TAFTS AND SHAFTERS WERE MANY.
Washington Himself No Small Man, but
Several of His Officers Outweighed
Him by Scores of Pounds.
Great men were the officers who led the colonial forces during the War of the Revolution—great in patriotism, great in courage, great in patience, and great in size.
General Washington would pass in these days as a large man, but many of his officers outweighed him. Read, for example, the following statement, showing the weight of a number of American officers, as recorded at West Point on August 10, 1778:
| General Washington | 209 | lbs. |
| General Lincoln | 224 | " |
| General Knox | 280 | " |
| General Huntingdon | 182 | " |
| General Greaton | 166 | " |
| Colonel Swift | 319 | " |
| Colonel Michael Jackson | 252 | " |
| Colonel Henry Jackson | 238 | " |
| Lieutenant-Colonel Huntingdon | 212 | " |
| Lieutenant-Colonel Cobb | 182 | " |
| Lieutenant-Colonel Humphreys | 221 | " |
One might think that the scales used were the property of a dishonest grocer were it not for the proportion between Colonel Swift, say, and General Greaton. Or, perhaps, these officers were weighed in heavy accouterments. Certainly it is hard to think of most of them as traveling on horseback about country at the head of small forces whose chief resource was mobility.
HOW THE LUCY WALKER WAS BLOWN TO PIECES.
CREW FED THE FLAMES WITH FAT.
Steamboats Racing on the Mississippi
Before the Civil War Provided Strenuous
Experiences for All on Board.
Joe Vann, Cherokee Indian, who lived many years ago near Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, possessed five hundred slaves and thousands of acres of land. Some of his horses were fine racing stock, and he owned the Lucy Walker, the fastest steamboat on the Arkansas River. Vann was good to his slaves—open-hearted, generous; but he was an inveterate gambler. He lost and won large sums at horse-racing, and, indeed, he would not take a dare. The Fort Gibson Post recalls as follows the tragic circumstances of this remarkable Cherokee's end: