Alger was disappointed over the finding of the court. It was pre sided over by Brigadier General James' F. Wade, Department of Dakota, In passing It might be well to remark that the officers constituting the court, the commanedr of the regiment and of this department, so far have had but little employment In the. war. Brooke, third In rank In the army, was left In com mand of a corps of volunteers at Chick amauga until sent to Porto Rico as sec ond In command of Miles. Shatter al the outbreak was a brigadier Junior to Wade, yet he was sent to Cuba and won the glery of Santiago. But to return to Loverlng. The cap tain was punished enough, and, besides, he was not big enough In rank to cause anybody to "camp on his trail," so after orders had been published he was restored to duty and proceeded to Cuba with his regiment. His colonel, who backed him so strongly before that court, although near retirement, wa not allowed to go and win higher rank in the field. He was made a brigadier of volunteers and left in practice camp with three regiments to whip into shape. He Is still whipping them. Loverlng Is a brave man. Nobody ever charged him with being anything else. But he had more than mere mil itary ambition to satisfy In that len- Buer before Santiago. He had to re deem himself In the eyes of the world and the men of the regiment. Rightfully or wrongfully, the verdict of the peopl was against him; among the men of the Fourth, It Is said, he was Mtown us "Weyler," because of his harshness to the men. He must remove this blot. It must be admitted that he did much to restore himself to public favor at 121 Caney. The fighting Fourth got Its stomach full of fighting when the heights of 121 Caney were stormed. The regiment formed a rf'tlon of the column sent against thai, position. Its reputation for fierce bravery and skill in fighting was fully sustained. The hero of El Caney, according to the reportB which have reached this country, wbb Cap tain Loverlng. Loverlng commands company C of the Fourth. His com pany and regiment were In the hottest of the fiercest fight of the war so far. Mr. Bernard was killed In the fight and Mr. Neary was badly hurt. Both were men of much less stature than Lov erlng, who Is one of the biggest men, physically. In our army. He was not touched by bullet or shell, although he seemed to court death. Loverlng spared neither himself nor Ids company In that wild charge. In fact, it has been said that if he had a red to he might have sheltered hlB men In a ravine while advancing on 'he firing line, but that he led them mpetuoubly across the open under a err!flo fire Instead. He had 60 men in ine when the advance was ordered. When the tight ended he had three lead and eighteen wounded. This loss xceeded that of any primary organlia- lon In the fight. It had been said that Private Hostleld of his company had sworn to kill the captain In their first action. If so, the man never had the chance, ns he was killed In the first break from cover. Loverlng led his nTen from their po sition In the regimental line. He went straight to the front, regardless of to pography, rifle shots or cannon shells. He moved on the firing lino with all speed, and then performed an act of bravery which proved he was and is a bravo soldier, whatever else may be said of him, Ho lost nearly one-third of his command In the first rush, but ho looked after the remnant like a careful olllcer when the line was reached". In the charge up the hill of Slboney the captain wns overcome by the heat and forced to drop out. Orders were Imperative, and his men swept on and left him there. Thero he lay for n time, but with returnlg strength he forced himself forward and regained his company, now on the firing lino and fighting hard to hold their position. Here Is wjietu the disgraced olllcer showed his mettle as u fighter, at least, und did so much to win the good wishes of his men. He tried to protect them under lire himself. Loveilng saw his men weie exposed to the merciless lire of the enemy. He Is of gigantic stature and physically, at least, an Ideal soldier. But he seised a camp cooking outfit, which can be used as a shovel, and In a rain of bul lets coolly dug trenches with It, oi dur ing his men to take position therein, and thus be sheltered. He himself was all this time exposed to the galling fire of the Spanish concealed behind their Intrenchments. He was not touched. He plunged Into trenches nnd rescued wounded men, although Red Cross men -vere hit on nil sides. He fought all day, and fought as hotly as any mnn, but In spite of his enormous mature he came out without u mark, while much smaller men were kllkd or maimed. Incidentally the army does not fur nish the only case of bravery on the part of an officer who was In disgrace when the war opened. There Is a case similar to the Loverlng uffalr which Is equally significant. Several years ago B. h McCalla, then an olllcer in the navy, was in grave trouble. He was charged with cruel and even brutal treatment of the men