St. Paul daily globe., 1889-10-28
FL YING FROM THEFLAC
Why There Are So Many De-
septerS From Uncle
Sans Army.
A st. Paul Man Tells of His
Experience in the
Ranks.
Claims While Working as a
Labopep He Was Near
Starving.
How He Deserted, Was Run
Down and Made to
Suffer.

The alarming increase of desertion
from the ranks of the United States
army, the best paid, as we'll clothed,
and. according to all accounts, the army
in which more liberty is allowed those
enrolled than any other in the world,
has caused many grave discussion OF
the causes for such deSertlOn by officers
of the army, officers of the government
and theoriZers generally. AS usual it
seems that the whole of them have rea-
sOned and concluded wrongly in that
they have never once supposed the
treatment received by the men to be
possible excuse for so grave crime as
so many men commit to escape the
bonds with which they have bound
themselves. a soldier in, and later de-
serter from the regular army. who en-
listed under the name of Bernard HOtf-
meiSter, and who is now resident of
st. Paul and occupying a responsible
position, gives his experience under the
stars and stripes, which, from the re-
cital. must have been the reverse of
pleasant. He enlisted in New York
city in 1887. being driven to it by the
EXTREMITY OF POVERTY
to which he had been reduced by an i'll
ness of several months duration. He
alleges that after mere fOrmallty OF
examination he was shipped to Cover
nOr'S island, New York harbOr, and
there. with several hundred other re-
cruits, was drilled for five weeks. The
gang of raw men was shipped to Leav-
enworth, Kan. where they were as
signed to different regiments. HOff-
meister became a regular in the Fif-
teenth infantry, stationed at Ell Paso,
Tex, and later in New Mexico. The
first taste of army life he received was
in the march from Garden City, Col, to
Fort Mariscal, near Santa Fe, n. NJ.
The Off GERS, he says, rode in an ambu-
lance, while the men, those who could
not find room or the store wagons. had
to foot it, and he was one of the latter
walking from twenty-five to fifty
miles a day until the end of the
Journey. Next, these brave defenders
of their country were detailed to
repair telegraph lines with, so depOnent
saith, a corps of drunken lieutenantS on
horseback experimenting the work and
swearing at everybody and everything,
the country included. Thomas Allen,
another private, who resented the short
ness of the rations by making a COM
plant, was told bya lieutenant to shut
up or he would blow his - -
brains out. The men, he claims,
were so starved that they sold
their blankets, overeoats and every
thing they could to MeXicans
for flour and bread Men were hand
cuffed fer trivial Offenses or none, and
on several occasions HOfmeister was
compelled to right shoulder his shovel
and do two hours marching because he
asked for more bread. All the men,
SAYS Hoffmeister. would have deserted
but for the fact that there was not
railroad within 800 miles, and no show
to get out of the country. At last they
reached Fort Craig after having repaired
telegraph lines all the way, through
Pueblo Village on the Rio Grande river
up which the line of march had lain,
and through the most uninviting coun-
try all the way. The remainder of the
story is best told in the
EX-SOLDIER' OWN WORDS:
II was so hungry that l begged an
Indian for something to eat. He gave
me piece of white bread, and in sec
ond three of my comrades followed me
tandI divided the bread between us.
When the old Indian saw this, he called
us in and the old squaW got out every
thing that could be eaten. We got
away with it as fast as we
received it from the aston
lshed old couple. The old
man told Inc to come in the evening
again and get some more, but our fate
for that night was sealed. AS soon as
we got back, we were ordered to carry
shovels and picks for four hours up and
down without stopping. From that
nie hit and every day until we reached
Fort Craig. | had to carry the shovel
more or less for two hours; for what
reason. | don't know: did everything
| was told to do. A good many of us
wanted to desert. but hundreds of miles
away from the railroad, and in country
so little inhabited it was no use.
In Fort Craig some of us again
complained, but couldn't find relief;
we were not listened to. Here again
our detachment was divided. and when
we left that post we were only about
twenty men; eight went to FL PaSO,
Tex, while the rest of us were assigned
to Company E, Fifteenth infantry, sta
toned at Fort BayaTd, n. NJ, still re-
pairing telegraph lines, until we reached
the post. After having been between
road. almost starved to death,
ragged and haggard, we were
turned over TO the company. Here we
got new clothing and better food, but |
our service was more that of common
laborer than that of soldier, drilled |
but little, once or twice week. Picks !
and shovels were more handled than
rifles. Capt. Humphreys. of my COM |
pany. was a man of good principle, and |
wanted justice done, but he selected the |
most ignorant men from the company |
for non-commisSioned officers. The |
first sergeant. man of no judgment |
and little education, habltual drunk |
ard, man that had no use for any one
hA
all the nOn-commiSSiOned officers were of |
his caliber, and the consequence was
that men who did not drink or associate
with them were hated and at every op-
pOrtunity were punished and the hardest |
work was always given them. This
made life unbearable, and at every pay
day men deserted. Once, while on a |
scout in the Mogallon mountains. our
first sergeant, who was a low German,
refused me permission to talk to the
captain because some of his friends
GOT AWAY WITH ALL THE BREAD
and left some crumbs that were showed |
over to me and / refused to take it. The |
captain, hearing that something was |
wrong, asked the sergeant if everything |
was satisfactory, the sergeant replying |
that it was; but paid for it afterwards |
in getting detailed for extra guard duty. |
In Tile pOSl lllS lilS was LIOLO UAdG vi q
laborer than that of soldier, and |
must say | never handled wheelbar
row before. but learned it in the Uni
ted States army. Finally in the autumn
of 1878, sick and tired of be-
ing abused and ill-treated by nom
commissioned officers and unable to
find redress, Private T. and myself |
concluded to leave the post after being
paid off. We secured Winchester rifles |
and ammunition, changed our uniforms
with some frontierSmen, leaving
letter in our box addressed to the first
sergeant that all our equipment would be
found. so in case we were caught only |
desertion would be charged against US.
We left the post after taps and started
with three days rations for the frontier,
march of seyenty-fye miles, to the
Mexican state of Chihuahua. Avoiding
the road, and crossing the prairie so our
trail would not be discovered, we
marched the whole night. Soon our
canteens became empty, and the sun
n; frbar Ire ravc hurniDo down 0fs