The times., 1899-10-16
BADGERS MEN COMPLAIN
LII Treatment Charged Against the
Cruisers Officers.
an Investigation by the Navy De-
pnrtment May He the Result-A
Father i'm This City of the Alleged
Hardships-Shore Leave Cut short.

The large number of assertions from the
auxiliary cruiser Badger recently reported
to the Navy Department may result in an
| investigation into the charges of alleged
i'll treatment made by the crew of that
vessel. A statement was given out some
time ago that the men had deserted be-
cause they claimed to have enlisted for
the war only. when hostilities with Spain
began, and felt aggrieved at not having
secured their discharges. This story is de-
MED by the sailors on board the cruiser.
who assert that they are being abused by
their officers, and only ask transfer to
some other vessel. so as to escape present
alleged hardships.
The Badger is now. stationed at San
Francisco, and is attached to the Pacific
station The vessel was formerly the Yu-
inuri, and was purchased by the Govern
ment early in 1898 and placed in service
as an auxiliary cruiser. in command of
Commander James NJ Miller The crew of
the steamer claim that they have only
been allowed forty-eight hours liberty in
period covering over eighteen months,
and the men now claim that they have
had their shore leave cut off entirely be-
cause the officers are afraid that the tars
might make public the true condition of
affairs. One of the crew of the Badger
who enlisted from this city, at the out
break OF the war with Spain, has written
letter to his father, who is a resident
of the District, in which he claims to voice
the sentiment of every member of the
crew. The letter contains. among ether
statements, the following:
We have been treated like r9tfIa Sinrp
boarding the tramp Badger We have re-
peatedly asked for transfer but no at
tention has been paid to our requests OF
course there is trouble ON board the yes
sci, and as we are cooped up more like
prisoners than men who volunteered to
light against Spain, the only way to get OF
the tramp is TO desert We have only had
forty eight hours Of shore leave since we
we're assigned TO this vessel, and many OF
the officers fear TO let us on shore, as we
could tell our side of the story.
The crew have not been given any shore
leave since the vessel arrived at San Fran
cisco after the trip to Samoa with the
Peace Commissioners. When the Badger
left port on this voyage the commander
had placed 1000 tons of coal in sacks on
the after cargo deck. or the berth deck,
as the officers would term it. We had to
do this coaling. At Honolulu we were COM
PEELED to coal shio for two days working
day and night. uStil We had carried $50
tons aboard. On the way to Apia Samoa,
we were put to work coaling at sea. re-
placing the coal In the sacks on the cargo
deck into the bunkeFs. All hands had to
turn out at a. m. and coal all day At
night we had to stand our regular watches
al the wheel and lookouts This was done
every day
The horrible food made matters worse.
Tired and hungry as we were, we could
not stand for filthy 'embalmed' beef and
hard tack, and drink of bad water called
coffee, sans both milk and sugar This
was daily food during the entire voyage
and for two weeks after we had returned
10 San Francisco Three of the petty Of
fcers went to the commander at this time
and complained to him about the food and
the general treatment. The commander
had the temerity TO blame the paynaster.
stating that We should have had fresh pro-
visions every day. This is but one exam
pie and shows that the executive officer
neither knew nor cared whether or not we
starved or lived.
''The crew received nasty treatment dur
ing the entire trip from the North Atlantic
to San Francisco. We had to load 400 tons
OF coal at Montevideo and received no
leave. When We grumbied the commander
called all hands to muster and called the
men number of uncomplimentary names
AT the next port, Port Stanley. Falkland
Islands, the chief master alarms so bru-
tally treated two young boys that they de-
serted through sheer terror. or course we
would like our discharge, but would pre-
fer transfer, as the crew are all true
Americans and do not want to sneak But
we cannot stand for the treatment received
on board the Badger"
Since the above letter was written the
Navy Department has ordered the Badger
into dock for repairs and it is understood
that the crew will be transferred to the
cruiser Ranger. which VIII soon leave for
the Philippines to re-enforce Watson's
feet.