The age-herald., 1898-09-21

him told him no, but at the same time Lieutenant Hooper, of Company F, came into the tent and when asked by Iieuten- ant Colonel Mcdonald how he found his men, he replied that he found 40 to 22 m favor of going to Cuba. This company, It will be remembered, sent but twelve men to the front in response to the vote taken by the colonel that afternoon.
 At this time Lieutenant Johnson, of Com- pany K, came into the tent and in the presence of Colonel Mcdonald, Lieutenant Schwartz and Lieutenant Hooper, asked me how l stood on this matter, and l answer ed that like the majority of the men, l wanted to go home. And inferring from the remark made by Colonel Mcdonald to Lieutenant Hooper, inferred that the of- ficers had been instructed to canvass the streets in quest of the votes of the men who were not in line at the time the vote was taken, and upon this supposition asked Lieutenant Johnson if he had can vassed Company K, and he answered yes, and that he found to in favor of going to Cuba.
 l felt sure that he was making a false statement, and determined there and then to investigate the matter and see that Com pany K, of which 1 am member got JUS tice. So I forthwith went down to the street and asked some of the men who were in the kitchen if they had been given chance to vote, and they said no, and also asserted that there were many others who had not even been given a chance to vote. l told them to get together, and l in the meantime would secure an audience With the captain and see if our rights cannot be respected. The captain very politely al lowed us an interview, and called to the men to come up, and they came and quickly f l, INats tha tain | the captain to explain to the men the op- ject of the vote taken today, and what was to be accomplished thereby, in answer to which he said that the vote simply meant nothing only to gain for the war depart ment the general sentiment that prevailed among the men in regard to going to Cuba. asked him if the vote taken today was gong to cut any figure in our going or not, and was told by him that it would not Then asked why so much interest was be- Ing taken by the officers in the affair if the vote was so insignificant. To this we could only get the very unsatisfactory reply that our vote was not to be taken into consid- eration, and that they just wanted a senti- ment of the men. Then l asked if this vote was to get the sentiment of the men, why would It not be better to get the true senti- ment instead of a false one, which could nave been made up without bettering the men at all. He of course claimed ignorance
 
 no reason for accusing him of any knowi- edge thereof; but in the presence of all the men 1 told the captain about the report brought in by Lieutenant Hooper of Com pany F when our men were praising this company for their loyalty to the men. 1 also told him about Lieutenant Johnston giving in a report that after thoroughly canVassing Company K, he found five to two of those who were not in line in favor or going to Cuba, and told him to look around him and he would see seventeen men, besides myself, who mad not been al- lowed to vote at all, all of whom were in favor of going home, and that if our vote did turn out to be of interest to us, he must bear in mind that Company K was not fairly represented, and that eighteen men were not allowed voice in the affair. He promised to see to it himself that our vote would be taken into consideration, and would report it himself, which would represent Company K as having AS to 31 in favor of going home. I dismissed the men and went back to my office, determined to see if Captain Ledbetter would fulfill his promise to the men and have our vote re- corded; but it was fully an hour after the report had been formed and taken to town by Leutenants Schwarz. Fletcher and Johnston that Captain Ledbetter came up to headquarters, and knew we had been entirely shut out. J. w. MOORE.
 September 20, 1S9S