Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-06-03
ARE KEPT GUESSING
The Troops at Camp Alger Harassed
by Rumors.
TALK OF A CHANGE OF LOCATION
Several Regiments Made Glad by
Reports of Early Pay Day..
Tx OF A CHANGE OF LOCATION
THE LOU OR QUESTION
pecial Correspondence of The Evening Star.

The rank and file of the I'd Army
| Corps have been kept on the alert all day
| by rumors to the effect that the camp site
! had been pronounced unhealthy by the War
| Department. These reports are doubtless
| the outcome of the visit made to corps
| headquarters yesterday by the special COM
mission appointed by Secretary AIger. Talk
| OF removing the camp to the upper Poto-
| mac is heard everywhere, except at head
| quarters, where little or nothing is said
! on the subject. The commission has not
! reported here today. 1t is, therefore, i'm
| possible to say in what condition the mat
| ter now stands.
This much. however, may be said with
| certainty, that one effect of yesterdays in
| quiries has been to suspend the operation
| of certain orders issued before their arrival
yesterday. The most important was that
| printed in yesterdays Star relating to a
general change of quarters by the troops
| camped nearest to Falls Church. Under
| the terms of that order all the troops of
| the first division, excepting the Sth Ohio
| and the 9th Massa chusetts were to be
| moved from their present site The 9th
i Pennsylvania and the 9th Illinois were to
make room for corps parade ground.
Only the 9th Illinois was moved today.
suspended until Monday.
This may be because the officials of the
War Department are not willing to put
the troops to the inconvenience of chang
ing quarters when the whole camp may be
moved within d week two; or 1t may be
that the number OF wagons and mules here
at camp is too small to move more than
one regiment at d time, that the site
lected may not have seemed best on second
thought, or that complications have arisen
that make any new arrangement of the
several regiments in the corps more diff
fcult than was at first expected.
Whatever the cause there is here no def
mite knowledge of the intentions of the de-
pt.rtment. The entire camp is on the qui
vive. Stories to the effect that certain
regiments are to be moved at once
heard nearly everywhere, and the impress
sion seems to prevail that some definite
change of policy on the part of the officials
here may BE- expected very shortly.
Most of he troops would welcome any
change. They dissatisfied with exist
ing conditions. The men in the fields would
like to be in the shade, and the men in the
woods would like to escape the pest of
poison ivy. Water for bathing purposes
is not plentiful, but it is at least abundant
i'i slii i'SsS's'tiy tui BosSs- iSlOlS VI d
camp on the upper Potomac. where every
body can battle at least once every day.
are not inclined to increase the peace Of
mind of the men at Camp Ager.
The sanitary conditions of the camp are
receiving much attention from members Of
Gen. Graham's staff. Col Girard, the sur
geon-in-chief, spent large part of the
morning in looking for more suitable site
for the first division hospital. 1t is likely
that when moved it will be taken only
about a hundred yards from it's present
site.
Capt. Badgley, Troop A. New York Cav.
airy, who has been reported ill of typhoid
pneumonia, is in reality only afflicted with
very bad cold. He was taken to Fort
Myer in order that the cold might not be
aggravated into something more malig-
nant.
Liquor Banished From Camp.
Major General Graham's orders that no
liquor should be sold on or about the camp
grounds have been rigidly enforced. His
provost marshal, Major Vollrath of the Sth
Ohio, proceeded to close the Officers ness
as soon as Gen. Graham had announced
his intention CT proceeding against them
About the time The Star was going to
press yesterday the provost marshal and
his men had taken down the sign, Off
GERS mess" and had formally closed the
building.
Various rumors had reached Major Voll-
1ath during the day of places where Wits
ky was called nectar and beer called
New Orleans mead He set about in
Vestlgating these reports as soon as the
institution mentioned above had been seized
He first had a sergeant and some of the
men of his guard call in a body and ask
several dealers in turn whether they sold
nectar or mead Before long they had
found two places on the main road not
more thaa 20 yards from corps headouar-
tiers. One was kept by two colored men who
refused to give their names The other
was conducted by Mr.. Roger Michael Jar
vey and his wife. All the goods found
in the keeping of these persons were at
once confiscated and put under guard Con-
stables A. r. Jacobs and George H. Hawk
hurst of Falls Church were then Informed
of what had taken place, and notified that
the Offenders would be kept under guard
thtli taken into custody by the county Of
i'clals. The two officers named reported to
Major Nollrath late in the evening and
took Mr.. and Mrs. Jarvey and the two COL
ored men to Falls Church
by the meIest chance it happened that
the two shops discovered yesterday were
situated outside the camp limits. The pro-
vost marshal seized them, however. as a
measure OF necessary precaution. Had
they been found within the camp limits the
culprits would have been confined in the
guard house. tried by court-martiaI and
punished by military law before being
turned over to the civil authorities. This
proceeding would not have affected the
trial In the courts. 1t may happen. there
fore, if offenders discovered within the
guard lines that the men arrested viii suf
Ter two punishments for the same offense
1t may be stated positively, therefore. as
result of General Graham's directions of
yesterday, that the sale of LIQUOR to the
men of the I'd Army Corps is practically
at END
Soldier Becomes Insane,
Private Swan Bohman, Company c. 9th
Illinois, Is to be dismissed from the service
as soon as possible. For some months
past Bohman has manifested signs of slight
mental alteration. This tendency has grown
more and more marked with each day of
camp life until within the past forty-eight
hours the unfortunate man has been prac-