The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1898-02-22
COMPANY A IN DURANGO.
West Point Cadets Punished for In :
dignity to an Officer.

dignity to an Officer.
West Point. N. Y, Feb. 22.-By order Of
the commandment of cadets the members
of Company A are undergoing confine-
ment in their barracks for thirty days
for treating Lieut.. John III. Pershire to a
shower bath.
This means that the cadets of the COM
pany will not be allowed to visit one an
other, to loiter around barracks during
release from quarters, to call at the Of
ficers quarters, to meander through
Filtration Walk" or take advantage OF
the thousand and one little privileges
which makes the cadets life worth living.
They were not allowed the privilege of
attending the "One Hundredth Night En-
tertainment," and as several members of
the company will be graduated next
June, that was considered the unkindest
cut of all.
A committee that waited on the COM
mandant and asked permission for the
company to attend the entertainment. in
Grant Hall, was curtly dismissed with
the assurance that until the culprits
purged themselves by an open confession
the severe sentence would not be mitiga-
ted one jot. This was hard. as most OF
the men in Company A are popular, and
all had engagements to escort pretty girl
friends to the entertainment.
Ii was Just a week ago that Lieutenant
Pershire the tactical officer of Company
A, started out on his usual round of in
spection. He STROBE across the area with
martial step and clanking sword. He
dashed into the division, and without
moments hesitation pushed open the
first door to his right.
1t is at this point the stories vary.
Some say when the officer stepped across
the sill bucket of water which had
been adjusted to the ceiling in such a
manner that the opening of the door
would disturb its equilibrium came down
splash on his martial head Others MAIN
tain that only a few drops spilled on his
shoulders and that a policeman, sent by
the officer to Investigate, got the contents
of the bucket when he opened the door.
After the bucket had been removed an
investigation was ordered by the authori-
ties that such heinOus crime should not
go unpublished. Never before in the his
tory of the academy had a cadet dared
to administer a cold bath TO a tactical
officer The honor Of the department
called for severe measures. and il only re-
manned to convene a court-martial to try
the offenders.
But first the rascaIs must he caught,
and that very night the men who had
placed the bucket OF water above the
trausom of the door in the A Company
division were invited to step up imme-
diately after breaking ranks TO the officer
IN charge.
As the men who usually occupied the
room were in the hospital. the act was
not laid TO them. The officer in charge
twisted his flowing mustache into mill
tary shape looked in the glass to see
that his face wore the proper expression
for such occasions and awaited the COM
ing Of the culprits. His orders were to
place them promptly under arrest so that
an example might be made of them with
neatness and dispatch.
As the minutes few by and nobody ap-
peared the officer of the day was sum
moned TO report IL the order had been
properly published Another council of
war followed. and IL was decided to invite
the members of Company A who had not
participated in hanging bucket of water
10 door transom to fall out of ranks.
Solid as the rock Of Gibraltar stood that
company: not a man moved
The tactical officers We're exasperated.
but time was given until the following
noon for those who did or did not hang
a bucket of water in place not provided
by the rules TO step UP and say SO. The
time Of grace slipped rapidly away. and
nobody acknowledged the crime II was
then the edct went forth that Company
a. collectively and individually. officers,
non-commissioned officers and privates.
should be confined to quarters at all
hours when not engaged a studies for
a period of thirty days.