, 1886-07-11
eouNrv-JUMpERs ON TRANSPORT


w ~ BUip Asblu VI lth Nbo
Had Enlisted for Peif.
Money was plentiful and whisky en-
tered through the steamers ports, and
the guards drove a profitable business in
selling canteens full of whisky at s.
each. Promptly the hold was trans
formed into a floating hell. The air
grew denser and denser with tobacco
smoke. Drunken men staggered to and
fro. They yelled and sang and danced,
and then they fought and fought again.
Rings were formed. and within them
men pounded each other fiercely. They
rolled on the Shiny floor and howled and
swore and bit and gouged, and the de-
lighted spectators cheered them to re-
double their efforts. Out of these fights
Others sprang into life, and from these
still others. TIE noise was horrible.
The wharf became crowded with men
eager to know what was going on in the
vessel.
A tug was sent for, and we were
towed into the river, and there the an
chors were dropped. Guards ran in on
us and beat men with dubbed rifles,
and were in turn attacked. We drove
them out Of the hold. The hatch at the
head of the stairs was closed and locked.
The recruits were maddened with
whisky. Dozens of men ran amuck,
striking every one they came to, and he
ing struck and kicked and stamped On
in return. TIL ventilation matches were
surrounded with stern-faced %sentinels,
who gazed into the gloom below and
warned all Of us not to try to get u by
climbing through the matches. Men
sprang high in the air and clutched the
Undertakings, and had their hands
smashed with musket-butts. Sentinels
paced to and fro along the vessels deck,
and called loudly to all row boats to keep
of or they would be fired upon. They
did not intend that any fresh supplies Of
whisky should be brought to us. The
prisoners in this floating hell were then
told to go it," and they went it.
We had been searched for arms before
we entered the barracks at Albany. The
more decent and quiet Of us had no
means of killing the drunken brutes
who pressed on us. There was not a
club, or a knife, or an iron
bolt that we could lay u
hahuS W. Fought anu got uCkeui
fought again and won, and for the third
time faced my man, and got knocked
stiff in two seconds. My face resembled
a raw ham. 1t was a scene TO make a
devil howl with delight. The light grew
DINNER and DINNER, and then the inte-
rio OF the hold was dark. except such
portions as were dimly lighted by the
bars OF light that shot through the ports,
and that which was reflected down tho
matches in square columns. We fought
and howled and swore with rage and
pain. Through it all the foul smell was
overpowering. The deadly, penetrating
odors OF ulcerous men, who suffered from
unnamable diseases, of stale tobacco
smoke. the sickening fumes Of dead
whisky, and the smell Of many unclean
r%ufiians made the air heavy with a hor-
rible stencil. Many recruits lost their
bounty money. They were robbed and
beaten almost to death. Exhaustion
quieted the devils down during the night.
and then we slept on the filthy floor.
There was not a bunk in the entire
hold. Tho next morning we awoke with
sore heads and faint stomachs, and, I'M
der orders. washed out the vast room as
well as we could. Frank Wilkeson in
Chicago Times.