Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1866-11-29
EBENsBURG, PA, THURSDAY NOVEMBER 49, 1866.

report never took clear shape, the officer
having been killIel.
The engagement and gossiping of few
wounded soldiers, had much too incohe-
rent and contradictory to lead to formal
| Investigation of the matter besides it was
at the victory Of Navarro. He had great
| IY distinguished himself, and the old Field
Marshal Radezky had with his own hands
affixed the golden medal on his breast
| The rumor, however, together with the
| knowledge OF his harsh and violent tenn
! per, caused his name to be erased from
/ the list of those who were recommended
| for higher promotion.
| When this incident was made known to
| him he became even more suilen, more
rigid, more cruel than ever, but always,
as 1t was well understood, for the benefit
! Of. the service, the slightest demands of
which he performed with the same immu-
| table strictness as he enforced them to be
| done by others.
! a few weeks previous TO the dTea ,lful
punishment which he had now TO undergo,
| he was mounting guard in the outworks
! with some twenty or twenty-five men of
his own company. 1t was chilly, rainy
night, and when the sentries where relieved
they were glad to stretch themselves, wet
! as they were, upon tho floor near the large
stove in the middle Of the guard-room
The floor not being very clean floors sell
| dom are in these localities and the white
| uniforms Of the men being wet, it was no
wonder that the dirt adhered to them with
a tenacity that denied all exertions to get
| it off, when the wcaiers were roushed by
the sergeant to prepare for standing guard
once more The more they tried to rub
their clothes clean the morn sturdily ne
lent lping hand to their endeavors by
| an application of the sad equipment of
| every Austrian noneommissioned officer,
the stick. While he was fully at work,
| cutting away at the men, with powerful
arm the door opened, and the officer on
duty entered the guard room.
Attention" commanded the sergeant,
and salufing the superior, he made the
report that nothing worth remarking had
| happened. The officer. young ensign,
fresh from the military school, and almost
a boy, took no notice whatever of the i'm
portant news, but asked the sergeant, in a
brisk and somewhat impetuouS manner,
what he was again striking the men for.
The sergeant, already much annoyed at
| this interference, gave a surly and unwill
| ing answer, and when the young officer
rebuked him in q severe and perhaps some
what naughty manner, losing all self-con-
trol, lifted up his hand against his officer
1t was but one fatal moment, quick as
! tightening The uplihed hand never de-
scended it was caught by dU1e.: power
| full arms. He was felled to The ground
and disarmed. Half an hour afterwards
he found himself in front Of the casemates.
Liftins the arm against superior is
| considered a capital crime. In this case
! it had been committed whilst both parties
| were on duty, and the Austrian military
laws are the very last in the world to be
trifed with. The following day he was
| tried by court martial and sentenced to be
shot When the sentence was forwarded
to the competent authority for ratification,
it happened to be the superior's birthday;
capital punishment was commGted, the
prisoner had to run the gauntlet.
A cruel act Of grace was this commuta-
tation When the first sentence had been
read over to him, he had remained cold,
impossible, not muscle of his proud face
stirred He did not fear death he had
looked it in the face many time without
f1incbing; and TO die in the open air,
pierced by dozen balls, soldiers death,
why should he care much for that? But
when he was informed that he had to run
the gauntlet twice throughout his company,
after having been previously degraded, h
trembled Tor the first time in. his life. He
knew of many soldier who had run the
gauntlet thrice through whole battalion,
and not even the worse of it after all; he
knew of some that had married afterwards
and brought up families of children; he
was fully aware that the issue ot this ter
rible torture derended entirely upon the
disposition of the men. Dreadful refec-
tionl Above all he thought of the shame,
the dishonor, and the proud heart was
well nigh giving way.
On the evening previous to the punish
ment, the I'd rifle battalion of kheren-
butler infantry would have been unfit for
service the men were drunk. They had
got up carousal in joy and honor of the
coming day. But in the morning they
were sober enough. The drums ceased to
beat as soon as the prisoner had arrived
in the middle of the square his escort fell
back. He stood alone near the right wing
of the company. There was dead 81
lence not a respiration was to be heard
from all the thousands gathered on the spot.
The commanding officer read the sentence
over to him for the second time. This