Eugene High School - Eugenean Yearbook (Eugene, OR)

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if mHwI iii' - iw-'iii '+Wi f-1:w+ f.Pf4 w. - Page 'ffl ' ' Eugene Twcfzfy-czgltt ' Oregon he Goo oo Pig AS suh! I wuz in the army in the twenty- second cavalry and more 'n that I wuz on the line of battle in the Philippines. Didn' yuh even hear about the tim I wuz near being court martialed, jesse James, our new black cook continued. XVell, them sure were exciting times. I was a boy livin' in the south, a big fellah, but I was jest sixteen. Them nigger soldiers at the recruit- ing post looked mighty good to me, and me mam- mie had beaten me head the day before. I thinks now, Jessie James wouldn't it be nice to enlist. But yuh know suh, they makes you have some one swear, how old yuh are, an' I had no one to swear for nie. I Bout that time I got to talking to an old nigger and I talked around about enlistin, till he says: For our country's sake I'll stan' up foh youf' So up we goes and he swears I am his son Jessie James by legal marriage and that Ijni eighteen years old. The colored sergeant looked kind of doubhtful but let me in. Iit was all by luck suh, and still more, I got into the only company with a colored captain. But the nightia'fore there was a new moon and I had looked at it over my right shoulder. mAh! Yas, suh! 'Bout the court martial. XVell as I said, I wasn't court martialed, but, suh, I came most awfully nigh it. It was like this: One regiment had been sent to the Philippines on a big boat and then hurried to the front. Against them Gringoes, suh. That was sure some sight, we the niggers of the old south upholding the flag of this our nation 'gainst those dirty brown fel- lahsf' 'fW'ell, suh, one night I was on guard duty, after we had been there about three months, marching back and forth, back and forth, 'long the water front clos' to some big warehouses. That was a bad part of the city, them natives had picked several men off right roun' in there. As I marched along I heard a great grunt. Now I knew what was making that noise. There was a little goo goo pig that had lived 'roun' them warehouses, a good juicy lookin' little porkerf' Now them natives over theer was rather kind to us soldiers, most specially the wimmen folks, and natu'ally I had noticed them. Yas, suh, them wimmen over there were mighty fine and they knew ynough to honor and respec' a United States soldier. But there was one natu'ally nicer 'n the rest, Tankla was her name. Big black eyes, white teeth and the stiffest black hair. Yas, suh, 'bout the court martial. Thinks I, that pig would make most awfully fine eating, roasted with garlic and tomatoes, for Tankla, her folks and me. But thinks I, how can I get it. I can't ketch it an' I can't shoot it foh I would have the whole regiment out on top 0' me. I takes after it with my bayonet. Sah, yuh can't think how handy it was to kill one of them little goo goo pigs. I almost got it then away it goes right through my fingers almos', me after it and then I got it right through the shoulder. But sah what did I heah! VVhat did I head, suh! Private James -Private James, where are you? It was change of guards, and I was off my beat in the time of wah! Yes suh! I was liable to death according to the sixty-second article of wah! Lawd! how I begged of those fellahs not to take me to the guard house. But I says nothing 'bout Mr. Goo Goo Pig. But suhl they marched me straight foh the guard house, all cause of a goo goo pig. Scared? if yuh eve' saw a scared nigger, I was one. My knees trembled and my teeth chattered. Yas suh, I always thought I was not scared to die, but I guess even a soldier loves life. All night long in the guard house I thought of Tankla, the goo goo pig and how it would end with a shot the next day. In the night sure as I live, I saw the Angel Gabriel, the preacher used to tell 'bout. W'ell, next morning I got up and soon I was taken to the captain. Captain Young, the only colored commissioned officer in the army. He -,nd his staff was there. Lawd but I was scared when Captain Young says: Private James, yuh are accused of breaking the sixty-second article of wah. Private James, are these charges true. Yash suhf' says I, they are true.

