Show BILL ANTHONY A Comrade Talk of the Hero of the Maine New York Journal Do I know Bill Anthony said the old corporal with a grunt Do I know Bill Anthony this here theyre caJlln the hero of the Maine Say friend I knowed Bill Anthony before he ever knew what a pair of sea legs was I knowed Bill when he was a soldier which same is bet I tern a sailor any day Ive slept blan ket and blanket with Bill when the Dakota Da-kota zephyr was freen the tails of the horses and Ive rode stirrup to stirrup with Bill when the alkali was burnin the whites out of your eyes and the sun was cook your face the color of a burnt bean I Bill Anthony eh He warnt no hero then He was just a devil of a cavalryman ridin a hoss like a Indian I fichtln like two or three ordinarv men and raisin rumpuses all over Mo tana Ever been to Fort Asslnabotne Then you dont know how close you can go to hell on this earth Bill was tough as whang leather in them days Dont know where he learned to ride but he could back a hess and stay with him Icnger and closer than any bootand spur man I ever saw Bill used to be a moonshine chaser He got into the army way back yonder arm3 del in i Times was rough down In Carolina them days because everybody was makin whisky and scum It like there want no government at all Bill went down there with K company of the old Eighteenth infantry and rode all over the mountains with every log shelterin a man with a rifle and a general gen-eral uneasiness crcepin around Bill went through that campaign against the liquor makers and never got a scratch Then when he was transferred trans-ferred to Montana I ran against him and we hookel up as pals both for one another against the whole world The Seventh missed him when he went His time run out for about the third time and Bill pulled his freight for the east And then what do you think The cuss enlisted in a marine corps left the army that he loved and got In among a lot of water dogs that i dont know a hoss from an A tent j i But he went around the world that I way got aboard the Brooklyn the old a3 wooden ship I mean and while he I didnt sec no flghtln on her he was at Alexandria when the British was throwin shells into that misguided town When the ship got back they I cut Bill loose but the flag and the flannel flan-nel was callln hm and he went right I down to the recruitin station at Day ids Isand and enlisted again Hergot I a set of sergeantn stripes and was a drill master While Bill was doln this I round the world run the Seventh had come in out of the Sioux country and cnuntr was doin purty work at Vest Point I Lieutenant Harding saw Bill one day J dt7e W f I and nailed him Lieutenant wanted a drum major for the band Bill looked I more like a drum major than any man i in the army and the lieutenant I took I him to the Point Bill was prouder of i that job than anything the army had I ever done for him and he made a goodman good-man too I remember the day he got I I 1 to the post He was bilin drunk and reelin like a sick ho s but he marched up to the lieutenants auarters straightened ui and said Sir I report re-port for duty The lieutenant knew f ad he just told him to go to his I quarters and go to sleep Any pther man on earth would have got the guard sot te gard house but Bill had a way of lookin I serious whether he meant it or not and he > ver got drunk without help 7I I good drunk and the officers had some I sort ot respect for him for that rea > son I I I Bills been everything in the United It j States army except a commfsh and I hed abeen that with half a chance and no whisky Whisky Did you ever see a Indian drink whisky Thats Bill He can get away with more real corn juice than any man in the ranks and thats sayin a good deal But he always got drunk good and hard and never made any of your half plays at the game Ive seen Bill git on a drunk swallow swal-low all the whisky in the canteen and then take to Worcester sauce ni he couldnt git the sauce tomato ketchup wasnt too rough for him Whisky and I the United States flag is Bills first and I only love and hell he worshipin them r two as long as he can wear a uniform I or lift a glass Brave Yes Bi is brave He was brave down among the moonshiners which he says is I worse than Indians eh ITo wee hrsv whpn ho was Itr I the Sioux hlchi worse than heir And I guess youd say he was brave when he was standin i there waitln for I the captain to come on deck so he could report before the ship sunk Oh yes drunk or sober in uniform or out I hot or cold dry or wet I guess Bill is brae S is lots of other bunkin I along on that ship with Bill and sos the whole United States army and sos i the whole United States navy But he is the ony man of his kind in alibi I gang and if we had a real shootin I trouble wed need a whole lot of Bill |