The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-12-24

WITH Ills n1tllttCl1o WI Ollltj PICl0lil1lS
death by drowning rather than imprison-
mont. In that event he had long ago be-
como food for fishes, as be would have fall
en- to the bottom Of the sea at or acc from
the weight of iron Upon him. The war de-
partment never expected to add a chapter
to that story.
Yet 80 years after he walked into Men
dota, a bent old figure, with white hair,
dim eyes and ragged clothes. In his des-
titution he sought old comrades. Nc one
knew him. Company Il, Fifty-second Hill
nois volunteers, had been mustered out,
in truth, but Captain Wesley Boyd of
Company e still lives 3iear Mendoza, Colo
mel Bowen of the Fifty second regiment is
now president of tho First National bank
Of tho town, and Fulton Clifford, cashier
of tho bank, wa 3Quartermaster. Fred
Hartwick, private in Company f, with
whose gun Feeny shotsthe negro, lives OF
Dayton street, Chicago, and is in the pos
tai service. Jesse g. King, superintendent
of Bradstreeb's agency, and Jason Prindlc,
a real estate deaiar of Chicago, arc also OLD
comrades of. Feeny's.
Tim Foeny, the scapegrace of the regi
ment, WIS u changed man. He has not
drank for years. AS a recognition of his
age, his restitution and his four years
hard fighting for the government his old
comrades thought he was entitled to end
his days in the Soldiers home at Quincy.
At the ANIMAL meeting of he surviving
members OF the regiment last summer at
Elgin his case was taken up and advocat-
ed. His old comrades remembered only
his virtues, his bravery, the hardships be
shared with them, his contagious Irish
humor and high spirits. Graceless as he
was when drunk, Tim sober was popular
with tho boys in blue.
A preliminary requisite for admission
to a soldiers home is IN honorable dis
charge. This tho war department. offers
to give if Feeny Will tell how he escaped
and where he has been for 80 years. Then
it was that this physical wreck, utterly
unable to provide himself with the neces-
stiles Of life, made his remarkable speech:
"I'n rot before III tell"
A petition has now been circulated and
generally signed by members of his old
regiment including the officers now liv-
ing, asking congress to remove Tins dis
ability and permit him to keep his secret.
This petition will be presented at the com
ing session.
In the meantime gray headed men who
smelled smoke with him and drank from
the same canteen warm up his stomach
with a good dinner and his heart with
yarns of tho campfire. When they have
got him worked up to the g%arrulous and
confidential stage, they clap him on the
back and say:
"Vell, Tim, where were you anyway"
Then Tim looks injured and shuts up
like a clam.
Even the ladies of Mendoza have tried
to beguile the old soldier into telling his
secret, and to the young people of the
town he is better than ''Gulliver's TRAY
els" because everybody knows where Gull
liver was and what happened to him, but
this Rncomlnunicative old soldier repre-
sents unwritten volumes of romance and
adventure.
Where was Tim Feeny?
Perhaps Sherlock Holmes could tell, but
that famous detective is dead, n DIR.
Doyle refuses to resurrect him..
There isn't the ghost of a clew. Every
body concerned at the time was put in the
sweatbox Without any result SO far as I'M
raveling the mystery was concerned. Sus-
picion has no hook to fasten upon any one,
and it was supposed nothing more would
ever be known until the sea gave up its
dead.
The mystery presents a fascinating
psychological problem. The Rev. James
Gale Inglis, pastor of the Woodlawn Pres
byterian church, related the story to his
Bible class Of young people, who are max
ing a study of sociology, to aid them in
practical b~eneyolence, and he has offered a
:. 4 -. g.. kls1 In-4 aJ,,+io of tho
problem, that to be determined by duly
appointed judges.
One young lady ventures the ingenious
theory that Feeny remained on the vessel
in some capacity, either with or without
the c~onniyanee of some officer or member
of the guard; that he was there all the
time the secret service was looking for
him, and that he even submitted to the
searching examination Of the sweatbox
without revealing his identity or being
suspected of completely. He was helped in
this by some one whom he now refuses to
disgracs and endanger. If this is not the
solution, what reason could be sufficiently
strong for him to rejecGs comfort and shell
ter for his old age with the remarkable ut
terance:
t'Ill rot before I'll tell"
Or it might havc happened in this way:
"How long can you hold your breath
under water, Tilnp" asked the special
guard who had ridden all the way from
Atlanta to New York with the prisoner.
Faith, an / niyer triedl If 1 was in
the wather, though, I'd hold me breath,
my boy, fer fear tho vile stuff would get
between mo teeth. All wather should be
used only for holy purposes. 1t was niver
intinded to be drunkl'
"Swim2''
"Divil a biti''
II bet you'd swim if you were down
there under the dirty ships side, or you'd
stick fast like a baraacle until another boy
came after you. You're between the devil
and the deep sea, Tim, and the deep sea
might as well get ~. You look alive
now, and don't squeal like a stuck pig
when I chuck you overheard.
So saying, tho guard who had fallen I'M
der the spell of Tins Establishments hur-
ried his prisoner across the dock and up to
the receiving officer, who stood at the end
of the gangway. A great torohlight iared
above the officers head and on the face of
the prisoner. A few Questions were asked
and answered, a form filed in and given
to the guard, who then pushed the prison
er up the narrow bridge. The flare of the
torch below made the lower deck seem
dark. No one was in sight. A quick
click as OF q key in a metal lock. A mo-
ment later the guard cam down the gang
way singing. Tho last prisoner was on
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