The Elbert County tribune. [volume], January 12, 1912, Image 6

About The Elbert County tribune. [volume] (Elbert, Elbert County, Colo.) 18??-1920

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Old Blue Dog's Medicine
ORT MYER Is in Virginia
on a bluff overlooking the
Potomac river and the
Capital City of the coun
try. The fort always Is
garrisoned by some pick
ed troopers of Uncle
Sam's army. Oen. I-eon
ard Wood, the ranking
officer of the service on
the active list and chief of
T
the general staff, Uvea at Fort Myer.
Other officers of high rank have quar
ters there, and many an old plains
man trooper who In the old days
fought the Indians, and who later
fought the Filipinos, finds In the Vir
ginia post an Ideal garrison In which
to round out bis service.
The old soldiers at Fort Myer are
as great story tellers as are the old
sailors of wooden ship days who meet
together occasionally at Annapolis.
Stories of army life are not told alone
In the enlisted men’s barracks. In
the officers’ clubs one occasionally
gets a story of the frontier days.
Neither officers nor enlisted men are
given to talking of their own experi
ence. but If a tale of courage or of
hardship well endured concerns an
other, the soldier is not slow to speak.
Here Is a story as told by an old
officer of regulars, who is Just about
to leave the active service for the
camp of the retired list. He called
his story “Old Blue Dog's Medicine”
and It ran like this:
"Ralph Burnham, government con
tractor doctor, Joined the cantonment
on the Platte river the first of July.
Burnham was an ambitious young fel
low, who knew his profession and be
thought it was a good experience for
him to go out where the Klowas and
C SSJTJ DODY WRAPPED IN ATT
(TAPPIDOTt FLAG
Comanches were kicking up a row, there to do a
little surgery for the soldiers.
“A contract doctor's pay was $1,600 a year,
and Burnham concluded that he and a certain
young woman down east could live comfortably
enough on that amount until he chose to quit
Uncle Sam’s service and pick up a practice worth
$15,000 a year or thereabouts. Burnham was san
guine
“The new doctor recruit reached the canton
ment about 9 o'clock In the morning Outside
the troops’ quarters was a big Kiowa encamp
ment. Burnham had never seen an Indian be
fore. barring a few broken-spirited Oneldaß on a
New York reservation. He hadn’t been in camp
an hour before an Indian sneaked In and asked
for the surgeon. It happened that the regular
army surgeon had gone shooting for the morn
ing. and the Kiowa buck was turned over to
Burnham. He had ’sneaked’ Into the camp, be
cause he did not want his fellow braves to know
that he was a messenger after the doctor. The
Klowas believed implicitly In their own ‘medicine
man.' and especially in one. an ugly-faced old
chap named Blue Dog.
“Burnham was told half In signs and half In
words that a Kiowa buck was sick. He went
along with the Indian until they reached the
edge of the reds’ camp. There the Kiowa pointed
out a tepee as the place where the sick man lay,
and then disappeared. Burnham went to the
lodge and entered He was met with growls and
a frightful odor On the ground lay a Kiowa
warrior unconscious, and round him was dancing
and chanting the most hideous-looking creature
that Burnham had ever looked on.
“The dancer was old Blue Dog. In addition to
the dancing he was burning some sort of Indian
Incense, which was worse than asafetlda. He was
trying to drive the devil of sickness out of the
prostrate warrior
“Burnham saw In an Instant that the buck on
the ground wan suffering from epilepsy He
swung his medicine case round and began to
take out some vials. Old Blue Dog gave a yell,
and three buckß entered and told the doctor In
pretty tough English that he couldn’t try his
medicine till Blue Dog got through. Blue Dog
got through In ten minutes The dancing had
exhausted him. and his unconscious patient had
not ns much as trembled an eyelid.
"Then Burnham went at him He had the
buck on his feet inside of five minutes, and with
the stimulation of the brandy that the doctor
bad given liberally the Kiowa acted as though
be bad never seen a sick day In his life.
“Blue Dog looked amazed, but he told his fel
lows that It was his own medicine that had
brought the buck around, but that it was a little
slow In acting, that was all.
"Three weeks after this Burnham was routed
out of bed one night by a pounding on the win
dow frame of his long shack. He rose and found
old Blug Dog without Blue Dog had a pretty
fair smattering of English
“ ‘Little one sick,’ he said. ‘Come, same tepee.'
