The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-04-01
YOUNG is CENSURED
CAPT. FINEHOUT TALKS ABOUT
THE FIFTEENTH'S TROUBLE
IN AUGUSTA
OFFICERS WERE. NOT TO BLAME

Hated by the Commanding Gem
tertained at the Bon Air Hotel
Manner of Issuing the Censure
Was Shame.
Big, sturdy John W. Finehout, until
Monday captain Of Company B, of the
Fifteenth Minnesota volunteers. reached
st. Paul yesterday and resumed the law
practice which he laid aside to go to the
front nearly a year ago
His version of the incident which some
what furnished the fair name Of the reg
iment will be read with interest by the
people of the state Being a LAWYER. he
recites facts, and not having been di-
rectly implicated in the uprising, his
statements are not tinged with any per-
sonal feeling. Seated in his office in the
Pioneer Press building, he surveyed him
self in his civilian clothes, and looked in
vain for shoulder straps
Here is the nub of the whole thing
he put in when asked for the facts. "tha
officers of the Fifteenth acted as thew
thought for the best, and their course was
approved by Maj. Gen Sumner, in COM
mand OF the First division of the Second
army corps, in which the regiment was
included Gen. Young, whom Gen. Sum
ner ranked by several numbers knew
thls, and took no action until Gen. Sum-
her was mustered out as a volunteer off,
Ger ana mad gone away, when he sent out
tHat infamous order which sought to cast
stigma upon the volunteer officers.
Whom it Is well known he cordially hated
An this. In spite Of the fact that Gen.
sumner was on the scene shortly after
the trouble, ordered the men arrested and
later ordered all but the ringleaders re-
leased. Gen. Sumner said in the hearing
OF some of my fellow officers that the
FIFTEENTH officers had acted properly, that
the occasion was not one calling for shoot
ing, and that he had in mind several like
disturbances in the regular army.
SCENE IN REGULAR ARMY.
In one of these, he added, where a pri-
Vate in the regulars had been murdered
by a citizen, two battalions and a com
pany OF regulars had mutinied. had
broken away from camp and killed five
persons before finally subdued.
The opinion Of regular army officers
whom 1 have heard talk about this un-
fortunate matter in Augusta is that had
any one of our officers shot, 1t would have
preclpitated a general melee, and might,
instead of putting down the trouble. have
were half a dozen hard fellows who spent
most Of their time in the guard house, and
who would have welcomed the chance to
start In a general mix-up.
Again we wish it to be known that
Gen. Young is sore on the regiment. So
Is his adjutant general, Col. Duval who
Is really supposed to have written that
offensive order. Gen. Young actually re-
fused to order the release Of Provost
Sergeant Johnson, who was tried and ac-
quilted by the court martial three weeks
before the regiment was mustered out,
and Lieut.. Bennett was forced, when the
mastering out was in progress, to threat
en- as counsel for the soldier to secure a
writ of habeas corpus from the United
States, court before the boy was turned
loose.
TO begin with, this boy O'Connell was
one of the most popular chaps in the
regiment. and had always borne an ex-
cellept name. The murder was cold
blooded and deliberate, and caused much
indignation not only In the regiment but
among the citizens of Augusta. A news
paper man tnnocently started the trouble
by announcing to the boys that the
friends Of Hadley, the saloonkeeper who
shot. O'Connell, would not allow him to
be brought to Justice. Trouble started,
but was put down by Col Leonhauser.
after which it reappeared spontaneously
with the result that the boys lost their
judgment and followed the leaders
TROUBLE BEGINS.
"On that Sunday morning a crowd Of
men, mostly from Company F, Of which
the murdered boy was a member, col
lected in the twinkling of an eye, about
the storehouse, in spite Of the utmost ef-
forts of their officers to reason with them.
There were sixty of Capt. Brandt's men
of COmOanV nd frtx,
five men of Company D. Capt Spicer OF
Wtllmar; dozen from Company M, Pipe
stone, Capt. Gilmore, and others from the
ten remaining companies, B, Of St. Paul,
and K, Of Minneapolis, being six miles
away doing provost duty at Augusta
Several Of the captains used physical
force in getting their men from the
crowd about the storehouse. among them
being Captains Gilmore. of Pipestone;
Crossfield, of Browns Valley, and Nelson,
Of Luverne. Capt. Gibson, Of Company
l., had his men drawn up on their COM
pany street. One of their men was a
ringleader. There is no denying the men
were carried away by bad counsel, but
it must be known that there was no dis
respect to their officers. The worst of
the lot were Williams. of L; Curley, OF A,
and Foley, of L. Lieut.. Tenny, of X, who
was battalion adjutant, and Lieut.. Haley
OF u, both attempted to influence the
men, but were disregarded Capt Brandt
was the commanding officer of Company
F. Now If a court of inquiry had sat on
the matter he might possibly have been
reprimanded for not having ordered his
men to their quarters. but ] question
whether he would have been reprimanded
for not having discharged his revolver
and he could not have fOrSeen that the
trouble was to develop so quickly
When the recalcitrants had proceeded
a short way they saw how foolish it was
and repented. submitting gracefully to ar
rest.
SYMPATHY WITH THE MEN.
1.-The regiments sent after them were
In sympathy with them. The little mob
| had cartridges in their possession with
out having robbed the storehouse, having
brought them from st. Paul or received
them from the regulars.
Having reached this point let the
friends OF the regiment know that regular
army officers agree that Col. Leonhauser
and his Subordinates were In no wise to
blame, and that there was ample time
after the occurrence for Gen. Young to
have ordered a court of inquiry or to have
preferred charges against the officers he
considered censurable. He waited, how
ever, till within a week of the time for
mastering cut to issue this cowardly and
sweeping order. knowing full we'll that
the officers have no redress.
col Leonhauser can have a hearing
because he Is a regular army officer, but
the volunteer officers must submit to this
Scathing and unjust rebuke, and must
have their characters wantonly blackened
by Gen. Young. who stayed at the Bon