under his com mand. In fact, he was so Involved In this affair that he was relieved from sea duty, and until the war broke out was never restored to command. Thtn he was sent to the Mnrbtehead. But so great was the feeling against this officer that If there had been any body of proper tank to take the com mand of this vessel McCalla would not have been assigned to her. He hap pened to be the only available man of sufficient rank nnd received his first Fea berth in half a dozen years. His record was not the best In the world, but he had had no chance to redeem himself, and he wab, therefore, very persistent In his elforts to get a com mand commensurate with his lineal rank. He got 11 and has redeemed him self. Not an action has taken place since the war began that the Marblehead missed If she were In signaling dis tance. No ship has dcr.e more con sistently good work than this cruiser. She hap been fought with consummate skill and has proved a veritable devil to the enemy. Her commander Is Idol ized of his men, yet he Is the same offi cer who has passed through as bitter an experience as ever falls to the lot of an officer on land and sea. He has been revolutionized In feeling. Both of these officers have performed services which seemingly deserve pro motion. Yet so far as known the nnme of neither has been mentioned In offi cial reports. Whether or not they were rightfully censured, they had to suffer for misdeeds chnrged ngnlnM them. It Is more than probable that their pro bation has ended. It Is more than prob ablp that hut for the clouds which hung over them when the war broke out both might have won fame and reward for duty well done. Poultnty Blgelow, who remarks that some of the soldiers who sailed for Snntlago In the transports asked him what the war was about, Is the gen tleman who went to school with the Emperor of Germany and wrote a book about that potentate. His moth, er was noted for her frankness of speech and eccentricity, and at one time when her husband occupied a diplomatic post In France the Em peror Napoleon III. placed the Imper ial box at his disposal one evening. For some reason or other the Blgelows could not attend the opera, and Mrs. Blgelow sent her servants to occupy It. nnd thereby caused no little upheav al In diplomatic circles. It was this lady who called on "Oul da" at her villa in Florence. When the servant took In her card Mrs. Blge low overheard her saying, "No, I will not see her. Tell her I have no use for Americans." Whereupon the caller was wroth, and, walking Into the room where "Outda" was, she exclaimed: "Won't see any Americans? Why, miss, we are the only people who buy and read your nasty books." Instead of getting angry "Oulda" was delighted with the freshness and nu dacity of her calller, and begged her to come to the villa as her guest, for she would like to make a study of her. Mrs. Blgelow declined. If I am not mistaken, William Poult ney was snubbed some little time since by his former schoolmate, Vllhelm the Small and Verbose. Newport Belle Oh, those naval offi cers are too sweet for anything. Did you ever lunch on a man-of-war? Narragansett Belle No, but I saw a young lieutenant today, belonging to Sampson's fleet, who looked good 'nougb to eat. KILLING SQL' lit It ELS. Itnro Hunt In the lliicinvoods of Arkfumns. Any one Intending to take a census of tho squirrels In southwestern Ar kansas should havo begun work n month ngo. Thero has been n henvy decrease In population. Outraged far mers, whoso roasting ears havo been destroyed In ncres, have risen and banded against tho common foe. They wero headed by Jake Stlgglns of Palo Alto farms. Ho named It "Palo Alto" because there Is not a tree on It, and It Is In the bottoms. A long time ngo somo fellow who had read "Pickwick Papers," and know nil about the older Weller nnd his troubles, called Wig gins the "Deputy Shepherd," nnd the nnme stuck to him. Tho Deputy Shep herd mounted his mule and went about the country talking of squirrels nnd their ravages. He said that all the far mers' needed wns organization ngnlnst the sharks of Wall street and the squir rels of Arkansas. Ho salil that united they stood and dixlded they fell, and, slneo they could not get nt the Wall street people Just now, the best thing to do was to go nut and Hlioot squirrels, As the crops hnd been laid by, and cotton hnd not really begun, time hung heavily upon the hnnds of the farmer folk, and they declared that Stlgglns was the man of the hour. For three days the massive mossy woods echoed nnd re-echoed to tho ronr of shotguns. rifles and cnp-and-bnll revolvers of the vintage of 1863. Listening to the In cessant splutter, crucklc and reverber ation, Stlgglns said It wns Santiago do Cuba over again. A dally paper frorn Shreveport gets In there once a week and In that way the citizens have been informed that a war Is going on. Alf Richardson, whose beard Is down to his wnlst, who Bwears that Peffcr of Kan sas In tho greatest of the great, und who left an arm In the "Devil's Den" at