The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-06-03

No more men will b accepted for the
Astor battery at present. Tho Office In.
Astor court was closed recently, and
Lieutenant Peyton O. March. q. g A..
who is to be captain of the battery, was
busy ut the United States recruiting sta
tion in New York. trying 70 handle the
men who have already signihed their
Willingness to enlist The place waek
crowded all day, and the halls and
stairway were full Of young men waltz
ing for their physical examinations o.
having gone through with them, unger-)
Ing to discuss the reasons for their suc-}
cess or failure to pass In all, ,thero are
more than 800 men on the list Of whom
a large proportion will probably pass
muster physically. That is why recruit--
ing is stopped for the present. u will
take several moro days Of work 70 gs&
the list cleared up. As tho proportion OF
men rejected compared to the proportiouk
about two months ago in enlistments fog$
the regular army Is very small, IL ap-
pears either that the physical charactt4
of the Astor volunteers Is above the av-l
erage or that tho examinations are noAk
quite so rigid. Both are probably txuA4
The menswho have come through GaosT
cessfully say that the most strinQku1
part Of the examination Is in the that
ter of eyesight.
"f you can't count the legs Of l. 6Y.
at the other end Of the room anh tell A
whether he's lnockkmeed or splay foot~s\
ed, you amt In it, /" is tho way one of$y
them put it. "
In the examining surgeons room
eight applicants at timewcre stripped
and stood in row while tho mrgeona
went over them for any general defects,
of build, heart or lungs Then came tha
more detailed examination and the.
questions as to diseases from which they
had suffered In the past A special point
was made of putting the men On their !.
honor as to their replies. As fast as they
were accepted or rejected thsy wer6
turned out of the examining room and,
their places were filed rom the long
line outside.
One of the men who got through the
other day was Martin Franklin, kor-
mer government scout 1t Fort Rbno..
Fort Riley and Fort Stills. He wnsE fn13
of joy at getting chance TO sec Hkv3cS ,
again and was quite . veteran 10 the
younger men who had enlisted. Anoth-
or accepted member Of the batteky who
has seen stirring times IL James NJ
Wood, formerly deputy United States
marshal at Ell Paso. he came here &
few weeks ago to renew his old ac-
quaintances, having been stpdenk a
the Columbia Grammar school, and a.
soon as he read the announoemBnt a
the formation of the Astor battsxy h
started for Astor court on q cable cse.
because, as he ssyS he thoueht he coald
get there quicker that way than byshir-
ing cab. He got there In time 1oe
Lieutenant March is looking 1or lust
that kind Of men, and he'weht inrwith
a high rating.
Another man who was huoging him
self over having passed the examination
is Malcolm Calve. formerly OF Company
], Twenty second regiment, whose life
was made unpleasant for him by thu ru-
NOR that he was Spaniard. This false
rumor, featured" by one Of the. yellow
journals, which subsequently, kte it,
words, resulted In Calves beinG turned
down in tho physical exami5aatiou -
Camp Black. When he presented him
self with papers showing that be is inn
mune from yellow fever and Asiatie
cholera, he got high rating ON that
and it went still higher upon his state-
ment that he has lived in Cuba 1m two
years and speaks Spanish. Oscar<Gmith,
another successful recruit showed an
honorable discharge from the Illinois
national guard He is in the.architec-
tural metal business In New York. He
slid out Of the examining room like =
streak Of lightning.
"Hoorayl' he shouted ina slightly
German accent. II owe myself some
congratulations. got through, |" and
he was gone.
Fred L. Hardenbrook of Jamaica
came through with flying colorA The
examiners picked him ont for an athlete
as soon as he had stripped, and they
were right. Mr.. Hardenbrook played ON
the Philips Exeter football team and ON
his freshman class team at Harvard and
was also something Of track athlete.
One Of the clerks at the Waldorf, =
young man named Gels, will 60 with
the Astor battery. He had chance to
join Roosevelt's rough riders, but found
II impossible to get away In time. The
battery will have the watchful care q
q policeman In the person Of Pstrolman
Walsh, who has escaped from the moth
erly wing Of Captain Chapman Of tha
Mercer street coop to join the military
force and has passed successfully.
Half dozen men retired from the :
competition for places the other day
upon learning that they we're not to b
in q mounted company. Their oompan-
ions jocosely suggested to them that
they could ride the pack mules II they
felt themselves too good 10 walk. The
belief prevails among the recruits that
the battery will be ordered to tho Phil
ippines rs soon as it is armed and equip
ped. Where else would they hsve any
use for mountain artillery they ask.
T< a. a1v<, ch~oUdlv ohocrvod that kho