New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1897-11-03


STRUNG UP a JUDGE.
REFUSED TO GIVE HIS NAME AND
WAS HUNG BY THE THUMBS.
How Young Lieutenant Carried Out
Orders and Came Near Gettfnx Into
Trouble-President Lincoln Stood by
the Soldier Who Did His Duty,
II was only 10 years of age and held
q lieutenant?s commission in the Fifth
infantry when an event occurred which
gave me a. great dead Of unsoQght noto-
riety," said a department. official the
other night. "Not only was the notori-
ETY. unsought but it was exceedingly
undesirable, he added, ''for it almost
made an old man of me in a single day.
It was an experience calculated to try
the discipline and determination of anv
young oficer''
"What kind of an experience did you
>have?''
II had merely a routine duty to per-
form, but it was exciting. The regiment
was stationed at Santa Fe, and the de-
partment was under martial law. The
war had just commenced, and people
were averse to obeying military orders,
but they learned obedience very SOON
It was ordered that no person should
enter the city Of Santa Fe nor depart
from it without registering his name
with the provost marshal. The order
was positive and was rigidly enforced.
One afternoon, when I was officer of
the day and, having attended to my
duties, was lying down in my tent
reading book, an orderly reported that
there was a man in the custody of the
provost marshal who refused to give his
name. Putting aside my book, I donned
my uniform and sash and proceeded to
the guardhouse. ),
*tThere, in the midst of as tough a
looking gang as one ever saw, stood a
we'll dressed, distinguished looking gen.
sleman. When I asked him why he was
in custody, he informed me that he was
under arrest because he had refused to
give his name or to register with the
provost marshal When I politely re-
quested him to go with me and regis
ter, he responded, You know me we'll
enough and do not need ask my name.
When I assured him that had never
seen him before and requested him to
comply with the order under which I
was acting, he refused Indignantly to
do so.
II then ordered the guards to take
him to the parade ground and tie him
to the flagstaff. Upon arriving there I
again begged him to be reasonable and
give his name, but he obstinately re-
fused to do SO. Then ordered the men
to tie him up by the thumbs After
leaving him in that position for three
minute he was let down, but again re-
maine. obstinately silent. He was
drawn up again, and after leaving him
in that painful position nearly ten min
utes he was let down, but scornfully
declined to answer my most polite re-
quest to give me his name. I begged
him to relieve me of the necessity of
resorting to more force and to relieve
himself of further humiliation and phys
ical pain, but he scorned me. There 7
was on the parade ground with that
gentleman, who was manifestly of more
than ordinary ability and consequence
in the world, and in the presence Of the
regimental staff, I, a young officer, a
mere STRIPPING, and yet the officer of
the day, was trying to compel him to
give his name in accordance with the
order of the commanding officer of the
department.
"He remained stolidly silent, and
then ordered the guards to buck and
gag him. 1t was painful scene, which
I shall never forget. The soldiers did
their duty, bound him in an uncomfort-
able position and gagged him so tightly
that the blood ran from his mouth. That
was more than T had intended to be
done the first time, and it was more
than I could bear to see, so ordered
his release
GAS he stood up, trembling with
pain, passion and humiliation, he said:
I am Joseph g. Knapp, chief justice of
the supreme court of the territory of
New Mexico I Immediately ordered
his release from custody, and he re-
turned to the Hotel Fonda, where he
had registered upon his arrival His
presence in Santa Fe was no secret, and
nearly everybody knew him. Therefore
he may have reasoned that knew him
and was merely making parade Of my
authority needlessly in asking him his
name and compelling him to give it,
You may be very sure that I regretted
the occurrence when heard him an
nounce his name, his title and his Off
cial standing, as, indeed, had sincere
~ regretted the entire scene from the
first ~. -.....,
WAS anything done about it Off
oially?'' -, <....-~
well, IShould say sol Colonel Garlic
ton, commanding the post, wrote re-
port of the affair, which he character
lied as brutal, and recommended pro-