El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-05-05
THE ARMY SCANDAL.
Unpleasant Revelation the Order of
the Day at Fort Mcpherson.

f Unpleasant ReVelatlOn the OfQef o.
: the Day at Fort Mcpherson.
1t is reported in, army circles that
, Lieut.. Bamford, the cause of the row
= at Fort Mcpherson, will be forced to
retire from the army without any
honOris causa. AT the court martial a
lazy visit )r at the post testified she
had witnessed with her own fair eye,
conduct on the part Of Lieut.. Bamford
and Mrs O Br.en that was lndiscreet,
: improper and really shocking. This
was no doubt the long walks in the
city's subj bs by moonlight when the
military AdOniS and ne lovely but I'M
worthy ''b -tter-half' of Lieut. O'Brien
pract ced the Olga Nethersole style of
uscu a lOn, and talked swe tly of what
might have ben, but never was, and
was not at all likely to be. or words to
that effect. The fir VISITORS test mOny
"a so included those real y delic GUS
| doutch -rkuOw tandem cycle rides
when Ms. O'Brien view of the pole
star wa e ;llpsed by the close proximity
of a handsome mouatache. Oh, yes, it
WIS Just eautiful-w while it lasted,
only that particular phase of the beau
tiful was never known to last over and
above ordinarily long As the venera-
BILE and lare lamented Tony Pastor
once said, ''They all do it, but some
| day they'll rue it, and the rue-ing in
tn s ca e proved to be the blue hued
atmo -phere of a mi'itary court martial
| fortunately for the accused, minus
the drum head feature.
Several little incidents have hap
pened in connection with this trial
which show the kind OF Boston baked
bean Bamford is, as for instance. An
Atlanta paper pu blished an interview
with Lieut.. Bamford, 9th infantry, in
which the officer is quoted as having
said that the announcement of his en-
gagement to Miss Romeyn had been
IN dc without his consent. AS soon as
the court adjourned for the day, Capt. |
Ma son Carter, who s-rved in the regi- |
ment with Romeyn since 1867, and has
fl iujuus, called on the latter for per- |
mission of seeing Bamford in relation |
to the publication. This was granted. |
Toe captain called on Ramford and |
five minutes later Lieut.. BamfOrd pub |
licly retracted the words used in the |
newspaper interview. He asserted |
over his own signature that he had |
spoken out of mistaken sympathy for
his friends.
This was not the first time the old
Indian fighter hal paid a visit Of
well, remonstrance to post dude,
Lieut.. o Brien had made unpleasant
remarks some time previously about
Mrs. Carter because the latter spoke |
refectingly on Mrs. O'Brien's perform
ances, and the gallant captain stalking
in on the lieutenant, forded a retro
action at the point OF the bayonet."
Then the present situation was made
the murkier by its being brought out
in evidence that Colonel .Kellogg's
wife and other ladies have refused to
attend social functions at the house of
Lieut.. O'Brien whose wife seems to be
regarded rather as light weight
mentally, wild, giddy indiscreet
thing, as silly as she is beautiful.
Lieut.. Bamford was appointed to a
lieutenancy in 1893 from sergeant ma
jor, Ind Inf, and is a native of Wiscon-
sin. He is well known in Omaha,
where he was very popular while in
the 2nd Inf. He was once tried by
general court martial at Fort McPher-
son for failure to pay his debts.
Lieut.. O. Brien is West Pointe
y horrible army scandal broke loose
at Fort Douglass a few years ago, wo-
man being in the case then as now, and
the upshot was that young officer
blew his brains out rather than be dis
hOnOrably dismissed from the service.
At Fort Duchesue every officer in the ,
garrison once went on drunk, except
the officer of the day who had to keep
sober. and the org e ended in furni-
ture SIN ASKING and a dance in abbre-
Waited nocturnal attire over the parade
2 rOun1 by several Off 'ers. This was
/ fine example to set the enlist led man. l.
Of course there was court martial, |
and certain officers barely escaped by
the skin of their teeth from dism jssal.