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ui'-Ignflffgfvs .-If E P ' -,feip-.e-14 fu- vq 'cr -'Q fi -El' ' V ' I , ., 1. , - Q. ', I I .- ... A fe ,VI 3 , -ig 'LE 3 w ig, N in f . . .L ' .. V. -q a ,L ., ,. ,Q . .J V, ,J ,L -- a 3 EM 1- -E Ati? -z if : 521: nav... fix -'F-.1 :' I? ,!YiiE cm 'If 1 WM 'di'-17 fm: i - g . . ,I ind 9 A' I y , , .- - i Oregon Tttcfnty sewn dered where I had seen that revolver before. In a flash it came to me. Yesterday afternoon while passing through the street on my way to my office I had seen a cowboy struggling with an officer. At the policeman's foot was the self-same six-shooter. I now had the man placed, a marked man at that. with a nasty cut across his lip causing sev- eral teeth to show. I figured it out this way: The man had come to St. Louis for the ex- press purpose of robbing Rev. Smith who, it was rumored, was a miser. Arriving at night he had picked the locks and ransacked the house, at the same time making enough noise to awaken the rector who had come up behind him and knocked the revolver out of his handi I got no further. The door of my office was thrown open and a man of perhaps fifty years of age with perfectly white hair, entered. He had a hunted look about him and with a feeble voice began, almost with a whisper. You are Alfred Boxer, Notary Public, I be- lievef' Yes I replied, and glad to make your acquaintance. I You won't be though when you know me, he piped. I want to make an affidavit. I was astonished. This was to be one of my first affidavits, yet I kept my wits, picked up a short hand pad and commenced to write what he dictated. s'1i.-wit or oREooN, 5 jss. COUNTY OF ST. LOUIS. j I, Richard Day, being duly sworn. depose and say, that I am either wholly or partially respon- sible for the death of the late Rev. Smith. You persons who hear this read will understand better the events of last night, the tenth of March, 1908, if I give you an account of Rev. Smith's past history. Ten years ago Smith and I went to the same training school. XVe two friends were both try- ing to become preachers. During that term of 1898 a young lady, the sheriff's daughter, re- turned from college. Wfe both loved her the first moment we saw her and each of us being of jealous disposition began to hate the other. He won the girl and became a rector, while I went into an active business life. My career was unsuccessful for the simple reason that I fell in with bad company and became mixed up in some fraud and embezzlement cases. I then wrote a letter to the leader of the gang, I told him all about my plans and how I had worked them out. In some way or other Rev. Smith got hold of the letter and has extracted money from me ever since to keep from making the matter public. All these last eight years, I have lived on pins and needles until the last year being unable to raise the money, I resolved to destroy the paper. I had no revolver so I procured one last night from a cowboy and went on my way. A little before midnight I crept up, picked the lock to the front door, then the one to his room and began to search for the paper. I had just begun to look for secret places when I was startled by the Rev. Smith knocking the revolver from my hand. I shook him off and ran at full speed down the steps and out doors. For some reason never to be known I lingered. In about fifteen or twenty minutes, I saw some- body clothed in black rise from the room and walk along the edge of it to the gable window, pry it open and put something white in, then start to return. About half way back the Rev. Smith gave a muffled cry and pitched down headlong onto a stone bench. I, as you probably have guessed. ran for a doctor but was caught by a policeman who took me to the station. I was released this morning, because my reputation was good, and allowed to return home. I, as you can plainly see, will not live long. My senses are weakening and my strength is feeble. The paper will never be found for the reason that the house, God knows why, went up in flames this afternoon. At my trial this paper is to be read, for I am now going to surrender myself to the police and serve the term which is destined to be mine and which I pray will be a short one. RICHARD DAY, Subscribed and sworn to before me, and in 1ny presence, this elevtenth day of March, 1908. Alfred Boxer, Notary Public. Pk X wk :if PF af :lf if At the trial Richard Day was sentenced for burglary to one year and one day imprisonment in the state penitentiary, ten month of which he never served and never will. IV. L. S., 315.

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V 55: P3P 1 M, era'-fs wi. . -y u r 1 ff' 55 ls. -. T Oregon ' - Ttceizfy-111110 Have you anything to say, says he. Then I jest told the whole truth. pig, says he. Then he All for a goo goo rakes me up one side an' straight down the other. Maybe suh, yuh think nigger. Then he says: I wasn't some scared Private james you are convicted by your own confession foh an offense whose penalty is death. Yas suh,'l I gasped. I was almost choked, suh, I felt like my tongue had filled my whole mouth. I got a picture of a line of soldiers with their rifles raised. But the captain kept on: As a penalty for your offense I hereby command you with a guard of two soldiers, to go -- He stopped and I gave one sob. W'hat was he going to say? That you go and get that pig. I begun cryin' fob joy. '4But wait, says he. f'Get that pig, bring it back, dress it, and have it for dinner at your mess tablesf' Suh, I felt like I had been dead a long time and had come back to air and life. I wanted to kiss his feet. But suh, I tell yuh I hated awfully to go and get that pig and hear them niggers josh me about Tankla and the pig. And suh, but it was sure awful to see them fat niggers set- tin' 'roun' that mess table, twenty of 'em, eatin' that pig that I had meant for little Tankla and her folks and me. ine Feathers 311 F1118 B113 S ARMION High School was very exclusive owing to its location in the more aristo- 2.651 cratic part of St. Louis. Life was usu- ally made so unpleasant for undesirables that they did not remain long. It came as nearly being a private school as it could be, without really being one, and there was certainly never a more snobbish crowd of youngsters. It created somewhat of a sensation when Cecile Dale walked in upon them one morning and took a seat in assembly. She looked about her politely but coolly, and being a good character reader, asked her information from professors rathers than pupils. She was unusually beauti- ful, with deep blue eyes and fair hair and she had a way of quietly ignoring those about l1er which both attracted and angered the pupils of lXIarmion, and caused much discussion among them. Snubs slid off her like water off a duck's back, and consequently the girls all disliked her and the boys secretly admired her, because they could not do so openly and keep in the smart set. Cecile's grades were irreproachable and she spoke German and French fluently and English with such an accent that it was easy to see that she was a foreigner. Further than this the Mar- mion pupils knew nothing about her excepting that she wore queer but elegant clothes and lived in a most modern little bungalow in a rather modern part of town. She certainly is the queerest personf' Pauline Day said,-and if Pauline said she was queer, she was, for Pauline was the leader of the set. The following winter she was again present and Nellie Stuart and Gordon Dean both reported having seen her. The one at Newport and the other camping in the Adirondacks. She was with a lady and a gentleman in the queerest foreign looking uniform. Daddy said it was the uniform of a foreign soldier, Nellie ex- plained. HShe just looked at me in that cool way of hers and bowed and I bowed backf' 4'Their camp was only a mile from ours, Gordon reported, and we became quite good friends. She's a jolly sport. I like herf' G, indeed! said Pauline Day, flushing, if you like her so well, you don't need to bother about us anymore. I for one refuse to try to like herf, Gordon did not answer, but the next day he walked to school with Cecile and carried her books. After that his old associates avoided him but he did not appear to mind it. He and Cecile became fast friends. However school had not been holding more than two months when she stopped. Curiosity ran 4