"Burnham followed the old medicine man. who
disappeared Just as the other Kiowa haul done
before reaching the lodge. The doctor found a
child of Blue Dog suffering from a fever, tossing
and moaning In delirium. Blue Dog came In.
‘People mustn’t know/ be said, ‘or they’d kill
me.’
“Burnham tended the child surreptitiously for
BY EDWARD B. CLARK
and the Comanches
went out and raided western Kansas,
and Nebraska. It was one of the worst
years for the settlers and the troops
known to Indian warfare. Things had
been quiet about, the cantonment on the
Platte till late in August. The garrison
was Ignorant that the Indians were
thinking of mischief. Burnham had re
ceived word from the east that th<*
voting woman who was to be Mrs. Burn
ham. Helen Truxton by name. was. Ir
response to his earnest letters, to come
to the cantonment on the Platte and let
the chaplain have something to do In
the marrying line. Helen Truxton was
an orphan and school teacher. At her
lover’s solicitation she left civilization
behind and started for the Platte. The
stage In which she was to make the last
part of the Journey never reached the
cantonment.
"Tlte Klowas Jumped from their Platte encamp
ment the night before and went on the warpath.
Old Blue Dog went with them, somewhat to the
amazement of the soldiers. He had always been
fairly friendly to the whites. Well, there were
fights and skirmishes, and finally the Kiowa*
were pretty thoroughly smashed. The stage In
which Helen Truxton had been a passenger to the
Platte was found. The driver and four men pas
sengers were dead and scalped There was no
trace of the girl
"Those who know something of Indian war
fare and savage methods can imagine the feeling
that was In Ralph Burnham's heart. Four weeks
had gone by and all hope of rescuing Miss Trux
ton alive had been given over. One morning.
Blue Dog. with his wives and children, showed
up on the site of the old Kiowa encampment
There he pitched his tepee. The old fellow told
the commanding officer that he had been forced
to go out and that he had come back to his
friends, the whites, as soon as he could. The
colonel knew something of Blue Dog and be
lieved him
"At noon that same day the old medicine man
went to Burnham’s quarters. 'Your medicine Is
strong.* he said. *1 show you mine Is stronger.
You raise up Kiowa brave who was dead. You
cure sick papoose, but I have stronger medicine
than that. You come see.’
"Burnham went along with the old fellow, not
realizing what he was driving at. He reached
the tepee, which was a big double nffalr, with the
skins falling like a curtain and dividing it Into
two parts. Blue Dog squatted on the ground and
began burning Incense and chanting. Then he
drew circles and danced In them Finally he let
out a terrific shriek, and. raising his arm, he
said to Burnham ‘Kiowa medicine man make
dead alive’ a
"Blue Dog Jumped backward, and In an instant
the curtain of skins fell, and Burnham, with a
staggered mind and blurring eyes, knew that
Helen Truxton was In the tepee beyond surround
ed by the wives of Blue Dog.
"Safe and unharmed she was. and saved by
Blue Dog
"Blue Dog turned to Burnham. There was a
curious expression In his eye. It was as much
like a twinkle as could find a place In the eye
of an Indian 'My medicine,’ he said, ‘raise dead,
but It do more wonder than that, for palefaces
and some Indians say no cure for this, but I
find It.' and the chief drew in the dirt a heart
broken through Its center."
A sergeant with the sleeve of his blouse well
covered with enlistment stripes told the other day
this tale of the service:
’What’s that you say?" said Sergeant Toole, as
he sat down at the barracks table around which
were seated a dozen comrades. "You say there
never was any good In a deserter? Well, you’ve
missed It by Just one. and have made a ‘four’
Instend of a bull’s-eye. Didn’t you ever hear tell
of Jim Benson of I Troop of the Twelfth? *J?tn
was a deserter, so Washington people said, but
Jim loved the flag
"What made him desert? Well, what should
make an old soldier desert but a woman?
“Jim was In the service twenty-five years before
he struck his flag to a petticoat. Like all those
fellows, when he got his he was hit so bad that
'jnoivji mediom
MAKE DEAD AUVE “
n week. She recovered,
and the next day Burn
ham found at his door
as handsome a blanket
us ever a Navajo
made. Blue Dog gave
the blanket.
