Evening star., 1897-06-04
One Way Of Keeping Track Of the
Enlisted Man.
RECORD on fHE RECRUITING CARD
What Some Soldiers Do When
They Want to Be Discharged.
STIMULATING DISEASE

Written for The Evening Star.
While good many people know In
general way OF the Bertilfion system for
the Identification of criminals. compara-
lively few know of the simple method
which Uncle Sam has been using for .
number of years past to keep track OF the
men who eat his rations and wear mis- uni
form in the regular army. The system en-
ployed by the War Department might be
termed the natural method and Is a.
once simple and ingenious. It does away
with all apparatus except a vertical meas
uring rod and pair of scales. 1t is known
as "tile scar system and has been found
wonderfully effective.
There is an unw-itten theory in the army
that every man who enlists will at some
time or other desert. This is not entirely
true, but the desertions are numerous
enough to make 1t worth while to keep
track Of the Offenders. In war the penalty
for desertion Is death. but In peace 1t Is
q long term of imprisonment, and the sub
1ect is liable to punishment. no waiter how
long a time has elapsed since his OffeDse
was committed. Strange as 1t may seem,
the men who desert most readily are the
ones who straightway go back and enlist
again, though usually in some remote Sec
tton of the country.
1.-The recruiting card" as 1t is called. Is
big enough to contain two six inch outlines
of a mans form. front .lud rear view,
with a good-sized border for marginal
notes. When the recruit is stripped cor his
physical examination he Is gone over from
head to foot, and every appreclable scnr or
permanent skin blemish Is recot'1ef. Its
location Is accurately noted by a lot on
the card, and Its description is written on
the margin. The hands and face usually
have the greatest number of scars, but
those on the body are apt to bc the more
pronounced and characteristic, as 1t is us-
ualY more severe wound that penesrates
the clothing and leaves its record On the
flesh beneath. Molas are also noted tteIr
color and dimensions and other birthlnarks
or blemishes that would not ordinarily dis
appear with time.
Many Such Marks.
The question may arise as to what II a
man have 70 scars, moles or birth marks?
That would be enough to identify him, for
In all the thousands Of men who have been
catalogued by the department there has
never been one who bore less than three
clearly defined scars, while seven or eight
Is the more usual number, and there are
some cases where the number runs up to
thirty or thirty-fve. Further, so infinite
are the chances Of combination that there
have never been two individuals whose
height, weight and the number and location
of their scars came anywhere near coin
Gliding.
An interesting instance of this possibility.
and about the only one on record, Is fur
nished by the famous Tfchborne case.
which involved the title to large estates in
England a good many years ago. In this
case, a lost heir turned up, and in addi-
tion to his general resemblance to the man
who had disappeared, several years before,
was further identified by four distinct and
peculiar scars and couple of small moles.
After he had esta ablished his identity al
most to the satisfaction of the courts, the
real heir turned up and had considerable
difficulty in convincing those interested
that he was himself and not somebody else.
But this Is only one of the freaks Of GRIM
inal 3urfsprudepce. and has never been par
alleled In the annals Of the War Depart
ment. =
The scar SYSTEM has been in use in
the army for about decade. but 1t was
at first a very crude affair, and the credfs
of its present working has to be traced
largely to DR.. Greenleaf late Of WASH
ington, but now stationed on the Pacific
coast. Not oaly has the War Depart
ment the record of all the men at present
in the army, but record Is made of
every applicant for enlistment, whether he
passes the examination or not, SO that
| the card catalogue of the recruiting Office
now outnumbers the men in actual service
| want to hide your Identity beyond the
hope of recognition don't give the surgeon
| generals office chance to take an in
| ventory of your scars.
| Seeking u Discharge.
| But while desertion. for which the Ne
1 Iuc6lS VI luo 6CAT CAIAl0Bu0 was 1nVenI00,
is common. there are other ways of get
ting out of the service, which. though
sometimes difficult and painful bring with
| them an honorable discharge and a pen
sion. 1t sometimes happens that an ex-
l pert skulker In the ranks will simulate
! disease and get discharged as an invalid,
with q disability pension. 1t is not 10 be
| supposed that this Is a common occur
| renee. though 1t is attempted a good deal
| oftener than 1t succeeds. American officers
| who have had experience abroad say that
| 1t Is much more common in European
| armies, where there Is compulsory military
] service. than in our own, where all enlist
| ments are entirely voluntary.
| Soldiers and sailors. however, can and
| will simulate almost every disease In the
| range Of medical practice. either to get
| out of the service entirely or to secure
| temporary immunity from duty. There are
even recipes. some written and some purely
| oral that circulate through the ranks, and
have been In use for generations to aid the
enlisted man in initiating disease and fool
ing the surgeon.
One of the most common tricks is to pro-
duce swelling and discoloration Of an arm
or leg by q tight bandage at the knee
elbow shoulder, applied after the sub
| ject has gone to bed. This has been prac.
ticed in some cases till actual atrophy sci
In and the limp has become permanently
useless. There Is one case on record a,
least where gangrene and the amputatioI
| Of a whole leg followed such a course O
| systematic deception.
4 It seems almost incredible that q maj
should be willing to risk his eyeslght TO
| the sake of a discharge from any service
hut various forms Of ophthalmia are simu
lated by the men. usually in only one eye
| This Is commonly done by Introducing for
eign substances into tho eye, tobacco an,
lime being favorite agents. One case Is o.
| record In q western post where care wa
taken to keep the soldier isolated and ou
| of reach Of drugs of all sorts, but wher
, he supplied himself readily with the yer,
material he wanted by picking fixes o
whitewash on the wall behind his cot.
Feigning insanity.
, Insanity is often simulated, but to d. thi
. successfully takes such an artist as IL sei
! dom found in the ranks, and q little carefu
, watching IL suf1cient to discover gross In
, consistencies in the subjects behavior. 70
: insanity 10 above all things consistent in It
: very Inconsistency. Further, however,
, may be said that this Is dangerous gam
{ to play, for q man who will undertake
, Is likely to be what Is known In medicin
: and psyc biology a. IAN abnormal" and yer
: frequently what was plainly begun as simu
: lated madness finally turns into real In
: ov&St~ -. : 3