The Paducah daily sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1896-1898, 1898-08-31
CONDITIONS
VERY BAD
That Have Existed i'm the Camps
of VOlunteers-An Indiana
Soldier Arrives Here
on a Visit.
Tie Was Once IN Cuba, But the
suffering Has Been Worse In
Our Own Country-Was a
Regular for Five Years.

| Quartermaster Sergeant Owheene
of the lj9th Indiana, arrived thi
morning on the .Cowling, accompa
MED by his wife and baby from Me
tropolis, on visit TO his mother.in
law, Mrs. Langley.
lie tells a sad story OF the suffer,
ing that has existed in the camps
this summer. lie was ia Camp Al.
ger, and was in the celebrated forced
march OF eight miles, at the end Of
which there we're not enough men
left to march. All the others had
fallen by the wayside.
Sergeant Owheene is a Holland
DutChman, and was born in the old
country, being 80 years old. lie
was for five years a regular in the
army, and his home was originally in
Chicago. A few years ago he joined
a party Of eighteen expert gunDers at
Chicago for Cuba, and when they ar
rived there, expecting to join an army
Of 900, they found only 500. They
we're for several months In General
Castillo's command, but he soon re-
turned to this country and located at
Nincennes, Ind, where he was at the
breaking out OF the war. He joined
the volunteers and went into Camp
Alger. In the few months he was
there, he dwindled from q man OF
26O pounds to one OF 2l0. He says
the suffering has been awful, but
that il has been somewhat exagger-
ated. lie was in Col. Barnett's COM
mand, and says the sensational sto.
ries about his treatment Of men were
overdrawn, but that things were bad
enough, nevertheless.
Sergeant Owheenc used to think a
chicken thief was about the mesnest
Of petty miscreants. Now he has
changed his mind The treatment
the soldiers have received, he says,
have made thieves OF many Of them.
They were forced to steal or starve.
lie himself has become so proficient
in the con6sCstion Of fowls, that it
would be unsafe for one to show his
head If the sergeant was right hun
cry, and had his ramrod handy.
One night when they were on camp,
the guards shut their eyes and per-
United the soldiers to kill eight or
more bead Of fine Jersey cattle on a
mans farm on which they were
camped. They couldn't help it, for
they were hungry
The soldiers often talked Of mutiny,
but there were not enough men with
the adequate amount Of nerve 10 un-
derteke it. They often talked it
among themselves, but this Is rs far
as it goes. The officers watch them,
and when one wants furlongh, he is
questioned, and if it develops that he
ever complained about anything, he
is denied it,
These conditions may not have ex-
lsted in all the military camps, but
they have in parts Of Camp Alger, at
least. The sergeant was a regular
long enough to get used to hardships,
and to know what to expect AS a
soldier, but he says he never went
through what he has had to endure
since he went into the volunteer
camp.
Although they expect to be mus
tered out at any time, they are now
made to work hard, or drill, four and
and half hours a day, in the hot sun,
and with many of the men too weak
and i'll to hardly get about.
The officer is IN interesting talker,
and his statements bear the imprint
Of truth. He will likely remain in
the city for several days.