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About Western news-Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1898-1900 | View Entire Issue (April 6, 1899)
T the head of the 5,000 regulars A in the Philippine Islands is a modern fighting machine. Its name is Lawlon Henry W. Lawton and for yearly forty years it has worn the uniform of the United States army. It has risen from the ranks , this fight ing machine , leaving behind it othei machines as strong possibly , but less fortunate. Henry W. Lawton was born in Ohio fifty-six years ago. He was a country boy aud got only a common school edu cation --not any too much of it. It is to be doubted if he would have learned a great d < ' : il if kept steadily at college un til he attained his majority. Emphat ically he is not a book man. Studying the printed page has been to him al ways a ( : sc ! and never a pleasure. Men are hss hooks men and happenings. His folk were plain farmer folk. From them h < derived his length and size of bom * . Tiie tremendous muscles , the tirele.s.s endurance which have marked him in later life had the beginning of the development in the open air of the fields of his boyhood. It was said of \ him ( hat it took him longer to learn anything and longer to forget it than any youth that ever tramped through the snow lo a log school house. His memory , indeed , has been one of his strong points since he emerged from childhood. He remembers well par ticularly enemies. A better hater was never born. It follows necessarily that he is true in friendship. He is , in fact , a man's man. Women who get to know him like him well enough , but not many of them get to know him. In the : ig. of gray hair he is still a bach elor. aud if he has ever had an affair of the he-art it has been kept to himself. Lawlon entered the volunteer service of the United States in April , 1861 , and was given the chevrons of a sergeant in company E of the Ninth Indiana In- f an try. In August , 1SG1 , he was made first lieutenant of the Thirtieth Indi ana. lu May. 1SG2 , he was made a cap tain , was a lieutenant colonel in No- viiinher , 1SG4 , was breveted a colonel for irallant and meritorious services In March , 1SG5 , and was mus tered out of the seivice in No vember , lSio. ; He had had practically four years of the most tremendous war in the history of the nations. He ha < 5 been a participant in a dozen pitched battles. Tie had led his men in charge \ and counter charge on the stricken lields of Virginia. He had stepped up on the dead upturned faces of his broth ers. lie had been soaked with blood to his kiii-e.s. On the 1st of July , 1SGO , he was ga- zelicd a second lieutenant in the regu lar aniiy. being assigned to the Forty- tirst Infantry. A year later he was made ; i first lieutenant. He was trans ferred ( o the cavalry arm in January , 1X71. iitd advanced to a captaincy in Man h. 1S79 , was made a major in the insi vtor's general's department in Sop emucr. 1SSS , and inspector general , wirh ! l f rank of lieutenant colonel , in l. .S. . That is his rank in the regular army to-day , although he wears the epaiitj-is of u major general of volun- teeis. He is slated for appointment to bo a brigadier general under the reor ganization act aud when the two years for which the new soldiers will be en listed tut ve expired there will be enough rctiietnents from the service to make his retention as a regular brigadier a lie lias come upward step by step * oMy through personal courage and psMSi-sl : strength. He has held that it i * Hi fi--.t : duty of the soldier to fight , r.nd u light as soon as he gets the < l.ri--f. ; He has been possessed by no 3'-ir ; : -ditir refinements of the art of wa ( I > has simply gone ahead and ! ' like a fiend when opportunity and left to others the task of f g why and how such and such a -V ictory was won or defeat suffered. I io lias devoted his life to the profes- .vor. : of arms and he understands it. He dues not pretend to be an authority up on anything else. He is a one-idea man. J'ersoaality oT the Man. In ni'i'soii he is a wonder. Standing 0 fc-fS U inches high , as straight as a rule , with long arms , wide shoulders , deeo chest aud thin flanks , he weighed 11)3 ) pounds of bone and muscle when : > r years old aud now weighs 210. His head Is small and set on a massive neck. 1 1 is hands and feet are large. JJe is a.s active as a cat and as tireless as a wolf. Under the sleeves of his blue fatigue jacket the muscles bulge like cables. His stomach goes like clockwork. He has not an unsound tooth. Headaches are not known to him , except from hearsay. He can travel for a week without food or sleep. then make a boa constrictor ashamed of itself and sleep for two days withont turning over , lie has never taken any care of himself. The soldier's ro igh and exposed life has been his since youth , but he is as sound as n nut to day and able to tire out a dozen young IT men. Apparently fatitxue passes him by when it lays its heavy hand upon those apparently as strong. lie is al ways alert a * d alwa\s looking for a chance to damage an opponent. One of his many Indian names is "Man- Wbo-Gets-Up-m-the-N5ght - to - Fight , " and he has earned it by years of prac tically ceaseless toil. Ilis forehead is high and somewhat narrow , his eyes a keen gray , his uose and cheek bones prominent , his chin square , his lips thin. He wears a drooping mustache. His hair is cut pompadour , stands up stiff aud short like -a reversed shoe shoe brush , and he is not pretty. This Lair Is now liberally sprinkled with gray , and the while amid the brown Is about his only sign of age. Army sur geons who know him say that he may live to be 100 unless a bullet cuts short his strange and sanguinary career. Henry W. Lawton was a gallant and serviceable officer of infantry during four years of the civil war , but his peculiar talents were properly envir oned only when he was transferred to the cavalry and stationed in the south west. This was more than a quarter of a century ago , and for two decades he was remote from the large cities of the east. He found New Mexico and Arizona overrun and terrorized by hos tile bauds of Indians arid he set him self , along with his comrades , to bold them clown. They were held down. The work that the cavalrymen of the United States did in those years will never be appreciated until a circumstantial his tory is written and it is not probable that the history will ever be written. It was a life of foray , long rides , des perate battles in remote valleys , mid night surprises , combat with a foe that often was not seen , disheartening and fruitless chases , danger and frequent death. In fifteen years the officer saw every friend he had made when he went to the mountains taken from him by removal , age disease or the bullet. The entire personnel of the force changed more than once the entire personnel that is , except himself. He was always left , lonely , self-contained , earnest , indefatigable and silent , save when giving commands or cheering on his men in fight. His name became a household world in all of the tepees in that wild land. The Chiricahuas , the Mescaleros , the Jicarillas , Apaches , all had for him the mixture of hate and grudged admiration compelled by a dauntless foe. They found in him , after a little while , a man who was learned in every phase of their peculiar warfare , and in ten years they dreaded him as they have dreaded few white men since the winning of the West be gan. Lawton's method of handling them was singularly his own. When he struck a trail he kept to it with a dogged tenacity which knew no such thing as quit. Whether the pursuit was maintained for a day or a week , it was maintained with a steady , unre lenting earnestness that did more to strike terror into the hearts of the red men than would have been possible to all the rifles on earth. The man's phil osophy was wholly expressed once in a chance remark to a newspaper ac quaintance. "If a man is hunting for you , " he said , "get a gun and hunt him. Do it right away. It discourages anyone to be suddenly transferred from the posi tion of hunter to hunted. " This rule has guided him. He insists upon being the aggressor. It is sup posed that he would stand a charge all right , but hitherto he has always done the charging. He does not believe in waiting for the other side to act. This trait was signally demonstrated in his conduct of the right wing of the Amer ican army at El Caney. He had men that he thought could be depended on. At any rate he proposed to see what they could and would do. So he sent them at the blockhouses and breastworks hour after hour with a savage disregard of the chances of battle and the liability to death that is one of the marvels of that brief and glorious campaign. It was of Lawton's men aud not of the rough riders that the Spanish infantryman said : "We do not understand you American soldiers. You tried to catch us with your hands. " It was Lawton's reputation for dar ing and tireless pertinacity that led to his becoming internationally famous. His characteristics were known , of course , to his superior officers as thor oughly as they were known to the In dians whom he had been fighting for a dozen years. For the tenth time the band of Chiricahua Apaches , headed by Chief Naches and directed by Ger- onimo , had jumped the San Carlos res ervation , leaving behind ' them the usu al trail of blood and ruin. Ranchmen were butchered on lonely ranges , chil dren's brains were dashed out and the smoke of burning dwellings rose day and night to the brilliantly blue sky , General Miles , a trained soldier and an Indian fighter himoelf , was in com mand , and he selected Captain Lawton for the task that was set before them. He started frith two troops of veterans , taking a trail that at its beginning was broad and plainly marked. Then fol lowed the most remarkable pursuit in the history of Indian warfare. Day af ter day the ceaseless toil continued. The men speedily found themselves in a country where horses without claws were of worse than no account. Their officer dismounted them. "We will walk them down , " he said grimly. The walk began. It was white pluck and endurance against Indian craftiness and endurance. Hunting Geroniino. Over rocks that blistered the hands when touched , in ravines so deep