The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-07-04
sCAPEGRACEs IN UNIFORM.
Worthless Sons OF Rich Men Who
Make Trouble In. the Army.
From the New York Sun.

NAaA AANh vi IN iAlAQ AllG 0ilAtu nAdAtS
fighting establishments. The army is es-
peciaily afflicted by them. They rarely
make good or even passab,e soldiers Few
of them serve a compete enlistment,
Rich mems sons in the army generally
contrive to keep in a ferment the outfits
to which they are attached. The son of
an ex-mayor of Rochester N. Y, enlisted
in New York city few years ago, after
several visits to a Kelley cure institution
and inebrate asylums, and with a record
in genral incorrigibility. He passed the
army surgeon who examined him for en-
listment with the greatest ease, for. de-
spite his dissipation he was as sound as
a dollar. He was sent to David's Island
when that post was a recruiting station,
for three months drilling in the awkward
squad before being assigned to a regiment.
His relatives sent the young fellow so
much money that he was able to keep him
self in a trance most of the time. The
captain of the company of recruits TO
which the young man belonged, noticing
the bad start the lad was making, and inn
pressed with the brightness and aptness
he exhibited during his lucid intervals, de-
cided that it would be best to fire him off
to "A regiment for disciplinary purposes
ton a full month So the young fellow
was drafted to proceed with a batch of
thirty recruits, under the charge of a
sergeant, to an artillery regiment stationed
on the Pacific coast He notified his rel
atiVes of the move he was about to make,
and by return mail got money from each
of them.
From the hour the batch of recruits left
New Rochelle to take the train at the
grand central station for the west until
they turned up in various states of diiap-
idation on the Pacific coast, twelve days
later the sergeant In charge of the gang
had his hands full None of the other re-
cruits besides the Rochester man had
cent, but he had money In plenty. and his
disposition was large and generous. Half
way across the continent the sergeant,
dignified man and an old-timer in the SER
vice, found 1t necessary, every ten min
utes or so, night and day, to pry the re-
cruits loose from one another, and get them
down, one by one, in the middle of the
car aisie there to sit upon them with his
go pounds of sinew and hone, until, fiat
tened, they announced their acquisition of
little temporary wisdom. The Roches-
ter man whose wad was creating all this
trouble, was tied to his seat with stout
cords by the sergeant half a dozen times
before the train got to Chicago; but the
monCyed recruits comrades cut the cords
every time, and more liquids appearing at
the next stop, riot invariably broke out
afresh. BY the time they reached Omaha,
and had kicked all the windows out of their
special car, the sergeant gave them up;
ea,s', Of the recruits having acquired one
OF 3: pair Of back eyes before the Missouri
was crossed, aud the sergeant himself be-
ing tired of mauling them. SO he settled
back in his seat and let them go ahead,
remarking that when they arrived at the
uyhiab fhau Wal hound ba would
prefer charges against every one OF them
which he never did. The ex-Keelyite from
Rochester thereupon loaded the
car up with bottles from the
saloon shacks of Council Bluffs
and the tumult went on. At Glenn's
Ferry, Idaho, the train was hemmed In
between TWO washouts for FIVE days, one
of the days being st. Patrlck's anniver-
sary. The recruit from Rochester hired
the biggest shack in the place on st. Pat
rlcSs night, and gave a ball to the sheep
herders. IL wound up in scraps and gun
plays, though no one was killed. When
this interesting mob Of rockies arrived
at their post, every one of them was a
wreck, in shape TO be patched up by the
surgeon, except the son OF the Rochester
ex-mayor. He was as fresh as a daisy
Is became an eXKee;eyite.
He found more money, sent by his folks.
awaiting him when he got TO his post,
and he Immediately set out to win the af
lection Of the six batteries in his regi-
ment by taking all hands to the canteen
In relays. Inside of a week the soldiers
had practically sacked the canteen, and
about one-half of them were in the guard
house. The young man from Rochester
couldn't be touched. He got through with
his duty and missed no calls. The can
teen couldn't weigh him down a part.c
The commanding officer was puzzled. He
h. Tba dino
eral Of the department ordered him to
open 1t again. 1t was no sooner reopened
than the Rochester youth conveyed the
whole enlisted force of the post there
again, and again illustrated his complete
inability to get under the weather from
the effects of army beer while his com
rades in arms were being marched off to
the cllnk in sets of fours. When the ma
ior portion of the enlisted force was IN
the guard house, and the Rochester man
persisted In declining to present any han
die by which he, too, could be cooped up
the commanding officer came to the con-
clusion that the young man was too warm
a member for army service, and to pre-
vent the complete Reorganization and
ruin Of one OF the best artillery regi-
ments In the army, the Kelley graduate
received a without honor" Not until he
had been escorted to the gate by a h.e
Of the guard was discipline restored
Inc only sou Oh "A IlGH banker III Denver
made an unwise marriage a few years ago,
and to wriggle out of the responsibility Of
IL after his people had abandoned him.
he enlisted in the army. lie was a prof.
cient cornet player, and was therefore as
signed to one Of the infantry bands as
musician. His people an Denver were 50
pleased with the young man for having
adopted this novel method of getting rid
OF the obligation 70 live with the woman
he had married that they sent him all the
money he asked for The band 10 which
he was attached was at Angel Island, an
hours run by boat from. San Francisco.
The young man from Denver proceeded to
make life bearable, not 20 say hilarious.
for his fellow wind hammers. He didn't
do this In the post, and thereby make
himself and his "swaddies" liable 20 get
into trouble. His original liberality took
the form Of providing an average OF three
banquets a week IN San Francisco for his
fellow musicians. He saw that they were
all provided with evening suits, which they
donned after reaching San Francisco from
the island. and he acted as master Of GER
emones OF the revels, which took place
In a private supper room In one Of the
best hotels in the city. by the time the
young man from Denver had been at An