The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-12-24
WHERE WAS FEENY?
Where was Tim Feeny?
"I'll rot before III tell" says Tim.

LII rot before III tell, says Tim.
And he is likely to rot.
The United States, tender as 1t is Of old
soldiers, has yet a limit to its power to aid
them. Tins offense was of the most
fragrant description, and his disappear
ance baflled the entire secret service of the
government. Uncle Sans wal depart
ment says Tim must tell where he was for
several years after the close of the civil
war, and how he, a manacled prisoner I'm
der guard, escaped from a government
vessel on its way to the famous prison on
the Dry Tortugas before he can receive an
honorable discharge and admission to the
Soldiers home at Quincy, Ills.
Destitute, broken in health, 65 years OF
ago, Tim sadly needs the shelter and com
forts of q home for his few years on earth.
''I'll rot before I'll tell" says Tim.
Thus far reads the romance and mys-
terry OF Tim Feeny's life-a secret destined
perhaps to go untold to tho grave with a
soldier whois now living on the charity
of his old comrades at Mendoza, Ills.
Something moro than a year ago there
appeared upon the streets of Mendoza an
old man whose name had no meaning to
the young generation and for but few OF
the older inhabitants. Thirty-three years
ago the bustling town of 5000 people was
but a village in La Sale county, one,
however, that furnished its full quota of
soldiers in the carly days of the war.
When Captain Wesley Boyd called for vol
u~nteers, Tim Feeny was among the first
to respond, and with a number of other
young farmers enlisted. Tim was a pleas
ant, rollicking chap when sober and had
a lot of friends in Company e that march
ed away to become a part of the Fifty-sec-
ond regiment of Illinois volunteer infant
ry. That regiment has an honorable his
tory. 1t went into the war 1,100 strong
and came out at Savannah with only 500.
1t was in some of the hardest fought bat
ties of the war, staid at Corinth through
the siege, fought all the way to Atlanta and
marched through Georgia with Sherman.
Every man Of them who survived was
mustered out-all but Tim Feeny. Tim
was the blot on the escuteheon of the Fiji
ty-second Illinois volunteers.
This is how it happened: Tim had lit
tie to do to keep him out of mischief dur
ing the siege of Corinth. There was but
little fighting for more than a year, and
some of the soldiers became demoralized.
When he was sober, no one was to be
trusted moro than Tim to do a soldiers
duty, but when he was drunk he was an
ugly customer. At these times, too. he
got a crowd about him, and together they
made short work Of camp discipline. 1t
was thought better to transfer these I'M
ruly members to Company +, commanded
by Captain Slocumb S. Dunn, a rigid dis
ciplinarian. Feeny, who had not a little
skill in that line, was made one OF the
cooks of the company. That, with the
fighting, for there was fighting nearly
every one of the 100 days on the march to
Atlanta, kept Tim too busy to allow him
time to get into mischief.
Any one who was with Sherman on that
famous march can recall the hurried ac-
ton when there was scarcely breathing
time for weeks, the forced marches, the
hasty enc|ainpnlents without tents, the
bridges built in q half day for the passage
of 100, 900 men, horses and wagons, the
foraging parties and hourly skirlnishes
with the enemy, the breathless pauses for
tho MONDAY meal. 1t was a time for the
winning of laurels. The brave old Fifty
second regiment, now reduced to nearly
one-half, marched shoulder to shoulder.
Captain e. A. Bowon Of Company B had
been promoted to colonel Of the regiment
just before the Atlanta campaign. There
was an eagerness about Sherman's troops
because they had begun to see the end of
the war and tic return home, the back
bono Of tho rebellion broken at last. So
every man took moro than his share of the
hardships unco1nplainingly, Tim with
tho rest.
Just at this point, when a few months
- -. -. A,,l a7aI oil
tho rewards OF loyal service, Tim Feeny
got hold Of some whisky. enough to put
him into an ugly temper. During q brief
halt for the MONDAY meal Feeny broke
into ungovcrnable rage. The arms had
been stacked and a guard placed about the
provision wagons. Private Fred Hart
wick of Company T was on guard duty.
Feeny staggered along past tho provision
train Just as q negro ca1no running from
the officers tent, and jumping into one
of the wagonsb began to tax something out
of it.
The negro might have been on an errand
for an officer, or he might have been help
ing himself without leave. In any event,
it was not Eeeny's business to stop him,
as be was not OF guard. Before Private
Hartwick could speak Feeny ordered the
negro to get of the wagon. At the same
moment, and before tho man had time to
obey, Feeny seized Hartwick's musket and
fired. The bSll struck the negro in the
shoulder and made suck a wound that the
arm was afterward amputated.
Tim had a chance to sober up in the
guardhouse. Almost before he realized
what was going on he had been tried by
court martial and sentenced to the Dry
Tortugas, the famous place for imprison-
ing Union soldiers by government. The
Fifty-second regiment went on from At
lanta to the sea- while Tim was on his
way to New York. There, his comrades
heard long afterward, he was embarked
for transportation to his place of Danish
ment, an isolated island situated in the
gulf of Mexico, 40 miles from the Florida
keys.
When he went on board the vessel, Tim
was heavily manacled and guarded. When
the transport ship reached its destination,
Tim was rot among the prisoners. At
some time curing the voyage he had dis
appeared.
Exit Tim Feenyl
From the time Of his escape until he re-
appeared in Mendoza, over a year ago,
Tim wal never heard of. Under the cir
cumstances his escape has been considered
, impossible without the oonnivance of his
guards or some n higher in authority.
: The entire machinery of the government
secret service was put in motion to recap