The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1900-06-14
SOLDIERS AT HOME.
THEY TELL some INTERESTING
ANECDOTES OF THE WAR.
How the Boys Of Both Armies Whiled
Away Life In Camp-Foraging Ex-
periences, Tiresome Marches-Thril'
ling Scenes on the Battlefield.

periences, Tiresome Marches-Thrtl'
ling Scenes on the Battlefield.
A St Louis detective was talking to
Some professional associates recently
and told this story:
quite a stretch of years ago l was
soldering with II bOughbOy outfit of
the regular army down in the South
west. One of my bunkies-I'll call him
Ned Cannon, which is not SO far from
his real name-had been a mate of
mine when we were both kids down on
the st. Louis levees, although we hadn't
met again until We ran into each other
in the army. Cannon had struck the
outfit Il couple of years ahead of me,
and he had the corporars chevrOns
when ] got there. He was 4 good man
and 4 good soldier, was this Cannon.
but somehow or other he had incurred
the enmity of one Of the officers Of our
company. u second lieutenant. who had
got his shoulder straps via the mus
tang rOute-that is. by promotion from
the ranks. Well just call this second
lieutenant Neil, which is close enough
to his right name, too.
This Neil you may suppose was a
crackerjack soldier; for dubs don't pass
the examination for promotion from
the ranks in the American army. He
was pretty decent officer to the men,
beSides-tO all of them. that is to say.
Na1 a I'll
have it in for Cannon. I never knew
why. and l don't know yet. But the
way Neil rubbed 1t on Cannon was a
holy show. He had Cannon broke to
the ranks soon after joined the outfit
for some trivial cause connected with
guard duty Cannon didn't say much,
but the line of thinks he must have en-
tertained with regard to the second
lieutenant occasionally shone out in the
black of his eyes when they lit upon the
shape of the young mustang officer.
Two months after he busted him the
clink on a charge of neglect Of duty
while on post as sentinel. Cannon mar
rOwiy escaped 4 general cOurt-martial
on that charge, which was unquestion-
ably trumped up. and the summary
ccult gave him thirty days with labor
When lie got out and resumed duty he
told me there was murder in his heart
for the second lieutenant.
"1'll get hunk with him. he told me
with savage Quietude. If it takes me
twenty years to do it. I'll play evens
with that one all right
Ten days later Cannon was in the
guardhOuse again. awaiting trial by
general cOurt-martial. Neil. the second
lieutenant, had got Cannon into the
orderly room on some pretext or other
and grossly insulted him, and Cannon
unable to hold himself in any longer.
had opened up ON the mustang and
would have struck his tormentor had
not the top sergeant Of the company
leaped behind him and piniOned his
arms
Cannon got six months hard labor
at the hands of the general court mar
tial. and a bOb-tail besides-that Is. a
dishonOrable discharge from the SER
vice-fOr it Is pretty serious thing for
an enlisted man to be even accused Of
attempting to strike a commissioned
officer.
Now here was a case of a good sol
dier who really got the worst Of 1t at
the hands Of an officer-a thing that
doesn't, as p matter Of fact, often hap
pen in our service, where justice is the
rule. When GannOn's six months In the
clink was up he was escorted to the
gate by file Of the guard. Igave him
q bum suit of civilians clothes that /
had in my box, and we all Clipped In
and handed him ten dollar note with
which to start life over again. We'd
have given him more. but it was be-
tween paydays.
"'Pn get square with that geezer'
were the last words Cannon said to me
before he was drummed out. Three
months later I got letter from him.
dated st. Louis. He announced that
he had got on the ST. Louis police
force.
Il served my enlistment and went
back to my home in ST. Louis, where
Ned Cannon put me next to the way to
get into the police force, and got on.
That's Part l. of the story.
'One afternoon. a year ago last April.
Ned Cannon was patrolling his beat
when he happened up agar It drunk.
The drunk was fine-lOoking man
shabbily dressed. He had book under
his arm. He was book agent He
was ex-Lieutenant Neil. and Cannon
recognized him.
Cannon took Neil to his own home
and sObered him up. He got Neil into
shape. Why he did it l don't know.
asked him why 1t was he was caring
for his old enemy that way. but he
never answered me. don't understand
it yet. Ned put some clothes on Neirs
back and got Neil to looking fine.
strong and clear-eyed. Then Ned did
some politics for Neil and got the ex-
lieutenant job in the ST Louis tax
office as clerk
They both got to laundering for sol
d.ering when the Spanish war was We'll
under way. That hankering is rab'e
TO hit a man through life who's ever
Wore Il uniform on land or sea. Neil
and Cannon from talking about became
possessed of the craze to go to the
Philippines. and they cast around for
4 tip on AN outfit that was booked to
go down there. They got the tip and
both threw up their jobs and Joined Il
Kansas outfit as buck privates. Cannon
under his right name and Neil under an
assumed name-for man who's
known To be cashiered officer cant get
hack into TIE service even as an enlist
ed man. That's the wind-up of Part H..
and it's all on the dead level. ut that
We'll. got hold of a pape2, on III.
cars while making Il trip a few months
Lack. and read an account of the tight
ing before Malolos. then Aguina dos
capital In the list of the killed among
the men of that Kansas oHftit were