and dark that through the narrow rift far overhead the stars were visible at noontide , up the sides of huge hills down which trickled rivulets of dust , threading paths along precipices which frowned upon green valleys 5,000 feet below , drinking of cold , clear springs that gushed above the clouds , some times in the sun-baked desert , again clambering far beyond the timber line , Lawton and his followers struggled on. Frequently a wisp of blue smoke jutted from some inaccessible crag and a bullet sang its wicked way to its billet or spattered upon a russet rock. It is a country that God Almighty made in wrath and the imprint of : his anger is on it all. Week succeeded week. Men dropped , fainting , in the giant hills and their comrades passed on. There was no time to stay. They were left to find their way back to the reservation as best they could. Indian and white were foemen worthy of each other's steel , and the issue of the con test was in doubt to the last day. Finally , one night just as the sentries were set , there was a faint'hail and an Indian stood before them. He was worn to the bone , but dauntless still. He said that his chief would talk to the white man , but would talk to him alone. His camp was some miles further on , but the messenger would guide Lawtou to it if he cared to come. The noncoms endeavored to persuade the captain against the venture , but he smiled sour ly at them and told the Indian that he was ready. They left the camp of the soldiers the next morning. By 10 o'clock Lawton stood in the Apache horde. Cavernous eyes gleamed at him. Lips drawn back from discolored teeth grinned at him. Wasted hands were waved at him threateningly. Stern , dominant , the living , breathing person ification of the great White Spirit that had beaten them back from the far eastern verge of the laud they had owned , he walked straight to the medi cine man and demanded his surrender. There was a brief parley. Lawtou con temptuously refused to promise any thing or to guarantee anything , except that he and his followers would be fed. "Maybe you will be hanged after ward , " he said. "I don't know about that. Anyhow , you ought to be. But I'll feed you. I'd feed a dog in your fix. " In the Cubnn Fij lit. A month afterward Gerouimo , Naches and their baud of cutthroats were prisoners in Florida. They are still in confinement. Not only was the power for evil of this particular tribe nullified , but the spirit of Apache re sistance was broken. It had been dem onstrated that they could be beaten at their own game. Once again the white man had shown them that he was their master , mentally , morally and physical ly. It was this service which called Lawton from the west and lauded him in the inspector general's office in Washington , with much official pres tige , a fair salary and little to do. The inaction chafed him , as it chafes any man of his kind. In five years he rusted more than he would have worn in ten. The chance of hostilities with Spain found him eagerly preferring requests for assignment to service. He did not wish to inspect anything or to take the conduct of army trains. He wanted to fight. It seemed to him , he said , that if he could smell the smoke once more and know that there was a chance to do good work , he would instantly become young again. The opportunity was of fered him. It was recognized that in the Santiago campaign fighters and not doctrinaires were wanted. At Tampa Lawton was the first man named by Shafter to assist him in the desperate enterprise ahead. "Pecos Bill" had been for many years on the frontier himself and he knew his officer thor oughly. Nothing could have suited Lawton so well. He was there to kill Spaniards and he thought he saw his way clear to doing it. As a brigadier general of volunteers be was given command of a division and in that command stormed El Caney , doing as much as any man could do to convince Toral that his cause was hopeless. In all of the fighting of that terrific day he was up to the firing line , saying little , but pacing slowly up and down , his gaunt figure a mark for every sharpshooter in the enemy's lines , the Mauser's flicking up the dust about him or pulsing in the air , giving to his men the constant example of how an Amer ican soldier should act when Under fire. He was one of the three commissioners appointed by Gen. Shafter to arrange with Toral the terms of capitulation , and after the fall of Santiago policed the city in a very thorough manner un til the establishment of a stable form of government was made possible. Law- ton's idea of policing a place of the kind is very simple. "The regulations are so and so , " he would say , "and you have your gun. If anybody violates the reg ulations , use the gun. " It required just one day to quiet the city. Again it was the Geroniino record or rather the record of years in the west crowned by the Geronimo incident which sent him to the Philippines to command the American forces in the field. The rainy season will have no effect on him , whatever the effect may be on those under him. He is as cer tain to go strong and fast , even if he goes to his death , as the sun is certain to