The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-03-07
BUCkED HIS SUPERIOR.
characterization For Which the Per.
pctrator Was Not Punished.

Ior Which the Per.
pctrator Was Not Punished
In connection with an official order
OF some sort or other, / forget lust
what, l happened to see the name tho
other day OF an officer of the United
States army who 10 or II years ago
gave remarkable exhibition Of what's
called 'insubordination.' and yet he got
away with It," said Il Washington man
who remembers things. Never mind |
his name. lie was attached to an artil- |
lcry regiment IN the capacity OF Il first
lieutenant ut the time and was serving
ut Governors island, in New York har-
Dor. The regiment to which lie be-
lonScd was commanded by Il colonel Of
singulnrly naughty temperament. who
didn't take much stock in the enlisted
man aid who In turn didn't stand
deuce high in the estimation Of the
bucks.
well. one extremely lot morning
the colonel gave the order that nll OF
the batteries OF artillery stationed at
Governors island should bc put through
couple OF hours OF the infantry drill
right after the guard mount. 1t was
during one of New YOrlx's famous hot
spells, when men were keeling over,
Sunstruck, by the score In the big
town. The temperature on Governors
island was about 100 In the shade OH
this morning, and on the open parade
ground. under the fierce rays Of the
sun. the heat was something dcyilish.
Licutenant-well, I came near giving
| you his name thcn--this lieutenant I'm
| speaking Of was ordered to nut the
yytyI, t1,<> .:.tl1
| pretty small work to order men out to
drill In heavy marching Ordrr-that
was the coloncl's command on such Il
morning. but the lieutenant had to
! obey orders He took tho men, who
| were pretty sore over the business, out
on the parade ground and began to
drill them. After about IL minutes the
weaker mon in the battalion began to
| keel over, and no wonder The heat
| was insufferable, and for men in heavy
| marching order it was simply uncndur-
able. The post surgeon. seeing the
men drilling OH the parade ground and
| noticing that the men were dropping
from exhaustion, went up to the colo
nel, who was looking on from the
shade Of tree, and told him fatty that
| the drill must cease. Perhaps you
| don't happen to know thnt in matter
of this sort the say SO Of an army sur
| geon Is final. The post surgeon can
override the commanding officer when
1t comes to matter Of the mems
health. Well. the colonel told the sur
| gcon that the drill wouldn't cease, any
thing Of the sort, and there were some
warm words between the two officers,
i<11, 1,x,
that IL the men weren't immediately
sent to their quarters he wouldn't be
responsible for the consequences. The
lieutenant heard NJ! of this paricy
while the battalion was standing ut pm
radc rest. and the inhumanity and
stubbornness Cf the colonel made him
pretty hri under the collar, speaking
figuratively. He was already pretty
hot all over literally. He knew that he
had sort Of bulge, seeing that the
surgeon had ordered that the men be
taken off the parade ground, but he
would probably have acted just Us he
did anyhow. He walked straight up to
the colonel. saluted him gravcly and
said:
Colonel, the men are suffering. 1t
Is inhumqn to O.force them to drill in
this temperature. I beg to request that
you permit me tc dismiss them
Sir, you Will return to the head cf
the battalion ana drill it, said the colo
mel dominecringly.
'"The lieutenant calmly drew his
sword from its scabbnrd, placed it on
his upraised knee, deliberately broke it
in two, cast the two pieces as for as he
could, looked the colonel square in the
eye and said:
"'Sir, with you as one Of it's officers
the United States army Is no fit place
for q gentleman
eco to your quarters under arrest!
thundered the colonel, and the !.euten-
ant calmly moved of to his quarters.
~ don't believe that ever in the
! whole history of armies was such
bold thing as that done By IN inferior
in the face of n superior officer. But,
rs I say, he got away with it. The
colonel on cooling down knew that he
was distinctly and dangerously in the
wrong. he released the young officer
from arrest within two hours, and the
matter was hushed up. If 1t had ever
come to court martial case. the lieu
tenant would probably have lost his
commission on general principles, but
there's everything in knowing just
when to take q chlnce."-Washingto
Post. e..r..