The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-10-31
WOMAN COURT ARTlALED.
Wanted to DO Something New and
Gained Her Desire.


sas regiment, she will terminate an
adventurous single existence culminat-
ing in an adventurous wooing.
Sadie De Lande was of that turn of
mind which longs to do something new
| under the sun. Such turn of mind in
men is called enterprise, or the spirit
Of adventure; in women it is called by
harsher names. She desired an advent
ure which would make Mrs Grundy
choke with horror and she found it.
After graduating at a high school in
Kansas, Sadie, who was an orphan,
was sent by her foster parents to an
academy in st. Louis. Rules were
strict at the academy and the vivacious
and unconventional Sadie was kept in
a straight Jacket of discipline She did
not like to be checked and curbed and
resolved that to free herself she would
take a husband.
Then she bethought that marriage
was reputed to have its obligations
and that a wife as we'll as maid had
not full license to do as she pleased.
Miss De Lande decided not to rush into
wedlock, but to try trip in advance.
She reflected that a honeymoon in ad-
vance of the ceremony would have the
advantage of decided novelty.
During a vacation spent with her
| cousins al Coffeyville. Kan, she ac-
| cept p. j. Moore and persuaded him to
| consent to her project Of the honey
| moon.
Moore had already enlisted in the
| Twentieth Kansas and was about to
come to San Francisco with his regi-
ment 1t was agreed that Sadie should
go with him. A soldiers tiancee, she
thought, might travel with the regi-
ment in disguise. Passes are not
granted to women on military trains.
up nights with her needle that it might
be done in time. Her hair was shingled
| and when she put on the uniform she
was of a soldierly height and figure.
In that garb and secure from discovery
she travelled to San Francisco.
At Camp Merritt she devoted herself
to a study of the military life. Dis
cipline was rather lax in the regiment
in those days, she says, and she was
able to fall into line and drill with the
company without much danger
of detection. She declares that
she took readily to the work
and was one OF the most grace
full soldiers in the awkward squad.
| Once she tainted during a prolonged
! drill. but her sex was kept a secret.
When the regiment went aboard the
| transport Indiana Sadie was still in
the ranks. Two days out from port.
| however the guarded secret came out.
| She was discovered, court-martialed
and put ashore at Honolulu. There she
passed a year very pleasantly, although
| far from her soldier betrothed, whom
she speaks of Familiarity as ''P. j"
Miss De Lande is now in San Fran
cisco.
Il was delighted with Honolulu" she
said, land there was only one reason
| which could induce me to leave it. L
| have an appointment to marry p. j.
in this city as soon as the Tartar comes
| in"
In personal appearance Sadie is rath-
| err pleasing. She is tall and has a girl
ish face. Her speech is that OF an edu-
/ Gated woman.
My experience has changed my opin-
| ions and ambitions she said, land 1
advise no girl to initiate my exploits.
Not to count seasickness and fear of
detection, there is the intense hunil-
iation of discovery to deter one. All
the romance has left my head. but !
had remarkable time.
Before I boarded the train in Kan
sas p. J. called at the house to see ii
I had lost my courage and resolution.
He found me all equipped. | had on
my feet a pair of French-heeled boots.
He told me the feminine shoes would
betray me. I took a pair of my uncle's
| shoes and put them on over my own.
| We reached the train just before 1t
pulled out of the depot.
| "At Camp Merritt one or two of the
boys We're let into the secret and they
| shielded me- When we were on the
| Indiana at the dock I got great
fright Word came that there was to
be a check roll call. In the excitement.
however I managed to stow myself
away, and thus eluded the officers.
discovery came all of a sudden.
Colonel Funston in person, with a
guard of four men. came down upon me
on the second day and carried me away
in ignominious arrest. AS I was march
ed up to the hurricane deck, two guards
ahead and two behind. you should have
seen the officers wives stare at me.
That was an ordeal
But did you not think Of the i'm
propriety of your conduct?"
Miss De Lande was confused a mo-
ment and then exclaimed:
"Never until a minister's wife In
suited me. 1 was waiting in the cap
| tain's stateroom while he went among
the ladies to borrow some clothes
| suited to my sex. The chaplain's wife
sent message, which was delivered in
my hearing. that she was not going 10
furnish wardrobe for female stowa-
ways-that she had been called to a
higher mission. The captains wife.
| having no higher mission, had a chart
table heart and fitted me out.
Il was kept solitary and under guard
| until we reached Honolulu. The day
before we anchored in that port I was
taken before a eourt-martial Colonel
Funston, Major Metcaf, Captain Chris
ty and p. j. We're present, besides
Major Whitman, who conducted the
examination. He asked who cut my
hair, who gave me the uniform, where
! got the shoes and other impertinent
questions. / devlined to tell anything
and was sent back to my stateroom
p. j. was fined $50 and sent to the
brig for so days, or until the end of the
voyage.
AT Honolulu Captain Harry evans
of the harbor police came out to the
transport in boat with two huge
. Kanaka policemen to take me off. They
frightened me and | began to cry. Cap
| tain Evans, out of pity. took me ashore
alone, and put the kanakas into anoth-
cr boat.
2 Il was in Jail at Honolulu nearly
t whole day. but the sheriff was kind anu
F., | took me to his own home.