The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-17
WEST POINTER AS A PRIVATE.
u,D RATHER BE CORPORAL THAN
LIEUTENANT.

uissiOned Officer of Volunteer
R,gimcnt-yNas Lieutenant
in the Army and Partic-
fpated in the Battle of wOsnded
i<nee-Is independently wealthy.
HAS Refused Offers of Commissions
and Is Determined TO Go Through
Mar as n Privatc-A Romance of
Real Life Stranger Than Fiction.
A former graduate of West Point and an
commissioned officer of the United
States army is serving as a corporal in a
Northern regiment now stationed in Sa-
,aunah. The ex-army officer is not serv-
ing as a corporal of a volunteer regiment
because he can get nothing better. On the
contrary, he has been several times Of
fered a commission, and has always. de-
clined. He is determined TO go through
this war as a private. Neither is he serv-
Ing his country for a livelihood, for he
is Independently wealthy.
The story sounds ike a romance, but it
is as true as the most ordinary narrative
Of everyday occurrences. AS the gentle
man who narrated the story to Morning
News reporter said, the strangest dream
that ever emanated from the brain of
confirmed victim of the morphine habit is
often excelled by real facts 1t is another
complication of the old saying that
truth is, indeed, stranger than fiction.
This gentleman, for such he is entitled
to be called, was the son of wealthy par
ents in a Northern state. He was appoint
ed to West Pointtby a man who is one
of the leading statesmen of the country
and a possible candidate for the presi-
dency, After graduating from West Point
he was assigned to the Seventh Cavalry,
Custers old regiment as a second lieu
tenant He participated with his regiment
IN the campaign in the Northwest when
the Indiana We're SO excited over the ex-
pected arrival of their Messiah and was
in the thick of the fight with his COM
pany at the battle OF Wounded Knee. The
lieutenant received a wound which dis
abled him, and he returned East to re-
cuperate. He found his father in very
low state of health, and at the latter's
request secured his discharge from the
army, afterward accompanying his father
20 Europe. His father died in the South
Of France and the young man returned
Ia this country just after the breaking out
Of the War with Spain.
A regiment had been formed in which
there was a company from his old home
The Governor of the state was friend of
the young man and the colonel of the
regiment was an old schoolmate He was
offered a commission, but enlisted as a pri-
vate in the company from his native
town. His friends We're surprised at such
action on the part Of man who was so
well qualified by experience and natural
ablityfto hold "a commission A vacancy
occurred in the regiment and the Young
man was offered a commission. but he
positively declined to accept anything OF
the kind. He insisted on remaining a pri-
vate. So he came South as private
In the regiment of which his old friend and
schoolmate was the colonel
The regiment spent the summer at
Cnekamausa. The. subject of this sketch
VINO declined to accept commission final
~ accepted corporaicy and afterwards a
sergeantcy, these promotions not interfer-
ing with his determination to serve
through the war as a private. After the
signing of the peace protocol with Spain
the regiment with which this strange ee-
MUS was connected, was one of the first
ordered home TO be mustered out He re-
turned to his native state with This rerI-
ment, but just a short time before the
regiment was mustered our he succeeded
IN getting transferred to another COM
mand from the same state, which was re-
Gently ordered South, with the expectation
OF being sent to Cuba. The major in COM
mand of the battalion to which he belongs
Is an old friend and since being attached
10 his new command he has again been
offered a commission, which, consistently
with his former course, he has declined
He has since been made a corporal the
duties of which Office he performs to the
eminent satisfaction of his company COM
mander.
By his fathers death the young man be-
came heir 10 a large fortune Consequent
~ the monthly stipend which he receives
from Uncle Sam is mere bagatelle to
nm. He does not spend it. however On
the contrary he has every cent of the pay
which he has received since entering the
service ofathe government. He carries it
around WILD him in big wad. He intends
10 Keep it,4he says, until ii gets as big as
base drum Then when his term of
service Is over he is going to present the
entire roll 60 the government to repay it
Ior the expense of his education at West
Point.
Ihis strange man, who had rather be a
corporal than a commissioned officer, has
an old friend and schoolmate here, now
one of Savannah's prominent business
men. The business man entertained his
friend the corporal at dinner the other day
and listened to a strange story
If anybody else had told me this
strange story as having occurred to some
one else | would not have believed It,"
said the business man, in talking with
Morning News reporter. 1T is only an
other proof that the straugest fiction OF
which the Imagination is capable can be
excelled by cold facts. Who would ever
nave believed that an ex-arny officer and
graduate of West Point would be found
nghting in the ranks when he could have
commission for the asking
The ex-army officer, who is now a cor
poraa, is determined to go to Cuba He
knows what army life is from the stand
point of the officer, he say, and he is de-
termined to know it from the station Of
the private. 1t Is remarkable to say the
least, and most remarkable of an it is
uue. In some future war this man may be
a major general.
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