The evening times., 1900-09-17
HECHT & COMPANY,
513-515 Seventh Street.
AMERICAN MARINES DESERT.
Enlisted Men Leave the
Ship Yankee.

Ship Yankee.
PHILADELPHIA, Pa Sept i7--At
troop CALI yesterday on board the
United States ship Yankee which is be-
ing used as the temporary barracks for
the Marine Corps, thIrty-one enlisted men
failed to answer. These men were given
the regular leave on Friday night ana
should have been on board ship YESTERDAYS
morning at 6 o'clock They had not re
turned yesterday afternoon. and are, there
fore, absent without leave" and if they
fail to return within nine days they will
become deserters, ard if captured will be
punished as such. the maximum for the
offence being one years imprisonment.
without pay, and dishonoFable discharge.
II they return in time they may be pun
ished by ten days in douhIs irons or five
days in the brig on brea3 ei water, or.
if their offence is considered serious, the
commanding officer could order summary
couTt-martial and the maximum sentence
which could he imposed would be thirty
days in double irons. solitary confinement,
and bread and water.
Some of the missing men. when in town
on Saturday. announced without reserya-
tion that they were going home and would
not return unless arrested. They said that
they had left because they could no longer
stand the food which consisted mainly Of
soup made of bad vegetables. tough beef
steak sour biscuits. and weak coffee. They
also complained that they were compelled
to SWab the Yankees decks ana perform
other menial labor. for which they did not
enlist.
Capt. James C Breckinr;dse who s n
temporary command of the barracks
during the absence of Col James For
ncy, who is away on man h 5 leave,
admitted hat there were th.r, y-cn men
absent without leave. When asked about
the food he replied:
Il have no heSitancy IN telling the
real facts. l will not use any white
wash. The ratiens issued every daE are
inspected by commissioned offer. and
must be approved by him Under the
law the contract for rations is award
ed to the lowest bidder. and, if possible,
the price must be kent within 80
cents per man per day The ccutract for
this station IS held by q man il
Norfolk ct IS cents per day CR seV-
eraI Juspectfons about month ago /
found that the feed was not OF iha
proper quality. the meat was strCns aud
had too large percentage OF bones /
Immediately wrote to the cen r-CtEr that
he must furnish meat Of ccntrac1 quality
and since then the fault has been rect
fed There was one ConSfgnmC n OF po0r
barley. and that was promptly returned.
The talk about soup is foolish be-
cause II was never served more than
twice a week. as it is not in the reguia-
tion ratioDs. According to the ration
check on Saturday there were 2E6 men in
the command to whom ratiCns were al
lowed. and 50 men were stopped. the mea
being on detached duty leaving 125. The
money allowed for this fifty nine. or
whatever the number may be on any
other day, is put IL a company fund, and
is used in purchasing food and deIica-
cies not in the regulations. If the men
got only bread beef. beans, ard coffee
every day, three times a day, they woHid
get mighty tired of it, but und5r tn
pisa they have soup twice i week. diff
fTaent kinds of fruits and vegetables.
butter. tomato Catsup, and other rel
ishes There has never been q biscuit
served, because there are no facilities
for baking =hem. We use bakers bread
entirely.
If / dared to serve these men "a
tfon that did not meet requirements as to
quality, / would have an inspector after
me and would be court-martialed quicker
than any enlisted man in the service As
to- the work the absentees complain of,
there has been extra work imposed upon
them but it was necessary and within the
regulations and nothing more than they
would be apt to strike at any time at sea.
OF course they must keep their quarters
clean. they can not expect the Govern
nent to furnish them with Wallets. They
get more liberty than / do, for l am not
outside the yard more than once a week.
The men who have gone were not very
promising. The trouble with many of
them is that they see brass band go
down the street and The men following it
in uniform and white gloves and they de-
eide 10 enlist But it is not all brass band
in the service. There is work, hard work
and plenty of If.
Major C. H. Lauchheimer assistant ad-
jutant Inspector, came here unexpectedly
last week did not know he was coming
until he appeared and announced himself
ready for inspection He inspected the
quarters and the Tations and pronounced
them satisfactory The men who are alb
sent have been in the service about two
months, and were recruited from Penn
syIyania and Maryland Tomorrow morn
ing a reward viii be offered for the ap-
prehension Of the men. The regular re-
ward is So which is deducted from the
mans pay"