St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-02-24
STEELE WILL bETRlED
President Harrison Demands
an Investigation Into the
Wild Case.
The Lieutenant Is to Answer
for His Abuse of the
Private.
There Will Be a Cleaning Out
Of the Army Charmed
House.
Snobbery In the Enlisted
Snobbery In the Enlisted
Ranks Gets a Swinging
Setback.

The excitement in army circles, and
in fact the entire country, caused by
the order of the secretary of war, under
direction of President Harrison, re leas-
ing Private Dell z. Wild from confne-
ment at Fort Smelling, is greatly aug
mented by the following additional
order:
WASHINGTON, D. c., Feb. 22-Gen Thomas
Fl. Kruger, commanding department of Da-
kota:
As charges will be preferred against Lieut.
NJ. F. Steele. Eighth cavalry, for his treat.
ment of Private Wild, Eighth cavalry, the
testimony of the latter will be required by
the court. So inform Wild, and If he has
not the means to maintain himself direct
that he provided with quarters and subsist-
ence at Fort Smelling.
REDFIELD PROCTOR, Secretary Of War.
The court martial to try Lieut.. Steele
will be convened within few days, and
will be composed of diSintereSted Off
GERS from the East. The charges and
specifications are in course of prepare
ton by acting Judge Advocate General
Sieber. The will be based upon para
graph 3, article l, Of army regulations,
which declares:
Superiors are forbidden to iniure those
duct, or Is abusive language.
The specifications will recite the
swearing at and striking of Wild by
Lieut.. Steele.
NOT UNEXPECTED.
Such an order was not unexpected by
people cognlzant of the patent wrong
done in this case. The promptness,
however. with which justice was done
Wild individually upon the attention
| called by the GLOBE, withhut the inter
ventiUn of special embassy, or without
going through an official presentation
of the case, is not only just recogni-
ton of journalistic effort. but it is a
source of unbOunded gratitude to the
American people to know that the
wrongs, even OF a private in the en-
listed service of their country, can
be speedily presented and promptly
| righted. 1t is equally cOmmendable
that after the unjust sentence had been
| RENTED the matter does not rest there,
| but that the matter will be sifted to the
| bottom, and that the active and passive
wrong-doers shall be compelled to sub.
| init their motives and acts to the
scrutiny of superior officers and to the
public which they serve. President
Harrison, Secretary Proctor and Ad-
| jutant General Kelton have taken hold
| VI Iilio CASE Will d UIlll anu Will
| not permit any whitewashing. There
Is no doubt but that the abuses i'm the
regular army will be corrected. and
many other cases as meritOrious as that
| of Wild will be given an airing. The
| interview by GLOBE reporter with
| Col. Masen, commander of Fort Smell
| ing, in which he admitted that the
| guard house is
FULL OF SENSATIONS,
will afford text for wholesale investi.
| CATION. Secretary Proctor has directed
the department of the judge advocate
| general to carefully scrutiniZe all the
court-martial cases received from mill.
tary departments. When this is done
1t will be found that Fort Smelling
| guard house will open its doors to other
victims of the snobbery OF West Point
lightweightS. The public has often
discussed the cause of so many deser.
tioDS from the army, and attributed the
cause TO the treatment of the men by
| the boyiSh lieutenants in the service
| Those who are familiar with the vol.
| unteer service and that of regular army
| life have said that the enlisted men
have been subjected to indignities thai
were never known to volunteer army
| life. The GLOBE has been commended
by citizens generally for its course in
calling attention to the Wild, Bly, anc
Gloster cases in particular, and the con
dition of the service in general.
GEN. RUGER'S SAY.
A GLOBE reporter called on Gen
Ruger at his residence last evening anG
asked him what he had to say with ref
erence to the order sent him by Secre
tary Proctor, referring to the proposed
court martial of Lieut.. Steele. The gen
eral replied that he had nothing to say
about the matter.
"You have received a copy of thi:
order. have you not?" asked the report
er, handing him copy.
Not being disposed to discuss the mat
ter, Gen. Ruger evaded the question
and talked about other phases of the
| case.
''Am to understand that you have
not received this order?" was asked
after the general had said the dispatch
was new to him.
II did not say So" he replied.
$40 you know when the court martha
will convene, who will compose it Of
where the trial will take placer"
81 do not"
Gen. Ruger's Discrimination 10 discus:
the order, being plainly manifest
conversation drifted into the fact!
upon which the court martial wa:
based. The general said that it wa!
true that the records in the Wild cast
show that objection was made by WilC
to Steele acting as judge advocate II
the hearing of his case, but that as the
duties OF that officer were to present the
case, and as he had no voice in deter
mining the punishment, the objection
was overruled by the court.
| The reporter asked if Wild had any
one to present his side of the case?
mo, that is the duty of the Judge
advocate. His duty is to see that the
prisoners side of the case is properly
presented"
PROSECUTOR AND DEFENDER.
"Then Lieut.. Steele acted as boil
as prosecutor for vic alton of his Owr
order. and was supposed to defend
Wild as wellr'
Gen. Ruger did not respond directly
but said: 1.-THE court martial did not
deem the objection material, and it hat
no power to remove the judge advocate
in that instance. He had been acting
In that capacity, and 1t was merely ac
cidental that he acted when Wild was
tritd-merely accidental, SIR" The only
thing the court could do, If it did moi
overFule the objection, was to stop pro.
ceedings and defer the hearing"
"The court martial could not proceed
WICDOut tle services OF steele as Judge
advocate, then?"
"Well, he acted as the prosecuting
officer. | suppose 1t was wrong that he
should do so, but it was overlooked a
the time and not deemed material"
docs the record filed with you show
that Lieut.. Steel swore at Wild and ther
struck hm?"
The general again evaded the Ques
| ton, but upon a statement being made
by the reporter that he understood hin
to say it was not. the general replied
Il did not say So" He finally admitted
that it did so show. and also shows thai
Wild made objection to Steele acting a:
judge advocate.
Gen. Ruger was assured that the
GLOBE always was disposed to give him
an opportunity to state the facts in re
gard to the matter and had no desire te
misrepresent anything, but wanted te
get at the exact truth. He chatted very
/ nlQo q ntly xuitt In h,,N