The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-17
OLD ARMY P%UNISH MENTS.
LOT OF THE REFRACTORY PIRATE
THE YEARS AGO.
Tree PacEing and TrottinE tho Hull King
CHIEF DouEina'a E-cnpe-Barbarity That
brought n Observation-Disclosures who Wouidnt
M. Gnnnnereh - lkmckInE and EARRING.

brought n Rs~form-PrisOnera who Wouidn't
NE Conquered liucLlnE and GaEEinE.
wAsHtSeroS, Oct. l8.-The case of Private
Hammond, who, Mt Fort Sheridan the other
day, Is said to have been dragged by the heels
q distance Of 500 feet. including some stair
ways, by order of the officer OF tho day, for de-
clininR to perform the work allotted to him
as q guardhouse prisoner. attracts more at
tention to-day than 1t would have done twenty
years ago. Then cruel and unusual punish
mcnts indeed were melted out to refractory
soldiers of tho United States Army. In those
DAYS a ten or thirty day trick in the guard
house was not n comparatively minor matter
as 1t Is now. The soldier who nowadays,lands
in the guardhouse for drunkenness, insubor-
dination, neglect Of duty, or any other viola
ton OF regulations is put to work at some job
around tho post from fatigue call in the morn
ing until recall from fatigue late in the after
noon. The work is novor hard. 1t is mostly
Of the pottering around sort policing around
the quarters, sweeping brick walks, washing
windows, trimming hedges, moving grass. or
something of that sort. The only discomfort
connected with the work is that It is always
performed under the watchful eye of a sentry
with a loaded gun. On The other hand, the
Ruardhouse prisoner gets every night in
that is, he is permitted to slumbcr peacefully
on the comfortable bunk in his guardhouse
cell, while his comrades who have not com
mitted themselves have to take their turns
standing guard over him through the watches
OF the night. For this reason, no.account sol.
dicrs are often heard to express their inten-
ton Of getting themselves into the guard
house for the purpose of resting.
The soldier who worked himself into the
guardbousc prior to 1870 did not get every
night in, nor any night in, from the dav he
began his term until its end. lie walked his
post, two hours on and four Off, from the be-
ginning to tho termination Of his sentence.
But he did not carry a gun while on post. He
shouldered an Embarked log, from six to eight
feet in length and weighing from 20 to 100
pounds, and the man in his rear carried the
rifle. The business of the soldier with the
rifle was to see that the soldier with the log
kept on the move, up and down in front Of the
guardhouse. from the time he went on post
until reliev ed, at the end OF two hours, by an
other guardhouse prisoner. to whose shoulder
the log would be transferred. 1t was also the
sentry's duty to see that the &c g.humpsr"
did not drop his burden. The prisoner could
shift it from ono shoulder to the other, or
carry 1t under his arm, or horizontally in front
OF him. or any other way he chose; but he had TO
carry It, and he had to keep moving. on pain Of
being indented with the point Of a bayonot.
There are hundreds of old soldiers still In the
United States Army who did their little
trick or tricks at tree packing In the old
days, and none Of them speaks with the
slightest degree of enthusiasm OF the job. The
guardhouse prisoner of large physique was
out OF luck in those days. A 100 pound log
was invariably bestowed upon him. The
smaller logs were reserved for the prisoners
OF less bulk.
TT was a hard game and no mistake said
an old soldier at the Arsenal here in comment.
ing, upon this punishment OF the logs. but it
hnI npa .l as faHn I yN,,1l tpNrl n rupN
out OF a man who had been on a long tOot
quicker'n anything | ever saw or heard of. 1t
against sutler store whiskey for a week or so to
be slammed into the mill before he Tad even be-
sSn to s an, n a9 3pSn, so OF rim sc} H1pkI and W;,0 then nn. be be
felt like it weighed q ton. But at the end Of his
the end OF HIS next two hours he'd begin to feel
like eating, whereas if he'dlbcen left IN his cell
1t was while packing a log on the second-story
balcony of the Ruardhouse at Fort Leavenworth
Percesstribe. which was rounded up in u bunch at
that garrison In 1873, made, his escape. Doug
las was too refractory to be permitted to re-
ing back Of the post: So he was placed in the
sxtent in the guardhouse day and night, keeping
all hands awake. that the commanding, officer
sleepy. Dongias"who was a gigantic. sinewy,
magnificent ookins l~ndian-co,ld not see the
thing at all at first, and merely shook his head
with q look OF unreasonable disgust when he
cony. He was locked in his cell. and there he
his respects to the officer OF the guard and re-
quested, the privilege of exercising with "a log
Douglas picked out the biggest log in the cord,
probably ont Of bravado, and began his march
back s,Io, and n forth bo.f on an The he balcony balcony c no,d TRo sentry dTy,
half an hour after Douglas took up his log
march the sentry saw the tall figure OF an In
lta - in Hnt1ntr ln,Dl TtnlA Ia tna.l an ~
woods like a deerholnd. The sentry fired at
gained the shelter OF the dense forest sur.
rounding the post before the remainder Of tho
| post, cavalry and ali. was turned out after the
Indian three minutes after he leaped from tho
balcony. They got Douglas about four months
later in Oregon.
One of the ,punishmcnts meted ont TO the
cavalryman who got into the guardhouse under
the old regime was ."%trotting the bull ring"
| The bull ring is the circular track upon which
the horses are exercised when there is not much
doing around the post in the way Of drills on &C
face face OF o1i the he bull Shi ring the U %frScti e%s cavalry cay%irym man
the Intangible air at regular intervals, named
His bull ring work was no go-es-you-plcuso
lowed, to, walk; Hoei,and.!oe business was
ing the sentry was agreeable; did he prefer the
'ess graceful. but also the less irksolne, trot,
the sentry hadn't Il word TO say; but II for n
single. inrtant he relapsed into u common,
everyday walk no would hear the %sentry's com
mand, like Sie crack OF a circus ringmaster's
whip. "'Shake her ur there, Pete; what do you
think this is, n prsctice rarchi Glang!" and
II the bull ring FOUNDER knew his gait he would
leave off walking right away. The bull-ring
work was good for wind and muscle, but it was
hard and calling. A soldier undergoing a bull
ring sentence dropped dead from heart disease
at Il post in the Southwest one day about seven
teen years ago. and then the bull-ring punish
ment was abandoned.
1t was reserved for the commanding officer
OF an Arizona post. a one-cOmpany outfit, TO in
hict SO barbarou5 punishment upon an Offend
ing soldier that tho whole scale OF punishments
in the United States Army was revised and
made hard and fast. This commanding officer
was a Captain, and the affair happened in 1879.
He had in his company a soldier who was u
very hard case. and put in most OF his time in
the guardhousc. He completed a guardhOuse
term in the autumn Of 1879, and immediately
repaired to the nearby town OF whiskey shacks
and made himself exceedingly drunk. lie re-
turned to tho post with the announced inten:
ton OF raising 1t to the level Of the desert and
firing, a volley over its ashes. Tho Captain had
him lassoed as he was entering the post. The
Captain then constituted himself n summary
court martial and passed upon the case. lie
ordered that q hole sufficiently large to receive