The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-17
INCENDlARIES IN UNIFORM.
ONE HUNDRED SOLDIERS PLACED
UNDER ARREST.

One of Their Comrades Was Beaten
in n SnIOOn-When They Heard He
Was Dead They Looted the Place
and Set 1t on Fire-Kept the Fire
From Spreading to Adjoining
BuiIdings-They Are Guarded in
Part by Negro Troops.
San Francisco, April 16.-To-night 100
soldiers are under arrest on the Preside
reservation. They are encamped on the
open and are guarded by cavalry and the
Twenty-fourth Infantry Regulars, col
ored.
The offense Of the men was the burning
down of a saloon just outside the reser-
walton lines, in which Private Charles T.
King, Company G, Twenty-third Infantry,
was so brutally beaten last night that he
is not expected 10 live.
Private Clark of Company f, Twenty
third Regiment, Is in the guard house,
charged with the assault, but the soldiers
assert that the saloon people are respon-
sib.e, and claim that the proprietor, T.
r. Rechfeld, was the chief assailant Of
the injured man.
A report being circulated to-day that
King was dead, the place was set on fire
tonight and destroyed as an act of retri-
button.
The trouble began last night when sew
eral recruits went to the saloon which is
known as the Preside Club Cafe. There
were several women in the place and a
row soon started over one of them in which
nearly all the men present participated.
When comparative order had been res
tored, it was seen that Private King had
been seriously injured about the head, his
skull was supposed to have been fractured
and his features badly battered. He was
taken to the Preside reservation and his
supposed assaant, Private Clark, placed
in the guard house.
Men Were Wildly Excited.
Early this morning some one started the
story among the troops that King was
dead. Despite the denials of the officers
the report spread and by nightfall the
men had become wildly excited. Soon after
dark nearly LOCO of them proceeded to the
saloon where the row had occurred and
after cutting its interior, set fire to it in
several places, no one daring to interfere
The incendaries In uniform sesta blished
an impromptu bucket brigade and pre-
vented the adjoining buildings catching
fire. During the progress of the flames
the soldier sare said to have discharged
many shots in the air and indulged In
much lltlarit 3. .sssss
When the house had been reduced to
ashes they returned to the reservation,
and were promptly put under arrest by
Col. Freeman of the Twenty fourth Unit
ed States Infantry, commandant of the
post.
All of the men implicated In the affray
are white. The colored troops, none OF
whom took part, were placed over them
as guard, the cavalry lending its assist
ance.
There being no guard house of suffi-
cient capacity, the prisoners were rounded
up on the open. The men were nearly all
to sail for Manila in few days on the
outgoing fleet of transports.
Later on, after a roll call had been taken
of the men in the quarters, the names
of those under arrest were registered and
they were permitted to go to their bar
racks. Until late hour a colored pro-
vost guard secured the city in search of
missing men. Nearly all of those involv-
ed are new recruits assigned to various
regiments in the Philippines.
The saloon destroyed was at the Green
wich entrance to the Presdlo and the
loss will be about $15OO.
Charles King, the injured soldier was
a New Yorker, recently from Washing
ton, but enlisted in this state. He says
he became involved in the trouble because
he interfered to save a fellow-soldier who
was being thrown out of the saloon and
denies that there was a woman in the
case.