The San Francisco call., 1899-04-17

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rainforcements. 7 then went to the
Prssjdfo and informed Lieutenant Har-
rie of what was going on. During my
absence the turbulent crowd had taken
possession of the saloon and started u
wreck It. There were numDer oI
shots fired by the gang, but fortunately
no one was struck by the bullets. AFTER
the men who had been sent by Lieu
tenant Harris TO round UP the gang ar
rived tie mob quickly obeyed the oruer
to return to their barracks.
There is no doubt but what the re-
oort that King had died was the cause
IF the trouble King. who is raw re
cruit. is we'll liked by his fellow-sol-
diers. AS I have been informed ne
vent 70 the saloon on Saturday night
and engaged in a dispute whlch enoeo
IN blows. He was severely punished,
and was compelled to so to the post
hospital for medical treatment. Inc
news that he had been roughly treated
snread rapidly. and, while his COM
rades svmpathized with him, do not
think they would have wreaked ven
ereance on the saloon-keeper If some
mischief-maker had not circulated the
report that King had died from the
effects of the beating he received. Sew
eral of the most vicious of the gang,
after stoning the saloon, drew their re-
volvers and fired at it. Altogether,
about twenty shots were fired by
them"
Lieutenant Harris was sOrely dis
tressed over the occurrence.
IF l had known it sooner" he re-
marked, I would have prevented the
destruction Of the saloon and the
other buildings. I was informed by
Sergeant of Police Anderson of what
was going on, and lost no time in send
ing a detachment to the scene. I in
tend to make a thorough investiga-
ton, and shall see that the guilty ones
are severely punished. presume the
rumor of Kings death melted the men
to riot. I have taken the name OF
every soldier who was in the vicinity
at the time Of the trouble, and to-mor-
row will start a rigid investigation"
Adolph L. Rehfeld, the proprietor Of
the burned saloon and restaurant. gives
the following version Of the trouble
that resulted in the destruction Of his
property:
Last night there was a big crowd of
soldiers in my place, and two of them
started to talk about Cuba After a
while another soldier came in and
Joined in the discussion, claiming he
also had been in Cuba. The other two
asked him what reFiment he belonged
to and who were his officers. He got
tangled up and they told him he was a
liar; that he had never been in Cuba.
They started to fight and the third man
drew a razor The ~~g then jumped
onto him and threw him out. I was in
the rear Of the place when the row be-
gan, but when I heard the racket I
came into the saloon, just as the man
who had been thrown out came back
through a side door. I helped two of
his frie--ds put him out the second time.
Shortly after a soldier from the
Ninth, who had been left in the hospi-
tai, came in and wanted to sell me a
watch. Everything was peaceabIe at
the time and ] took the soldier into the
rear room. We had been in these but
a short time when ! heard a racket in
the saloon. The soldier said they were
fighting. We rushed back into the bar
room and I saw a man on the floor and
the whole crowd jumping on him. ]
got him on his feet and, dragging him
TO the door, pushed him out, at the
same time telling him to run. Then ]
closed the door and held the crowd
back as long as I could, but in min
ute or two they pushed me aside and
ran out. I could not see which way
they went, as it was dark. About half
an hour after two soldiers came to the
door and said, Fer Gods sake give us
some whisky; there is a man dying out
here. I saturated a handkerchief with
whisky, but it had no effect, and ther
I gave them a glass of whisky for the
man to drink.
In about five or ten minutes the door
opened and they were bringing in a sol
dier with blood all over his face. They
said the man was dead. l would not
allow ther to leave him in the place
and told them he was just as well of
out doors as he would be on the floor
Of he saloon. They took him away to
IIle FeHeIdl hOSI)lLal. linen lne ponce
came and wanted to know if 1 had had
any trouble. told them that I had
but that did not think it amounted tc
anytime. While we were talking five
or six very voung soldiers armed with
rickets taken from the Preside fence
came in and said they were looking FOL
the men who had hurt their friend
Their appearance made everybody
laugh. even the policemen.
This morning early was warned BY
some soldiers that the friends of the