Gettysburg, sniffed contemptuously and answered that it might be like Santiago, but It bore not tho slightest resembluncc to that maelstrom of death, over which, savage and reson ant as the scream of the eagle a thou sand feet In the air, soared the ulula tlons of the rebel yell. "I wob standln on top of a flat tomb, stone that klvered some dead Dutch man ornuther," said Alf, looking 'round, while he held his muzzle-loading, double-barreled shotgun between his kncea and with his remaining fingers flxed a enp on the right nipple, "an' I seen Pickett's men go down one slope, With th' non-coms cnllln' 'Hep! hep! hep!' like It was dress p'rade. An', by Ood, somethln' caught hold o' me an' lifted me three feet up In th' air an' held me thnr. This ain't like It." The Deputy Shepherd said: "F'r th' Lawd's sake, less don't git tnlkln' 'bout th' war,"and the slaughter began again. Devastation wrought by squirrels tills spring has been so grent that It has threatened seriously the corn crop of this part of Lafayette county. The oldest inhabitant, who Is "Pop" Weath erby, can remember that they were more numerous the "year that the stars fell." which was some tlmo In the 30s, but thuy have not been n tenth so many since that summer. The season has been exceptionally dry nnd warm, fa vorable for breeding, nnd the heavy mast of last fall brought them through the winter all right. Furthermore, there has been little shooting of squirrels In this region for live years past, since times have been hard, and ammuni tion ousts too much to waste on such small game. Also, southwestern Ar kansas was visited late last winter by one of the migrations peculiar to the squirrel family. By tens of thousands, seemingly, they came In from no man knows where. One day there was only the usdal number to be seen while rid ing through the woods; the next there were a half dozen on every tree and another half dozen scampering along the ground In whatever direction a man might look. This migration was traced by word of mouth to a point morp than a hundred miles west of here, and It Is supposed that the movement started pomewhere In the Indian Territory. Anyhow, the visitors found plenty to ent and went to breeding this spring as comfortably us If they had lived here nil of their lives. How many took up tho march at Its initial point no man can say, nor how many individuals Joined the enravan on the way, but not less than 25,000 came to Lafayette coun ty alone and there were several large streams to cross, In which hun dreds, If not thousands, must have been drowned. When, swayed by common, uncontrol lable Impulse, the squirrel begins a mnrch of this kind, he Is like an ant or a sheep which follows Its leader. He stops for no obstacles, big or little. If he cannot climb over It he cuts thro It. The manner of crossing rivers has never been explained. Like all nnl inals. except the monkey, the squirrel swims a little, but It is very little. A century or two ngo some fellow started a fairy story to the effect that they Btrlp huge pieces of bark from trees, which they use as boats and erect their tails for sails, and that explanation Is accepted down here for lack of a bet ter. These stronger squirrels are all of the gray variety, though migration Is common to all kinds. Indeed, the Mack squirrel, once common In Arkan sas, has about migrated himself out of human ken. Not more than once In a season Is an individual killed In woods wherein they were once as plentiful as woodpeckers. Squirrel hunting, under ordinary con ditions. In this region Is difficult, be cause most of the trees are swathed heavily In Spanish moss, which not only uffordB hiding places too obscure for the vision to penetrate and a shield that no small shot will pierce, but al most exuetly matches the color of the animal. Moreover, nt thin season tin trees nre In full leaf.glvlng the squirrel nn additional security Nevertheless there are so ninny of them that enor mous hags weie deemed certainties by Stlgglns and his cuufedeiatrs. The hunt began on Thursday morn ing, July 7, nnd ended at sunset on the Saturday following. The men, thirty In nil, camped eight miles west of here on Rose Creek, so called because of the masses of Chorokee wild roses that blossom on Its bntiks, They wen nrmed mainly with ion-gauge- double-barreled shotguns, called here "deer guns," tho' a few hnd rifles of 22 caliber, the only sportsmanlike weapon with which to destroy squirrels. Revolvers of old pat tern were common, too, nnd some of the hunters were remarkably expert In their use. It was a characteristic of tho old cap-nnd-hull llvo-chambored pis tols inndo by Snmiiol Colt before and during tho war that they shot with an accuracy nevor appionchud by any ono of the modern-cartrldged force-ball weapons. Onu-arined Alf Richardson Is witling anil able to nhuol holes In as many dollars ns a man cares to toss tip for him, using a revolver that he took front the body of a Federal caval ryman before he was Hent back Invalid ed, and one of the sons of