The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-09-01
LOGAN VOLUNTEER
RELATES THE FACTS
Men Robbed and Starved BY Com
miSSiOned Sharks.
Sergeant Frank C. Goodwin, Son of
Judge C. C. Goodwin of Logan,
Arrives Home Weak and Wasted
Discharged For Physical Disabili-
ties Brought On By An Utterly
Incompetent and Criminally Neg
igent War Department.

CFrom The Herald'S Correspondence
Logan, Aug. 31.-QuartermaSter Ser
geant Frank c. Goodwin, of troop L,
Torrey rough riders arrived home last
evening from Jacksonville, Fla, where
he has been CHARTERED since last June.
He was discharged short time ago
on account of. disability, and imme-
Giately started home. He is in very
weak condition, and presents sad ap-
uearance in comparison with the way
he looked when he left here on May 10
last. He tells a shocking story of the
GiSgraceful miSmanaSement OF Things
connected with the army, especially the
commissary and medical departments.
Nearly all the men in the Torrey COM
mand, he says. are ready TO Ole Oh
starvation and exposure. and hardly
man among them but earnestly desires
to be mustered out of the service. and
once out they will never re-enter it, as
their sufferings have very effectually
killed their patriotism. He says that
when he left that from II to Is men
were dying daily. and that the officers
were doing their utmost to prevent the
public from knowing ii. A petition was
circulated in and signed by about 90
De: cent of the regiment, asking that
they be mustered out, at the same time
that Colonel Torrey declared to Cen
eral Lee that his command desired 70
go to Cuba. Not per cent of the men
desire to go to Cuba. The entire de-
partment of subsistence, as far as he
has become acquainted with it, he de-
clareS is a gigantic thieving scheme.
Nearly all the men spent the greater
part of their pay in trying to obtain
edible food. Bacon without maggots in
it was seldom seen, while bread was
a luxury.
A contract was let last June for the
erection of a large bake oven for the
camp. but when he left its construction
had not been commenced, and, in con-
sequence. hard tack was substituted
for bread. When he was promoted to
be CuartermaSter of his company, the
first food he officially received was
consignment of hams which he found,
upon inspection, to be literally alive
with maggots; and any complaint to
superior officer was generally met by
the answer that nothing could be done
about ii. as that was all there was for
the men 20 eat, and eat it they must.
The camp, he says, was pitched on
sand knoll. surrounded by swamps on
three sides. and the st. Johns river on
the other side, and as a consequence
malaria was prevalent in the troop.
Mr.. Goodwin was taken to the hospital,
i'll with that complaint, but was LETT
unattended by the doctors for II hours
after. not because the physicians were
not doing all they could, but because
there were not enough of them. AS
long as the medicine lasted it was dis
pensed, but it frequently gave out, and
many suffered and died for want of it.
When he was released from the hos
oital he was sent Ito Pablo Beach TO
recuperate. where. Notwithstanding the
fact that the government paid so cents
per day oer man for their subsistence,
they were fed on 10 cents worth of
cruel and crackers. Then, after giving
him an honorable discharge, they gave
him transportation part of the way
home. leaving him to pay his fare for
LOO miles. He will ask the state to
reimburse him for this.
Goodwin says that Captain J. Wash
Young is absolutely unfit to command
any company of men. First Lieutenant
Andy Burt, he says, is far more COM
petent officer, while Sid Hooper and
Archie Mckay are beloved by every
nan in the troop. He says he believes
that if his company is kept there an
other month. rs per cent of them will
be in the hospital. The men Of the
regiment are not in love with their
commander. Colonel Torrey, but prefer
Lieutenant Colonel Cannon every time.
Mr.. Goodwin has been besieged with
callers all day, and his story, which is
the same to all, has aroused a storm of
indignation here, and Mckinley, Alger
and the rest of the incompetent gang
are roundly denounced.