Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1899-03-23

equivalent; sent practically to Coventry
by officials at headquarters, to whom he
was too proud or too sensitive to diate
upon his wrongs or to tell more than
once the straight story of his innocence :;
saved from military arrest only by the
'stalwart" letter written by the Yuma
surgeon, in response to his urgent ap-
peals comforted measurably by Blake's
eloquent, but emphatically insubordi
nate outburst at the expense of depart
ment headquarters; unable to bring to
bear for nearly five weeks the mass of
testimony as to character forthcoming
from the superintendent and officers at
West Point, and the letters of class
mates and comrades who knew him and
felt that the charges must be- false, our
engineer passed through an ordeal the
like of which few men have had to en-
counter
Then the unexpected happened. The
captain of the Idaho slowly recovered
his mind and strength, and, with con-
valescence, came keen recollection of
all that had occurred. He, too, made
full report to the owners of Loring' 3
GOODNESS and determination the night of
the wreck, and was amazed to be told
OF the charges against that officer.
"Who says so? Who makes such &C.
cusations?" he demanded angrily, and
was informed that his friend and ship
mate, Purser Traynor, was the person,
whereat the big skipper gave long,
long whistle, looked dazed again, smots
his thigh with heavy fist, and pres
emily said, "Just you wait little, :"
wherewith he took himself off Traynor
and the first officer had been very
thick for fortnight or so, though
that dinner had never come off. Tray
nor and the first officer had both been
promised excellent berths the moment
the new steamer arrived that was to
take tho place of the Idaho. But the
captain went cruising out beyond Sacra-
mento, where the purser had little
nest and brood. and came back later
with tale he poured into the ears of
the company, the result of which was
that Traynor was informed he would be
wise to seek other employment, there
would be no place for him on the new
Montana, and Traynor took first boat
| for the Columbia and got far away from
San Francisco.
No specific charges had been laid at
his door, said the owners, when ques-
toned. Nothing had been proved, moth
ing probably would be, that they knew
of, bat the captain had sailed with
Traynor several years and had views of
his own as to that gentleman integ-
rity, which, when communicated to
Mr.. Traynor, did not seem to surprise
him and remained uncontradicted
Then came the captain to department
headquarters. The British sailor has
scant reverence for soldiers of his own
land and less for those of any other, no
matter what the rank, and this particu.
lar son of the sea was more Briton than
Yankee, despite the fact that he had
sailed the California trade" long year;
of his life and had taken out his papers
IN the early statehood of that wonder
ful land Ever since the days of Stock
ton and kearney he had fed fat the an
cient grudge he bore the army and
steered as clear of soldier association as
was possible for a man whose ship
was dependent in great measure on
army patronage. Days before his I'M
heralded coming to general headquar-
ters the rumors of Loring' bravery and
GOODNESS the night of the wreck had
been floating about the building. Blu,
the engineer had drawn into his she'll
He came and went to and from the
office assigned to him, working appar-
emily over field reports and maps, and
never entered another room in the
building unless sent for. 1t was believed
that he had written urgently to the
chief OF engineers requesting to be re.
lieved from further duty at San Fran
cisco. He was neither cleared nor con
victed OF the allegations at his expense.
There seemed no way of bringing about
either result in the absence or silence
OF witnesses. But meantime he had
bitterly resented the apparent readiness
OF certain of the officials to look upon
him with suspicion and had withdrawn
from all except most formal and dis
tant association No wonder he desired
to be relieved from further service with
or near them.
Mrs. Nevins had insisted on remov-
ing to cheap lodging in Sacramento as
soon as able to move at all, and had
taken her dependent sister with her,
sorely against that young woman's wish,
as she had made al impression, deoid.
| ed impression upOn an unmarried aid