this Hlxty-fivc-yunr-old nun-Unman laughs nt Ills father's crudo efforts. He himself holds no man to be worthy of admittance to thu blood brotherhood of tho rifle unless able to toss a brick In the air, break It and smash both pieces before they reach the ground, or to use a rlllo suc cessfully upon hound-driven deer, land ing upon the neck or Just back of the foreshoulder as the brown quarry whizzes like n bullet butween the gl gnntlc tree boles a hundred yards away. The thirty men were divided Into two parties of fifteen, tho Deputy Shepherd heading one of them us organizer of the expedition, though he cannot shoot for shucks, nnd Richardson heading the other." With him were all tho, riflemen nnd plstolmcn of tho crowd, twelve In number. Tho prize wns to be a 500 pound bale of strict middling cotton, of which each of the losing privates was expected to contribute thirty pounds and the losing captain eighty pounds. The cotton wob to be picked, ginned and baled with their own hands nnd rolled with cotton hooks up nnd down the hills of a country road from Rlch nrdson's gin house to the main wnrc house In town, a distance of five miles, tho Deputy Shepherd remarking mer rily thnt all of Rlchardson'8 gang were mlddle-of-the-roaders, anyhow, nnd he wanted to glvo them a tasto of whnt the phrase really meant. As an offset to the advantage tn wenpons possess ed by StlggliiB' men it was agreed that any squirrel killed by a rifle or pistol shot In the head and not otherwise wounded should count five points in addition to Its conventional value. The gray squirrels were to count five points each, fox squirrels, twenty-five, nnd black squirrels 100 points each. By this agreement each gray squirrel slain solely by a head wound was worth ten points. Stlgglns frowned portcntlously when the contract was handed him to sign, but he put his name to it with a lead pencil, which he first wet with his tongue, saying that one shotgun was worth two rifles In squirrel shoot ing at this season, when half the tar gets have to be taken springing from limb to limb, "on the wing," as It were. On the first day Richardson's men hunted up Rose Creek for three miles, went west two miles, south three miles and back to the oretik iwo miles a to tal of ten miles, covered at a slow, stealthy walk. Much of the time was taken up in long waits in covert, the squirrels being killed while incautiously exposing themselves to feed or coming to the ground to scamper. Stlgglns' force hunted to the south and east cf the creek, covering much moro terri tory, the object of the shotgun people being to stir the squirrels up and keep them going as much as possible, de pending for the score largely on run ning and Jumping shots. There are few more difficult things to' stop that a small gray squirrel fly ing with lightning leaps 30 feet from limb to limb, and most often through the thickest of leaves. It Is snap-shooting purely. The gun goes to the shoul der and Is pointed and fired as me chanically as a pen In the hand forms the letters of a written word. Natural ly there were many misses, but the men were all more or less expert field shots, having served long apprentice ships on ducks, snipe and quail, and called to each other cheerily toward evening that they had "old Alf" on the run. The score at nightfall when the hunters met In camp stood: Richard son, 420. scoring him 2,100 on number killed; number shot In head, 232, scor ing him for grace points, 1,160. Total, 3,260. Stlgglns. 662; scoring him 3.310 on number kll'vd. Stlgglns led by fifty points. They were all gray squirrel. The Deputy Shepherd danced over to Richardson in an undignified way, seized his long hand and patted it softly. "Take ye a long time to pick eighty pound 9' cotton with JeB' ono paw, Unc' Alf," he said. The old man took his hand away, combed out his yard of beard with it, winked at his fol lowers and sat down. One of hla five sons filled him a pipe, lit it, and handed it to him. He smoked and said never a word. Four negroes, brought along as camp cooks, and hostlers, Jerked squirrel skins right and left, roused to a frenzy by a prospect of feeding, and in a little while a dozen huge frying pans were sizzling full of browning limbs. Thirty hungry men, after an all-day tramp In July woods, weighted down for hours by game, and thirst and hunger accentuated by breathed powder smoke, can do a good deal with fried squirrels, many of them rfot mor than half grown and tender enough to melt lh tho mouth. The bread taken" here with squirrels Is "egg bread whleh Is made of freslcground ycllov not white comment, nnd plenty 1. hen eggH and butter, nnd a German baker who got the tasto of It hot from the oven would go straight away nn) Jump off tho bridge. "Old Moso," Uu lone fisherman of Dodcnti lake, hnd scented tho fenst hours before It he gnn nnd twenty miles away. Ho bor rowed a mulo and cart from somo on and enmo In during the dny with a banjo from which two strings wcr missing, nnd thirty or forty rattlesnake watermelons. Kvorybody