rise and set. All climates and all seasons are alike to that iron frame , upon which war and peace and the rigors of the mountains and the sloth of the Potomac Valley and asceticism and dissipation have been effectless. SNAKES AS DECORATIONS. Samonn Maidens Wreath Themselves with Reptiles of Flamiiur Red. For the most part the Pacific islands are destitute of snakes. That is abso lutely the case in Hawaii. In New Zea land , equally free of these reptiles , the only knowledge which the Maoris had of snakes may be found in a legend of a monster called the aniwha , concern ing which authorities differ as to whether it is the ancestral and dim rce- r * O * j ' " y &ffifa * ollectioii of a snake or of an alligator. All the eastern islands of Polynesia be tween these two outposts are suakeless. Westward from Hawaii , down among the Gilberts and the Marshalls and the Carolines , the square-bodied water snake begins to make its appearance in the lagoons and harbors. By the time the Philippines are reached the water snake becomes both common and dead ly , and the jungles of those islands are abundantly supplied with snakes. From the Philippines as one follows down the chains of islands snakes are found both abundant and venomous. In the wild lauds of the western Pacific the rep tiles are frequently objects of worship , and in some legends are credited with the creation of the world. Samoa seems to lie just on the bound ary line of snakes in the Pacific. In the eastern islands of the archipelago 110 snakes are to be found ; in Upolu a few are seen at rare intervals. In Savali , cnly a few miles to the west ward , they are common and attain great size , in the case of some kinds at least. None of them is venomous , and the islanders neither fear tlieui nor ex hibit any of that repugnance to their presence which is commonly called in- stinctive. This indifference to the reptiles is made most markedly manifest at the hamlet of Iva , on the northeast coast of Savali. Here are to be found small snakes of a most brilliant red color. They are so common that a basketful may be easily picked tip in any banana patch. The dancing girls of this town are in the habit of employing these gaudy snakes for personal adornment in their dances. They tie them about their necks , their ankles , aud their wrists , festoon them in their head dresses , and tuck a few extra ones in the belt in readiness to replace such as escape in the dance. At their best these sivas danced by the Samoans are cither dull , or revolting shows of savagery. It can easily be imagined that they are made no more attractive when the tau- pou or village maid and her crew of at tendant girls go careering about with an assortment of writhing red snakes. Still , the Samoans , who have no stock of snake prejudices , look upon this as one of the most successful and artistic dances in their islands. liUe orBigGtins. The huge guns of modern navies can be fired only about seventy-five times , when they become worn out. The all 'round proverb is a sort of cir cular saw. TWO AT A TIME. How a Malay Woodcutter Bosced Biff An extraordinary shooting adventure Is recorded by A. L. Butler , of the State Museum , Sehmgor , Malaya , in the last number of the Bombay Natural History Society's Journal. One day In last July a Malay woodcutter went out Into the jungle to cut fuel , taking with him , on the off-chance of a shot at deer , an old single-barreled muzzle-loading gun , loaded with the rather unscientific charge of a bullet and four buckshot. Moving quietly through the jungle , he suddenly came upon a tiger feeding on the carcass of a sambhur , and , with touching confidence in his weapon , fired at a distance of twenty paces. The tiger rolled over , and , when the Malay cautiously approached , he found not one dead tiger , but two , the second hav ing been hidden from the sportsman , though only a few feet distant from the animal he fired at. Mr. Butler , who made a post-mortem examination of the tigers after they had been skinned , found that in each case a single buck shot had gone to the heart. One had also an insignificant wound on the head from another pellet. "For a really ap palling fluke , " as Mr. Butler says , "this achievement of the Malay wood cutter -will be hard to beat. " It is cer tainly not a performance any sane white man will try to parallel , much less to eclipse. Oh , That Delicious Coffee ! Costs but Ic. per Ib. to grow. Salzer has the seed. German Coffee Berry , pkg. 15c. ; Java Coffee pkg. 15c. Salzer's New American Chicory loc. Out this out and tfeud 15c. for any of above packages or send 30c. and get all 3 pkgs. and great Catalogue free to JOHN A. SALZER SEED CO. . La Crosae. Wis. ( c. n. ) Suspected. "What a flatterer your wife is. " "Flatterer ? Oh , no , you wrong her. What has she said that makes jou think she flattered you ? ' ' "It wasn't me she flattered ; but don't you remember what she said about hoping that your boy would grow up to be just like his papa ? " $1OO JReward , $1OO. The readers of this paper will be pleased to learn tliat there is at least one dreaded disease that science lias been able to cure in all its stapes , and that Is