El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-06-16
WITH THE VOLUNTEERS.
John ConnorS Tells of Camp
Life.

Life.
Last night the HER AID reporter
was talking to John Connors about his
trip to New Orleans with the volun-
teers. Mr.. Connors said: I'VE we're
camped sabout IS miles from New
Orleans on what is known as Pearl
River. The camp is a good one and
there is NO kick about that, but the
boys have got kick coming on account
of the way they are fed. You can
look around you at meal times and see
them chewings old hard tack, and
drinking coffee, but they will have
far away look in their eyes as II they
were thinking about those good bis
boys that didn't go don't know and
can't realize what good thing it Is to
be here and have good eating"
Mr.. Connors thinks that there is
some rascality going on somewhere
among the officers that have charge OF
the quartermaster's department.; for
curiosity some of the boys calculated
up the amount that was being spent to
feed them, and they found that the
government was allowing them about
IS cents a day. What they were given
could be bought for half of that.
On being asked as to how the men
were clothed he said: "The volunteers
haven't been treated right by the gov
ernment, as they haven been issued
their entire clothing allowance, and
they have no straw sacks nor any straw
to sleep on, but have to sleep on the
ground with only one blanket under
them. One day one of the boys was sick
of fever and we carried him over to
the hospital tent. The men only had
one fly stretched to keep off the sun
and there were ten sick men in that
one tent. Every one of them was
pretty sick but he had nothing to lie
on except that one blanket"
AS to the physical examination he
said: "Well, you see, they have over
three hundred men too many for the
number of companies in camp and
when they find q man who hasn't good
teeth or who has other little defects
they will throw him out, because they
have plenty to draw from. I was
thrown out because from sleeping on
the ground l had caught cold and
had q hitch in my side: when l was put
before the doctors one of them com
menced to thump my chest, and 1t hurt
go bad that I told him not to do that
aga'n, and from that I was thrown
aside" @
Mr.. Connors was asked about the
message from Capt Jones. he said
ava
there is another Jones with the com.
pany and it must have been he, for II
was seat from New Orleans on Monday
night, and as there is only one train q
day to New Orleans and Capt. Jones
had to stand the mental examination
on Tuesday, I don't see how it could
have been he"
In regard to Mr.. SWANS taking the
position of captain of the company,
Mr.. Connors said: ''Swain claimed to
have given Jones the rauthority to
raise this con- psny, and he said he was
entitled to the command of it. Swain
has been in the Texas volunteers IS a
colonel, and has q brother who is a
major in the regiment which the Ell
Psso company is in, and it looks to all
| the boys there that everything is cut
| and dried by those officers: and that
| they put in whom they want and throw
out those whom they don't. There is
q good deal of crookedness going Oh
with the officers, and they don't want
the war to end too soon either, as they
are making too good a thing out OF