Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1890-03-14

awkward" growled ''the mole" again.
"Heres fellow comes in who's cut by
his regiment and has placed ours under
lasting obligation before he gets inside
the post"
"Well, does any man here know the
| rights and wrongs of the case, anyhow
said a tall, bearded captain as he threw
aside the paper which he had not been
reading, and rose impatiently to his feet.
sit seems to me from the little I've heard
of Mr.. Hayne and the little I've seen, that
there is a broad variation between facts
and appearances. He looks like gentle
| man."
"No one does know anything more of
the matter than was known at the time
of the court martial five years ago" an
swered "the mole. "Of course you have
heard all about that, and my experience
is that when body of officers and gem
tlcmen find, after due deliberation on the
evidence, that another has been guilty of
conduct unbecoming an officer and q
gentleman, the chances are q hundred to
one he has been doing something dis
reputable, to say the least"
"Then why wasn't he Dismissed"
queried a young lieutenant. 1.-The law
says he must be-"
THAT'S right. olly;pull your Ives and
Benet on EN- and show you know all
about military law and courts martial"
said the captain, crushngy. "It's one
thing for court to sentence and another
for the president to approve. ffayne
was dismissed, SO far as court could do
it, but the president RENTED the whole
thing"
There was more to it than that,
though, and you know it, Buxton" said
Blake. "Neither the department COM
mander nor Gen. Sherman thought the
evidence conclusive, and they said SO,
especially old Gray Fox. And you ask
any of these fellows here now whether
they believe Hayne was really guilty,
and III bet you that eight out Of ten will
funk at the question:
And yet they all cut him dead. That's
prima facie evidence Of what they think"
"Cut be bowed! by gad if any man
asked me to testify on oath as to where
the cut lay, shouldsay he had cut them.
Did you sec how he ignored Foster and
Graham this morning."
II did, and thought it damned I'M
gentlemanly in him. Those fellows did
the proper thing, and he ought to have
acknowledged it, broke in a third officer
I'm not defending that p"1; the
Lord knows he has done notl..c 70 en-
courage civility with his own people; but
there are two sides to every story, and |
asked their adjutant last fall, when
there was some talk of his companv's
being sent here, what Haynes status
was, and he told me. There isn't a
sQlarcr man or sOunder soldier in the
army than the adjutant of the Rifiers;
and he said that it was HAYNES stubborn
pride that more than anything else stood
in the way of his restoration to social
standing He had made it a rule that
every one who was not for him was
against him, and refused to admit any
man 20 his society who would not first
comc TO him of his own voliton and say
he believed him utterly innocent. As
that involved the necessity of their look
ing upon Rayncr as either perjured or
grossly and persistently mistaken, no
one felt called upon to do it. Guilty or
innocent, he has lived the life of
Pariah ever since"
Il wanted to open out to him, today"
said Capt Gregg, "but the moment l
began to speak Of his great kindness to
our men ho froze as stiff as Mulligans
ear. What was the use? | simply
couldn't thaw an icicle. What made
him 50 effective in getting the frost out
of them was his capacity for absorbing
it into his own system"
"Wcll, here, gentlemen" said Buxton,
impatently, "we'Ne got to face this thing
sooner or later, and may as well do it
now. know Rayner and like him, and
don't believe he's the kind of man to
Wilfully wrong another. | don't know
Mr.. Haync, and Mr.. Hayne apparently
don't want to know me- | think that
where a man has been convicted of dis
-disgraceful conduct and is
cut by his whole regiment it is our bust
ness to back the regiment, not the man.
Now the question is, where shall we
draw the line in this case? It's none of
our funeral, as Blake SAYS, but ordinarily
it would be our duty to call upon this
officer. Shall we do it, now that he is
in Coventry, or shall we leave him to his
own devices"
I'm answer for myself, Buxton" said
Blake, land you can do as you please.
Except that one thing, and the not UNI
usual frivolties of u youngster that oc-
CURED previous to this trial, understand
that his character has been above re-
proach. So far as | can learn, he is FAR
more reputable character than am, and
a better officer than most of us, Growl
all you want to, comrades mine; it's a
way we have in the army and like it,
So long as include myself in 10 Sc NAL
odorous comparisons, you needn't swear.
1t is my conviction that the Rihers
wouldn't say he was guilty today if they
hadn't said so five years ago. 1t is my
information that he has paid every cent
of the damages, whether he caused them
or not, and it is my intention to 90 and
call upon Mr.. Hayne as soon as he's set
tied. | don't propose TO influence any