catarrh. Hall's Catarrh Cure is the only positive cure np\v known to the med ical fraternity. Catarrh being a constitutional disease , requires a constitutional treatment. Hall's Catarrh Cure Is taken internally , acting directly upon the blood and mucous surfaces of the system , thereby destroying the foundation of the disease , and giving the patient strength by building up the constitution and assisting nature in doing its work , The proprietors have so much faith in its curative powers that they offer One Hundred Dollars for any case that it fails to cure. Send for list of testimonials. Address , F. , T. CHENEY & CO. , Toledo , O. ® -Sold by Druggists , Toe. Devoid of Sensation. "Is that new English novel interest- in"- , ' . " "No , there isn't a single consumptive person in the book. " Chicago Record. To Cure a Cold in One Day Take Laxative Brome Quinine Tablets. All firugcrists refund the money if it fails to cure. 25c. The genuine has L. B. Q. on each tablet .Recollections. Mrs. Weepcrly Yes , we pay spot cash for everything. Mrs. Whipperly Ah ! I often speak to my husband about the time when we had to. Puck. Ilomeseekers" Excursion lo points South ind West , April 4th and 18th , at half rates. For further particulars address II. C. Oheyney , general agent , Sioux City. A Bad Opinion of It. Mr. Wilberforce What do you think Df the third party , Miss Dimliug ? Miss Dimling Oh , I always detest ed a chaperon. Louisville Courier- Journal. My doctor said I would die , but Piso's Cure for Consumption cured me. Amos Kelner , Cherry Valley. 111. . Nov. 23. ' 93. Sir Rotiei LL.H.U , ino uiuiuuut astrono- uer. thinks the earth may be blown to smithereens by the water of the ocean getting down through a crack into the lentral fire. , P " " " ' "love and a Cough Cannot be Hid It is this fact that makes the lover and his sweetheart happy , and sends the suf ferer from a cough to his doctor. 'But there are hid * den ills lurking in impure i blood. "Theliveris < wrong/f it is thought , "or the kid- n&ys. " IXd H ever occur to you that the trouble is in your blood ? Purify this river of life with Hood's Sar- saparilla. Then illness will be banished , and strong , vigorous health will result , llood's Sarsaparilla is the best known , besfc endorsed and most natural of al ! blooi purifiers. Catarrh "I suffered from childhood with catarrh. Was entirely deaf in one ear. Hood's Sarsaparilla cured me and restored my hearing. " Mns. \ \ . STOKES , Midland , Tex. Sore Eyes " Humor in the blood made my ; dnughter's eyes sore , so that we feared blindness , until Hood's Sarsaparilla made her entirely well. ' ' E. B. GIBSON , Heuniker. N. n. Hood's Mils euro liver ills , the non-irritating and "the only cathartic to take with Hood's Saraaparllla. Marriage in Siitn. Every Siamese girl who reaches a certain" age without marriage is tick eted and labeled and placed in a priv ileged class , under the special care of the king , who binds himself to find hus bands for them all. His method is de lightfully simple. A prisoner in any of the Siamese jails may gain his par don and release by marrying one of the ineligible class. Whether he is already married or not is not of great consequence quence , for in Slam it is not necessary to draw the line at one wife. Shake Into Your Shoes Allen's Foot-Ease , a powder for the feet. It cures painful , swollen , smarting , nervous feet and instantly takes the snug out of corns and bunions. It's the greatest comfort dis covery of the age. Allen'sFotEase makes tight-fitting or new shoes feel easy. It is a. certain cure for sweating , callous and hot : tired , aching feet. Try it to-day. Sold by all druggists and shoe stores. l > v mail for 25c , in stamps. Trial package FItEE. Address , Allen S. Olmsted , Le Hoy. X. Y. Tile Surest Cure. "They say that Nell Gadleigh has broken off her engagement with Harry Hipplesou. " "Yes , she says he was so affection ate that he wearied her. " "Oh , if that was all , why didn't she just marry him , and have done with the wearisome part of itV" Delay Mnfcea It Harder. Mis-steps have made the worst sprains , but it is no mis-step to use St. Jacobs Oil. It makes a cure by strength ening , soothing and conquering the pain. Every hour's delay makes it harder to cure. His Doctrine. Hoax Say , old chap , do you believe in making your wife live within her al lowance ? .Toax No , sir ; not when she can man age to live without it. Philadelphia Record. Salzcr'a Seed Corn. Do s your seed corn test. I'.ro. I'arrner ? Salzer's docs it's northern grown , early and good for 80 to l. 0 bu. per acre ! Send this notice and IGc for S corn samples ami low prices to Salzer Socd ( . " * ; La Crosse , W'is. ( c.a. ) Mrs. Eva Nauseu , wife or the Arctic explorer , is a singer of some renown in her native country and was a profes- r ioual. 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I can hardly realize that such a wonderful cure is . ' possible. Lydia E Pink- ham's Vegetable Compound is the best medicine for women - Don t wait until you are prostrated with the mysterious con , It dition known as "Change of Life. " Get Mrs. Pinkham's vice and learn how other women got through.
