The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-21
A TRADE IN WAR MEDALS.
Various Ways in Which They Are
Disposed of and Uses to which
They Are Put.
From the Regiment.

From the Regiment
War medals, mostly won at the cost eff
peril and privation, are pawned by nos
SCISSORS and never redeemed, or are serlt to
the hammer by needy relatives on the, de
cease of the veterans 1t may be here Noted
that no man on the army active rength
is allowed to pledge his medals. As is
well known, war decorate that D ass by
the means stated, and otherwise, INFO COM
merce are eagerly purchased by dealers,
who dispose of them to museums also to
private collectors of every graz lie. from
American millionaires to Britt sh publi-
cans.
These disks of silver, espec tally those
awarded for modern campaign 5, from the
Crimean war downward, are considerably
put by dealers to novel uses By the aid
of b[owpipe the inscription on the edge
can be flied with silver. W hen the sur
face, if need be, IS ready for re-engraVng
Doctoring of the name rank and regiment
by the method mentioned is common in the
trade. So ii may be hat tb virtuoso who
imagines he possesses a nemento of the
late gallant Gen. FiCz Car mage, X c. B.,
who distinguished himseI f at Balakalva
would be shocked if he Is new that his pet
curio is a fraud, and that il belonged to
old Tommy Atkins, of the Onety-oneth
Foot, who pawned il bef ore he retired INTO
the workhOuse to die.
Again, officers servini 3 or retired some
times lose their med9 Is, or have them
feloniously annexed. Sooner than go
through the war office red tape mill to pro-
cure duplicates re-lett cred medals are OBJ
tanned from dealers. Mendicants get hold
of medals in order to exhibit them 10 cred
ulOus ana benevolent folks, and thus ex-
tract a more liberal AIMS. War decorations
are also occasionally sDorted by one-arm-
ed or single-legSed Organ-grinders. Such
gentry warrant n smselVes to be British
and plead for pal rOnage as a matter of
national sentiment and as opposed to the
claims of the Saf ron Hin musical cOniin-
gent of invaders These MISUNDERSTANDING
humbugs are se1 dom eX-soldiers, far less
have they been disabled in active service.
They are al Tn mes considerably out" in
respect Of b. 4 of medal ribbon shown,
for instance, an organ-grinder OF about
fiVe-and-twenVs years of age was observ-
ed in liOlborn the other day sporting the
Crtmean and luliDy ribbons!
Sometimes al actor possessed of a pas
sion for reali sm. who may have TO imper-
senate on thu stage the hero OF a hundred
fights. iaveS Is in real medals with which
90 cover In breast of his tunic. Also
genuine wa decorations adorn the uni
formed pre- sentiments of eminent warriors
in the best iclass wax exhibitions through
paragraph went the rounds of the papers
10 the eff ,ct that a king of a tribe on the
West Coz st Of Africa had mania for col
lectlng 7 british war medals, and that
city firn had a standing order 10 supply
his saR G majesty. The King owned a
major enerals tunic. on which were sewn
both back and front, and from collar 10
tais-r medals and clasps from those of the
penins ula and Waterloo downward. This
garmt mt the monarch proudly sported on
extra special state occasions.