The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-01
SOLDIERS LOST THEIR PAY.
THREE INDIANIANS HAD HARD
LUCK STORIES TO TELL.

ana REGIMENT Mustered Out-A
Sergeant Had His Pocket Picked of
$40; Another Man Lost $50; An
other Threw 500 Away in n Shirt.
Col. Durbin warned the Plant
system Passenger Men That Their
Ticket omce Might BE Robbed.
Regiment Got Away by the Plant
systcm-Majority Went to wash
ington 10 BE Reviewed by the
&Presidcnt.
The one Hundred and Sixty-First In
diana Regimen; is now on the way to
Washington. where the president viii re-
view the men to-day and receive them at
the White House. The command was
mustered out of the service yesterday
morning at the camp on the Thunderbot
road, the paymasters who made the DIS
bursements being Mai. Weiss, Maj. wal
lace and Maj May.
The programme for the muster out was
made known to the regiment Saturday
afternoon at retreat. They were then
treated 10 a ntde speech by their com
handing officer, Col. Winfield 7, purbln
He told them if one should ever see MN
4 after years, no matter with whom ne
a hit be at the time, that ne wanted 10
ha,.A his coattails caught and pulled and
his an. NY friends made known 70 MN
bo was, not recogni. 'eo.
rpo n.> ing off of the regiment began
ot,,,t a &c ock. and by Il the work was
cop,nIete Ii was one OF the most orderly
.,,,s+o,. o,,,s that has Ia ken place. all the
men conducting thems Il 'es properly ana
"a breac1es Of discipline, or transgresslons
of military etiquette
IT.. r,,arnt SYSTEM was Il ne route to which
,,o rseimant had b.een Allotted Less dis
satisfaction in their having been pooled
was to he see,l among the lndlanlans thah
any regiment that has oe' N mustered QUE
since the railroads agreed AZ the pan. All
the nnet, seemed 10 be preAu well content,
and nnne Of the grumbling; that was ex-
pected was heard.
and checked the baggage of me soldiers
All except about 200 bought el'er uchels
bv the Washington route, desN uls I" 20
with the regiment to be reviews ny lhe
President The matter rested enth tig WIN
the men as all we're discharged Il "a thsy
might do as they pleased. Many tl"se
who did not go Ivy way of Washl ngtoh,
hut returned direct to their homes, did so
through a desire to get back 10 their loved
ones as quickly as possible after ''teif
long absence, but not a few did so S hu-
Dly because they knew 1t was the desire
of their officers to have them return wa
Washington so that the ranks of the
regiment might be filled Tor the presIden-
tial eye A member of Company G, who l
went home direct, taking the Montgomery /
route. said he and thirty others would /
not go to Washington, because their cap 4
tain whom they did not like, wished them \
to do SO.
A large force of the passenger men of
The Plant System was out to attend to the |
sale of tickets. They had experiences. one !
drunk came up with eleven $40 gold pieces |
in his hand. please gimme some billlsh |
fr thlsh," he asked. Gimme SO Or it, He |
counted IL out, thinking each ten five, |
and showed ID all over at one Of the ticket |
men "These are tens" the latter said:
you have $ll0 coming to you" "Thasn
all right was the maudlin reply: Il m
80 stop over in Schinshtnnati and the pol
ishll get II anyhow"
After the sale of tickets had progressed |
for some time and the officers were about
to get away from camp for the city, Col
Durbin stepped up to the ticket office and
asked one Of the clerks If he had a gun /
The reply was in the affirmative, which |
the colonel sad was just as well, as he had !
heard it was not unlikely that some of the /
men intended 10 rob the ticket office after
the officers got away. The clerks kept on
the alert but nothing in the shape of rob- |
bers showed up about the office.
Robbers were about the camp, neverthe- |
less and a sergeant who had received $l4o !
on being mustered out was touched by a |
pickpocket for the entire amount. He was
telling a grievous ale about his misfortune |
but the culprt could not be located. An |
other report was heard of a private who
got $50, having all of 1t lifted off In the
city Again the guilty escaped.
one Young fellow was so dead anxious
10 get out Of his military into his civilian
clothes that he lost cool hundred by
the operation. When he got his final pay
he stuck it in the pocket of his blue
shirt Making for his tent as soon as his
discharge was handed him, he proceeded
TO change the blue for white shirt.
Stripping the army shirt over his head,
he rolled it into bundle and giving i
the glad tra-la, pitched it out into the
company street The hundred was slill
in the shirt.
Like the "harpies of the shore" thou
sand darkies infested the camp while the
men were being mustered out No sooner
had the shirt struck the ground than fifty
made mad rush for IL. The winner
showed it into the basket he carried. When
the corporal who threw away the wad
started to look il up he remembered the
shirt His friends were telling about him
afterward as, the star narrator of hard
luck story, for he couldn't find the darkey
who got the shirt. II was a lucky family
that went through the pockets of that
shirt and found the hundred.
The coIOred popula ton of the southern
and eastern sections of the city have found
a veritable harvest In the muster out of
regiments. They have been given num-
berless articles of va.ue by the troops.
The greatest desire of the men is 10 get
away, and they do not like to be bothered
with possessions highly priced in the army
but worth little to them in civil life. OAR
kies get blankets, cots, clothing and a
hundred other things for the mere taking
1t is said housekeepers of the city find
their servants are likely to get sick on
muster out days.
Many of the merchants made deliveries
Itrf he of ha hat