was aslcop by 0 o'clock, Tho start for tho second dny'a hunt was mnde at daylight, after black cof fee and squirrel Btew with red pepper pods In It. The little gray olven nn most active beforo ttie dew has dried from the grass and mosses, and tho guns wore barking when tho men wero a hundred yards from camp. Score at nightfall, nil grnys: Richardson, GS? scoring him 2,910 on number killed number shot In head, 471, scoring fin grace points, 2,355. Total, 5,265. Stlg glns, 1,120, scoring him 5000 on num ber killed. Stlgglns led by 335 points. The shotgun people Joined hands about the veteran nnd gave him tho "Danccx Cnllndn, Boum-Houm" dance, learned years ngo on "Congo 8qdare" In Now Orleans, where the black slaves gath ered to thu hnlf nude orgy and tho pine flambeaux llnrcd, The Deputy Shep herd said It wus a shame to expect an old mnn, who had fought for lilu country nnd stolen fcdcrnl pistols, and had hut one hand and four feet of wtiiskers, to pick cotton all day In n broiling sun, whllo younger men, who never hnd fought for their country, and would not fight for It, and had no whiskers to spenk of, sot In tho fence corners and ate muskmefons. "Unc" Alt's" pipe wns filled and he smoked silently. "Old Mose." whoso well-nigh toothless gums hnd mumbled squirrels until the grense poured through the black hide of him, got out his tlirec titrlngcd banjo wnr-drum and Bang "Trouble In do Low Groun's." Four miles northeast of the camp point on Rose Creel', tho pine lands enme down to the bottoms In a succes sion of swells, covered the year 'round with n six-Inch carpet Of nwcotly smell ing needles. It Is the lo'eal still-hunting ground, for the heaviest footfall so that the foot be picked up cleanly makes not a sound. If the JoyoUB Stlg glns folk hnd stopped their fusiladc on the third day and. listened for a little while they would havo heard the faint, fnr crncks of the rifles to the nortn cost. They were not so numerous ns on the preceding days, but, Bomehow, they sounded ns If they counted for more. The fox squirrel, marauder, fighter, pirate, lives In the pine Innds, the brilliant reddish color of his belly gleaming far up among tho dark-green spines, 150, 250. 300 feet from earth. He objects to racing, trusting to his alti tude and matching crnft with craft, shifting his position as he lies extend ed upon a limb as the wary hunter shifts, swinging to the opposite aide of the great trunk like a flash of light, showing occasionally one protruding jet-black eye around the dga of tho barkk not often uttering a defiant, coughing chatter, lowly and gutteral. When the Stlgglns party got back to camp It was black dark. They were covered with squirrels, which hung In gray strings, like ladleB boas, all over them. They dumped their loads Into one pile, and It made- i small moun tain. They breathed in relief and look ed about them in the fire-light. "Old Alf," cross-legged like a Turk, was fin ishing his third pipe. Ills men, with a fine affectation of Indifference, were cleaning cae-choked rifles. The engroea wero lolling about doing nothing. No sounds of frying, no scent of egg bread or aroma of coffee were on the air. "Why ain't ye cookln'?" Stlgglns de manded fiercely of "Old Mose.' ' The ancient darky grinned widely. "Dese people ain't killed nuffln' fit fer my stummlck," he said. "Wuz waltln fur de sho 'nuff hunter folks ter get In." The Deputy Shepherd lifted his bat tered straw hat from his tousled hair, walked over to old Alf and extended one hand above him In benediction. "Brethren," he said reverently, "let us pray that this here affliction be llften f'm his ven'ble h'ald." Standing Just at the outer edge of the circle of firelight was a huge two wheeled cart, whose body was covered with tarpaulin. "Git them things out," snld "Old Alf," pointing to It. It was brought forward, the canvas removed, the tailgate lifted, the shafts raised, and out of it poured a cascade of squir rels, each twice as big as his gray cous in, and each with a russet belly. The score: Richardson, 412 fox squirrels, scoring him 10,300 on number killed; number killed by shot in the head, 396, scoring for grace points, 1,980; total, 12,280. Stlgglns, 1,037, scoring him 5,185 on number killed. Richardson led by 7,095. Grand total for three days: Rich ardson. 20,800; StlgginB, 14,095. Rich ardson led by 6,710 points. Grand total of squirrels killed, 4,233, of which 2,819 fell to Stlgglns' band of dlsconsolates and 1414 to the triumphant followers of the whiskers banner. When the totals were totted up, "Unc" Alf" pmoked silently on, remarking only that it was well sometimes to know where the fox squirrels lived, and forbearing to rub salt into the wounds of his enemy. The Deputy Shepherd, after heaving twenty pounds of wood at "Old Mose" for an offer to help, sat down to count the fox squirrels one by one and then to sort out those which had been shot fairly in the head. Nobody knows when be finished, be cause they were all asleep. -Walnut Hill (Ark.) Special to New York Sun.
