St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-08-06
PRIVATE JAMS, TORTURE.
Capt. Hunt TEinks i Was Not Too
Severe.

NASHUA, N. Y, Aug. 5.-The Even
ing Telegram today prints letter from
Capt. Alfred E. Hunt, commanding Bat
terry + at Homestead, in reply to a
recent editorial in the paper charging
That the punishment of Private Iams
was unlustiiably brutal, etc. Capt.
Hunt says:
;. Private Iams was not tortured in
MS punishment by Col. Streator, as the
suspension by the thumbs did not
throw the whole weight of his body
on those members. After five min
utes' suspension he asked for a
cnew OF tobacco in the same arro-
CANT, lnsclent manner which was
characteristic of his entire conduct in
camp and also all through his service in
the guard. He purDosely swallowed
some Of the tobacco to make himself
SICK, according to his own Self-cOnfessed
statement afterwards. He was let down
from the ridgepOle of the tent after
twenty minutes suspension, suffering
IRON nausea occaSioned by his having
swallowed the tobacco. During the en-
tire evening and night after this pun
lSnment the man treated the matter 10
cossiy, and made no complaints of hay
ing suffered. The following morning
haif of his head was clean slaven, the
only real CORPORAL punis hment the
man endured, and of which he COM
planned while i'll camp. By orders Of
the general in command of the division,
ne was discharged from the guard for
the good OF the service His uniform,
belonging TO the state, was stripped Oft
him. and cheap. coarse. but clean, new
clothing placed Oh him. He was then
drummed out of camp to the tune of the
'Rogues' March, in the presence of his
entire brigade drawn up in line.
AS TO the further statement that the
offenSe was no>Iing more than a
'thoughtleSS cSclamation,' let me say
that Private IamS, whose previous rec
ord has been extremely bad. had been 4
soldier long enough to become
we'll cOnverSant with the duties
and discipline of the guard.
lie knew full well the dangerous posi-
ton occupied by the guard. and the liza
Dlllty of the camp to be shot into at any
time by the lawless strikers, yet the day
before he was carried on rail for being
detected asleep on his post as senii-
IN the face of rebellion, treason, MUIR
der and anarchy Among mass of
iron workers numbering many thou
sands, who were then striking, and
amid the open rejoicing of these men
at the then supposed assassination Of
Mr.. Frick, this man proposed three
cheers for the assassin right in
the presence of his colonel.
And when expostulated wi til
and reprimanded and earnestly
requested to withdraw his exclamation
he doggedly and persistentlv refused to
40 it. He was entreated. not only by
his colonel, but by other officers of the
brigade, TO whom the matter was re-
ferred. not once. but many times, and
then logged, persistent refusal was
made. Certainly, this could not be
called 'thoughtleSS exclamation
when it is considered that the peace
and good order of this place was only
restored and is now maintained by the
armed guard of the state, the strikers
only through fear of the troops are held
Ill subsection. and when a large
proportion of the guard has
been ordered home it will be
apparent, think, that the
situation here has been, and is yet, of
great uneasiness and anxiety. The
newspapers alone are responsible for
the statement that Private Iains was
DISTINGUISHED and robbed Of rights as a
citizen. This is not true. No such re-
suits follow the military sentence in his
case. The position taken by the ma
jority of the newspapers of the country
has not aided in settling the present
difficulty. nor will it aid in the lesson
which striking iabOrerS should learn
from the history of 'the Homestead riots
"a lessen which, if not learned thor
oughly by the eventS,here. will have to
be learned probably %ca greater loss of
both lite and property in the very near
future"