Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-06
CAPTAIN HUNT, SPEAKS OUT.

He Contends That the Punishment of Prl-
vate Iams Was Not OutraGeous-The In
teresting Case Completely Reviewed by
Commanding of1cer.
Immediately after Battery B was with
drawn from Homestead, Captain Alfred E.
Hunt commanding, left for Nashua, N. H.,
where he is visiting. In a letter to the
Evening Telegraph of that city, Captain Hunt
says:
Private Iams was not tortured in his pun
ishnent by Colonel Streator. The suspension
by the thumbs did not throw the whole
weight Of his body on those members.
After l6 minutes suspension he asked for
chew of tobacco in the same arrogant, in
solent manner which was characteristic OF
his entire conduct In camp, and also al
through his service in the Guard. He pur-
posely swallowed some of the tobacco to
make himself sick, according to his own
self-confessed statement afterward. He
was let down from the ridge pole OF the tent
after 20 mtnutes' suspension and the suffer-
ing from nassau was caused by his having
swallowed the tobacco.
During the entire evening and night after
this punishment, the man treated
the matter jocosely and made no
complaints Of having suffered. The fol-
lowing morning the one-half ofhis head was
ishment the man endured, and Of which he
complained while in camp By orders OF the
General in command of the division he was
discharged IRON m, the Guard for the good Of
State. was stripped off him, and cheap,
coarse, but clean new clothing placed on
him. He was then drummed out of camp to
the tune of the "Rogue's March" in the pres
ence Of his entire brigade drawn up in line.
AS to the the iurther statement that the
offense was nothing more than a "thOught-
less exclamation" let me say that Private
1ams, whose previous record has been ex-
tremely bad, had been a soldier long enough
to become conversant with the duties and
discipline of the Guard. He knew full well
Guard and the liability OF the camp to be
shot into at any time by the la wless strikers,
yet the day before he had carried a rail for
being detected asleep on his post as sem
den, .1n the face of rebellion, treason, muir
der and anarchy" Among a mass of iron
workers numbering thousands, who were
then striking, and amid the open rejoicing
tion of 81. c. Frick, this man proposed three
cheers for the assassin right in the presence
of his Colonel. And when expostulated
quested to Withdraw his exclamation he
doggedIy and persistently refused to do it.
He was entreated, not only by his Colonel
but by other officers of the brigade to whom
the matter was referred, not once, but many
times, and the same dogged, persistent re-
1usal was made. Certainly this could not
be called "thoughtless exclamation"
When 1t 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 that, the strikers, only through
fear of the troops, are held in subjection
even yet, and when n large portion of the
Guard has been ordered home, it will be ap-
parent, think, that the situation here has
boen, and is yet. of great uneasiness and
anxiety. The newspapers alone are re-
sponsible for the statement that Private
lams was disfranchised and robbed of his
rights as a citizen. This is not true. No
such result follow the military sentence in
his case. The position taken by the major.
ity of the newspapers of the country has not
aided in settling the present difficulty, nor
will 1t aid in the lesson which striking
laborers should learn from the story of the
Homestead riots; a lesson which, If not
learned thoroughly by the events here, will
have to be learned probably at a greater loss
of both life and property in the very near
future.