The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1894-11-08
CRAZED BY RUM,


The Sad Fate OF a soldier Who Loved Liq-
uor Too Wen.
The ten months following the close
of our civil war will long be remem-
bercd upon the Rio Grande as a carni-
val of crime that rivaled the chaos of
the medieval robber-knight period
The revolt against the Mexican empire
had filled southern Texas with polit-
ical refugees, and northern Mexico
with rowing bands of outlaws and
hardly less lawless troops, contra
gUerilles,' enlisted by the agents of
the Macmillan government among the
adventurers of the dcbatable border,
and reinforced by the wreck of Kirby
Smiths brigade.
Matamoras was sacked again and
again. and at a distance of mile from
the courthouse at Brownsville, Tex.
every mans security of property and
life depended upon his resources of
self-help. Murder became so frequent
that the local newspapers could hardly
afford to waste any space on such
minor otfenscs as theft and rowdyism:
but the most memorable event of that
pandcmonium era was probably the
episode of Robert Rodgers, soldier of
Gen. Wcitzels army corps, then Sta
toned at Fort Brown, Tex, some forty
miles from the mouth of the Rio
GTande. Rodgers was young private
OF an Ohio infantry regiment and as
good-natured a lad as ever shared
his last dime with an impecunious
comrade and preserved his good
humor in the hardships OF Il winter
campaign. lie WAS, all in all, perhaps
the most popular man of his company,
and that he was favorite with at least
some OF his officers seems implied BY
the fact that his comrades repeatedly
selected him as the spokesman of their
petition committees. The chief OBJ
staclc to his promotion" testified his
sergeant, was his aversion to the
strict observance of severe instructions
regarding the management of military
prisoners. He would let them chat and
lag, and allowed them to rest under
every possible pretcXt, though he him
self never shirked his share of hard
work During the last campaign"
states the same witness, his cheerful
performance of double duty often
shamed grumblers into silence. ;"
Gle had no enemy in the world, ;"
said one of his comrades, and
as long as he kept sober never
gave his terminates cause for complaint,
though his fondness for pets made our
company grounds the headquarters of
yelping ours. He would get up in the
middle of the night to feed them for
fear that somebody would stop their
racket with a dose of lead If his
terminates fell ont, he laughed them
into good humor; there was no risk of
a row when Robert Rogers was
arOund|'
Bat drink turned that easv-goinp
man into & demon, and in the spring of
1866 he was hung for Il murder, aggra-
waited by every conceivable circum-
stance Of atrocious brutality. One
evening, about the end of April, I
think, or early in May, 1866, Rodgers
got drunk during a payday revel in
brownsville, Tex, and returned to
camp in Il most unpleasant state of OBJ
atreperOuS aggressiveneSs. Two of
his comrades at once took him in
charge, and tried their best to keep
him quiet, or at least out of serious
trouble, but his whoops after taps"
the courve feu signal of the evening
drum brought up representative of
law and order in the person of a com
ranv sergeant. The customs of a vol
unteer camp allowed certain lati-
tude in the Interpretation of military
regulations and after an angry CON
troyersy the monitor agreed to give
the disturber of the peace ten minutes
TO ''cOol down" but warned his friends
that after the expiration of that re-
spite he would be obliged to take him
to the guard-house, unless they could
either keep him quiet or, since his leave
OF absence had not yet quite expired,
take him out of camp and let him make
the midnight echoes on the safe side of
the lines. The latter alternative finally
seemed the best plan, and three of
Rodgers terminates undertook to escort
him back to Brownsville but after
staggering along for couple of hun