The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1886-01-28
WAR IMClDEnm.


n 4AGA ~ A4AO AA83 A~R6AsS- SEN~-N-e-Nd
= athepe was lots of money made In u
army. / had . good chance myse
once, bat somehow / ana little thin
s skinned on that question II / can
get clean money, then don't want asJ
New once had $4,000 In greenbsck
under this arm for several days, that
D might have got aWsy with, or at lea
the greater part of 1t, and nobody woul
have been any the wiser. Let ms Eel
you how got so much money In 70.
possession. We were stationed at
camp in the outskirts ef Baltimore
which had been established for the car
of substitutes and bounty men. Yo'
are too young to understand perhap
what in war times We called substitute
ana bounty men, Let me explaIen
After the volunteers were about exhaust
ed, the government ordered draft. Tit
men of the country were enrolled b
provost marahals, and the number draft
ed apportioHed. When q man wa,
drawn, he sometimes paid another mar
large sum to take his place. have
known as high as $1,000 paid. The
man thus paid, was received by the mar.
shall, AID was called substitute
"The bounty men were those secured
by municipalities to I'LL up their quotas
without drafting. Some cities and
towns would make contracts for 100 men
at so much per head. These bounty
men gos nearly as much As substitutes.
OF course these fellows were on the
make, and had to be cared for and
watched till they were put IN the army.
OuE camp az Baltimore contained sever
al hundred of them. and to make them
stay, and not Jump the bounty any
more" we adopted the plan of keeping
their money from them, until we got
them safe to City Point. The parties
paying the bounties-the United States
and state governments also contributed
liberal inducemenf, In addition-used
to pay over the money in the presence
of the marshal, and 70 make himself
safe, the marshal retained the money
until be turned them over to as. Then
We did the same. You
can readily see that only
one hundred men with $1,000 apiece,
would aggregate 500, 000-a large sum.
Now, We had no authority of govern.
ment to do this. but the government held
US responsible for the men. and we used
every endesvor to get them safely to the
front Once in q while q man would beg
dalt ~ fC
to send home. THIS we would give him.
and the fist thing we knew he had
Jumped" leaving $500 or 5000 in our
hands. Well, this fund accumulated, as
said, until had $4,000 of it in my
hands, and TO be square with you, l
didn't know just what 20 do with it.
Pretty soon, however, q ring was
formed without me, and turned
the money over to my superior"
officers. They divided the sway and
then lald siege TO the balance. They
kept loose guard, and induced the men
to escape all they could. Here was one
of their lodges: A lieutenant would
display gold watch worth perhaps $25,
ou0 "OuAA SCH ~ " q
for $50, and the additional condition
that he could draw $3.50 more TO send
home The scheme took like wild-f fire,
and the fellows left camp in scores,
going on big jsmbOrees with their
money, and then going to another city
and enllstiDg again, securing another
big bounty. 1 tell you" affirmed the
old soldier, "there were bushels of money
made that way But 'eosy come, easy
co. only remember one who held on
and came out ahead.
There's something funny about it,"
continued the old soldier, "but though
entitled to bounty, like the other boys,
never got cent. And for this reason:
After serving as q private for seven
months in 1861, was promoted to q
IIeutenancy and got no bounty. After the
war, l needed some money badly. was
down sick for three months. was an
Odd Fellow, but behind on dues, and
that cut me out of benefits. Had TAM
hard times. Well, the boys in my lodge
chopped in and kept us alive, claiming
1t has unlawful for them to award US
'bcrefits.' And somehow we pulled
through. But during that sickness l
thought I'd see if 1 couldn't get some
bounty money. Hang me, if the war
department didn't write me that because
1 had behaved myself, studied hard and
got promoted, 1t had barred me! And
that's . fact under present laws"
"In the matter of that money making
scheme, TO the detEiment OF the service,
l should think you would have inform
ed the government" satd the reporter.
mo-" replied the veteran, 81 had one
taste of that, and determined never TO
do 1t again."
How was thst?' querled The scribe.
81 was sitting in my quarters one day,
IN winter barracks A friend of mine,
who was quartermaster aud commIssary
sergeant of the post, came IN, and after
good many preliminarIes, officially noti-
fed me of crookedness coming under HE
observation, and in which he was neces-
sarlly a partner. I'll tell you how it was
Our regiment was scattered along the
coast for one hundred and fifty miles,
doing blockade duty, and the supplies
for the various detachments all went d.
rect to them, while the acquisitions
went to the, captains and were
signed. Now, the men lived large
ly on the country and by fishing,
and would not have used, If they had
received, one-half their regular ratioDs.
This the quartermsster knew. Well, the
scheme was to Issue short Tations to all
the deLschmenls, aud send the surplus to
a fence kept by the officer, where they
were sold. The sergeant received his
orders to ship certain articles and GER
tain weights to the detschments, and he
was also instructed to send certain stub
to the point choose 10 call q fence.
This business troubled the young mans
conscience, and he put me il possession
OF the whole business. I Was thunder.
struck, and DID not just know what tC
do The army rules required me to re-
port the matter to the senior officer IL
command. but he appeared to be working
in partnership with the quartermAster
who, by the way, was IN everything els
a splendid man, as was also the senior
IN command. puzzled over the prob
lem long time, il the meantime writ
ing a confidential note to the captains O
the companies interested to weigh al
articles received and see If the weight
correspnnded with the acquisitions
This they did and reported great dis
crepancies. Now the quartermaste
aud senior were thick as peas in a pod
E and was really friendly to both. Final
ly reasoned it out that it would