"That was the sum
mer thnt the Klowas
none of your surgeons who are up In matters
of sentiment could probe and get out the bullet,
or perhaps I’d better say arrow, for that’s the
kind of ammunition the little chap who shot Jim
uses. You see Jim was nigh onto fifty when he
got his sights fixed and held on to this pretty
creature with blonde hair, blue eyes and pink
cheeks. It’s always the way with the old fellows
when they get stuck on something young. It goes
hard with them. You see the girl has heard how
It was that Jim had always been steady, had
never seen the Inside of ‘the mill' except as a
member of the guard, and. moreover, how he had
$4,000 drawing 4 per cent with the paymaster
and was sure of going out as a first sergeant In
five years with forty plunks a month.
"Jim always went Into a fight to win, and he
got onto the track of that girl and hung to It
Just as he did to the Kid's trail down In the
Apnche country when I Troop- was chasing that
red devil through the Arizona hell. The girl led
Jim on for a while coquettish like. Just to make
sure of him, I guess. I don't suppose she ever
cared a rap for him
‘‘Well, finally we all thought that Jim had
corraled her all right. It was given out that the
Twelfth’s chaplain was going to have a Job tying
the two up None of the boys congratulated Jim
too hearty, because most of them had sized the
affair up right, and wouldn’t have It that the girl
wns good enough for Jim Benson. She might
be all right for a rookie, but not for an old one
who had seen more campaigns than the girl had
years. I ought to have told you before that this
particular petticoat was visiting at the post. She
came from down lowa way somewhere.
"One night she gave it out that she was going
home, and that Jim must go down there for the
splicing. She cleared out, and In a few days
after the old fellow gets a furlough and clears
out. too, -following the trail, as we heard after,
way down to lowa. Now. you must Just get
hold of this fact. Jim was kind of a pious chap,
but he loved the flag better than any Bible that
was ever printed, but for a short time that girl
was above the flag. Jim was Just crazy for her.
The story Is that she wouldn’t come back and
wouldn’t marry him unless he quit the army then
and there. Jim tried to quit through the regular
red tape channels but they wouldn’t have It down
In Washington.
"Jim Benson, veteran, medal of honor man.
fighter in a hundred fights, lover of his flag and
country, and as good a soldier as ever wore quar
termaster’s shoes, deserted, and deserted for a
petticoat. I forgot to say that Jim got his wad
of money from the paymaster before his leave
was up.
"There was another desertion Inside of a month
after Jim quit the colors. This time a woman
did the deserting, though a fellow helped her to
do it, and along with the woman and the fellow
went Jim’s money.
"Jim’s heart was clean broke He got In com
munication with his old captain somehow, and
he tried to work the thing through the depart
ment for Jim, but there’d been a neap of deser
tions about that time, and despite Jim’s medal
and his twenty-five years with nary a ‘blind’ nor
a day In the ‘mill’ against him. the honorable the
secretary of war said that If Jim was caught
he must take his medicine.
‘lt was rumored around old Fort Johnson that
Jim had been seen on the edge of the woods
looking at the old place and seeming kind of wild
like. One n.'ght one of the old quartermaster
shacks got cn fire. It was Just before target
practice season and the building had a dozen big
boxes of ammunition in It. There was a pretty
stiff wind blowing and It looked ns If the bar
racks and a lot of other things would go. If that
stuff had exploded the other buildings would
have gone sure The fire was fairly eating around
those boxes and the fellows fought shy of it
"All at once, while the crowrd was bearing
back, somebody Jumped clean through the line
and plump Into the fire. He grabbed a box and
threw It out clear of the blaze, and then another
and another, though the flames were burning his
clothes and going up wreathlike about his head.
"When he had done the business clean and
good, the man Jumped out of the flames and ran
to the woods. Well I guess you know who It
was. It was Jim Benson. We found him dead
the next day in the thicket, but the curious part
of the matetr was that Jim’s body was wrapped
In an old garrison flag that had been pinned
about him by the last effort of those poor burned
hands. Jim thought, you see, that deserter
though he was, If he did this that they might
bury him with the flag.
"Did they do It? Yes. and gave him the regu
lation three rounds over the grave and the best
prayer that the old chaplain knew how to pray."
