San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-10-30

Sdine' anu peCduSe one OCCupIeu C'G
Member ninety-eight and the other cot
number ninety-nine cannot now re-
call which number was Green's
Both men were very weak when they
arrived at the hospital, and both were
unconscious. No wonder. The poor fell
lows had travelled a long distance, lying
in the open air because uncovered wag-
ons were the best the department could
then supply. Their clothing was not
sufficient to protect them from the cold,
and every particle of it had to be de-
stroyed on account of the vermin which
the blankets used to cover them during
their journey had communicated to III
When they were able to leave their cots
each wGs supplied with privates uni
form.
Every incident of the night of Green's
death comes wildly to my mind as |
write. For the first time in maay years
in that part of Virginia heavy fall of
snow had rendered the roads impossible %.
Our supplies had given out, and all efforts
to secure communications with the out
side world h&l proved unay&iling. Star
walton stared us III the face. Even now
| find it impossible to control my temper
when | thin; of the needless misery or
patients suffered. Some one bluudered
in locating and victualing the camp. Let
it go down in history that way.
Late in the evening II number of CO..
vaieScents were grouped about the stoTe
at one end Of the room. Fuel was scarce,
and the poor fellows had covered them
selves with the blankets from their beds
in order to aid miserable fire in supply
ing enough warmth to sustain life
Green was in one of his bad moods,
remember, and. as usual, had the best
place at the fire. My present impression
of Green is that he was very selfish
man. will go one step farther. He
was a Jealous minded man and willful
man. His instincts We're brutal used
to think that his monstrous bump of self
| esteem was all that kept him from over
| riding all the rights of others in order to
crafty his own desires-in fact, from
| becoming an outlaw His companions
| tolerated him, but don't think he had
the honest friendship of man in the
| hospital.
Don't blame me if say hard things OF
the dead, Mr.. Charles Gates. Ny in
structions are to give, in the interest of
an inquiry now being made, descrip-
ton of the mans temper and bent Of
mind as | understood them. You have
my personal ideas of the man. Take
them for what they are worth.
| said Just now that Green was in one
of his bad moods. | should have said
| Jealous moods, One member of the
group about the stove had been explain
ing to his companions the life he had
abandoned when he entered the army.
The life that he told was a life that any
one might envy. think-yes, am
positive-that the talker was the officer
| from New York, for he told Of luXuri-
Gus home and an indulgent mother in
that city. He seemed to begin at the
time he bestrode his first hobby horse in
the bay window Of a sunny nursery and
continue through every detail of his
school and club life The man had just
passed through a long seige of brain
| fever. He was weak in body. Pardon
me if | say also that he was weak in
mind. We all know how the body affects
| the mind He was lonely and homesick.
He had eyes and thoughts only for the
happy scenes of home. His word pict-
ures affected me strangely pitied him.
| Private Green listened to every word
with an eagerness that all noticed. Then
| he settled back in a sudden silence
which believed to be jealous silence.
| They were the last words he ever heard.
At that moment soldier who had
| been foraging in the nearly empty store
house made his appearance. He carried
in his hand a small package. AS he adj
vanced toward the hungry group at the
stove he busted himself in unavailing
efforts to remove the frozen paper which
concealed the true character of his dis
cOvery. The icy surface of the package
resisted all his efforts, and he, too i'm
patient to await the slow process Of
| thawing by the fire, seized a blazing
brand from the stove and applied it to
the package. The frozen paper thawed
slowly and then melted away, revealing
a second wrapping of cloth.
An instant later we were thrown from
our feet. The rows of cots became mil
gled in awful disorder The stove gave
up its blazing brands and fell apart like
| walls of wax. A sulphurous smoke filed
the room, and a second later saw the
cold blue sky looking in through our
! shattered roof The soldier had applied
a blazing brand to a package of gun
powder.
Four persons were wounded by the ex-
plosion and two were instantly killed.
When | recovered sufficiently to realize