SPREE
I want every jxraon
who la bllloua, consti
pated or has any stom
ach or liver ailment to
send for a free package
of my Paw-Paw Pills.
I want to prove that
they positively cure In
digestion. Bour Stom
ach, Belching, Wind,
Headache. Nenroua
neas, Bleepleaaneaa and
•re an infallible cure
for Conatlpatlon. To do
this I am willing to give million* of free Pack
ages. I take all the riak. Sold by dreggleta
for 26 centa a vial. For free package addreaa,
Prof. Munyon. 63rd & Jeflereon SU..Phllsdelphl».Pa.
Your Liver
Is Clogged Up
That’s Why You’re Tired—Out of Sorts
—Have No Appetite. s,
CARTER’S LITTLEI \
LIVER PILLS
will put you right
in a few WITTLE
They WIVER
their IB PILLS.
W |nS
etipation, Apr— *
Biliousness, Indigestion and Sick Headache
SMALL PILL, SMALL DOSE, SMALL PRICE.
Genuine must bear Signature
rflM 111 K ■ I 'i Mi
ra Cough Syrup. Twin Good. Um Kd
in timu. Bold by Onnkt*. sBs
V.ZItDPaDZ
<=?EYE WATER
iOIIS L. THOMPSON SONS ACO.. Troy. N. Y
W. N. U., DENVER, NO. 2-1912.
NOT SO VERY PRECOCIOUS
Bimple Explanation of Facts That Had
Made Young Father Green
With Jealousy.
It was a wet day, and In conse
quence the guests had to stay indoors.
The young couple Btarted to talk of
their baby.
"My baby has just cut his first
tooth.” said the father proudly.
"Indeed?” said the other. "Well,
mine cut his long ago.”
"Our baby,” said the first, "is just
beginning to talk.”
“Ours,” said the second, "cannot
only talk, but read.”
"Knows his letters already, does
he?” said the first, wdth a note of
jealousy In his voice.
“Oh, yes, Indeed!” said the other.
"And can figure like an expert ac
countant."
"Really?” said the first. "Then he
must be older than mine. How old is
your baby?”
"Mother,’’ said the second, address
ing his wife, "how old is Willie?’’
"Nineteen,” said mother.—Judge.
SHE KNEW.
Visitor (examining picture in dining
room)-—Is that picture one of the old
masters?
Hostess—Yes; that’s a picture of
our cook.
IN MATCHTOWN.
Fortunately no Faith Was Required,
For She Had None.
”1 had no faith whatever, but on the
advice of a hale, hearty old gentleman
who spoke from experience, I began to
use Grape-Nuts about 2 years ago,”
writes an Ohio woman, who says she
is 40, is known to be fair, and admits
that she is growing plump on the new
diet.
"I shall not try to tell you how I suf
fered for years from a deranged stom
ach that rejected almost all sorts of
food, and digested what little was forc
ed upon It only at the cost of great
distress and pain.
"I was treated by many different
doctors and they gave me many differ
ent medicines, and 1 even spent sever
al years in exile from my home, think
ing change of scene might do me good.
You may judge of the gravity of my
condition when I tell you I was some
times compelled to use morphine for
weeks at a time.
"For two years I have eaten Grape-
Nuts food at least twice a day and I
can now say that I have perfect
health. I have taken no medicine in
that time —Grape-Nuts has done it all.
I can eat absolutely anything I wish,
without stomach distress.
"I am a business woman and can
walk my 2 or 3 miles a day and feel
better for doing so. I have to use
brains in my work, and it is remark
able bow quick, alert and tireless my
mental powers have become.” Name
given by Postum Co., Battle Creek,
Mich.
“There’s a reason,” and it Is explain
ed in the little book, "The Road to
Wellville,” in pkgs.
Ever read the above letter* A new
o»e appears from time to time. The?
are aennlne, tree, and fall of hamaa
Interest.
Art and a Sausage King.
Robert Henri, the eminent New
York painter, was talking about those
millionaires who buy, merely to show
off, doubtful "old masters’’ of fabulous
prices.
“Their knowledge of art,” Mr. Henri
said, "is about equal to that of the
Chicago sausage manufacturer who
said to Whistler:
" What would you charge to do me
in oil?’ _
“ ‘Ten thousand/ said Whistler
promptly.
“‘But suppose I furnished the oil?'*
said the millionaire/'
An Unusual Benefit.
Henry E. Dixey was talking at
Sherry's in New York about benefits.
“In the old-fashioned benefit,” he
said, ‘‘you were responsible for all
bills and tickets. Thus, at times,
your benefit actually cost you money.
Some poor chaps have been strapped
for months while paying off heavy
benefit losses.
“I heard of a queer benefit in Nola
Chucky the other day. A visiting
company announced a harvest home
performance ‘for the benefit of the
poor—tickets reduced to a nickel.’
"Well, Nola Chucky turned out in
force to that harvest home benefit,
and the next nay a divine called on
the manager to find out what was to
be done with the money.
" ‘What’s to be done with the bene
fit money?’ the manager said indig
nantly. ‘Why, sir, that question as
tonishes me.’
" ‘But,’ said the divine, didn’t you
advertise the performance as for the
benefit of the poor?’
‘“And/ shouted the manager, ‘didn’t
we reduce the tickets to a nickel so
that all the poor could come?’ ”
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
The Diesel oil engine, now well
known where large oil engines can be
used, differs from other internal com
bustion motors in having no vaporizer,
ao ignition devices, and in operating
without explosion. At the charging
stroke the engine draws in air only;
the next stroke compresses it to 500
pounds per square Inch, raising the
temperature to about 1,000 degrees
then a jet of oil is forced in by air
at still higher pressure, and the air in
the cylinder is hot enough to cause
it to burn at once. In place of the
sudden explosion of gas there is sim
ply the steady burning of the oil as
long as it Is injected. The engine
was designed for running on cheap
oils, and quite recently, since the Ger
man patents expired, even tar-oil has
been employed. One of the tar-oil en
gines is of 4,ooo*horsepower. In the
last year or two the German experi
menters have gone still further and
have tried raw tar with such success
that early extensive use of tar as a
motor fuel is predicted. The tests have
been made with a 100-horsepower en
gine, using both thin gas-retort tar and
thick coke-oven tar. A small amount
it light oil has been used aid igni
lion, but the engine has run on tai
alone, of widely different quality.
There was no fouling or interruption.
The tar fuel is said to cost 18 per
2ent less than tar-oil, and less than
palf as much as paraffin or kerosene
Dll.
The important subject of nutrition
nas received much attention, but It is
a new suggestion that, besides correct
Amounts of protein, carbohydrate and
tat, the diet must contain a minute
proportion of some mysterious sub
stance not yet understood. This idea
nas been taken up by Professor Stepp
Of Giessen, in a study of the food of
mice. On a dried mixture of rice and
new milk the mice grew and flour
ished, but after certain portions had
been dissolved out by alcohol and
ether, this food became so unsuitable
that animals fed on it soon died. Some
thing essential to life had been ex
tracted. The extract included fats,
hut no improvement, and the addition
pf mineral salts had no effect in pre
serving life. It was concluded that
the essential substance must be a li
poid present in milk but absent from
butter. The lipoids exist in the outer
protoplasmic layer of cells, resemble
fats in solubility in alcohol, and usu
ally contain phosphorus and nitrogen.
The theory was confirmed by adding
an extract of dried buttermilk to the
treated food, the mice fed on the mix
ture being in good condition at the end
of six weeks. Some lipoids have been
isolated and tested, but the particular
one necessary to existence has not
been found.
The new imitation marble of a Ber
lin engineer, claimed to have extra
ordinary hardness, is made in half an
hour from cylinders with binding ma
terial and coloring matter.
HOMESEEKERS EXCURSION
RATES TO TEXAS AND NEW
MEXICO POINTS DUR
ING 1911.
On the first and third Tuesdays or
each month during the entire yea.
The Colorado and Southern Rail
way will sell round trip homeseekers*
excursion tickets to a great many
points in New Mexico and Texas at
greatly reduced rates. Final limit
25 days allowing liberal stop-over
privileges. For detailed information,
rates, etc., call on your nearest
rado and Southern agent or address T
E. Fisher, General Passenger Agent
Denver, Colo.
HIDES-PELTS-FURS
Dealer* in nidee Wool
AW A » EL| ABLE : PROMPT
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