Waterbury Democrat., 1900-12-20
aRRAH Al HAARscHER, SOLDIER

ham HaarScher, d soldier oI tle uHl'- ed States army of twenty years ser vice, shot and killed himself near the post flagstaff. tf."-Chicago daily papers of November 1G.
 This brief little para grapn was, prac- tically the only obituary notice given to one of the best soldiers who ever
 wore q uniform and to q man whose fife, although it lay along the lines or the simple duties of an enlisted man, was ill many ways remarkaDie Ab- raham Haarscher thirty-two years ago was a soldier of France. He was
 an -Nlsatian by birth and under the flag of the empire he fought through the FrancO-Prussian war. At the ehd of the disastrous conflict, when Haarscher found that his native prov ince had become a spoil to the enemy. he became emhittered. He left his country and came to America, enlist ing in the United States army, as he could then do under the law. immc- dia ately upon his arrival. Until the day of his death last week at Fort Sheridan Abraham IIaarscher never passed an hour, save when on his oc- casiOnal leaves of absence, beyond ! sight Of the flag that marked either camp or garrison of Uncle Sam.
 Abraham Haarscher carried one I'rccord that is probably unique in the histories of the armies of the world. In twenty-nine years service, although a model of neatness. discipline and in tc iigcnce, he never wore the stripe of q non-commissioned officer. He did not know what the inside of a guard house looked like from q prisoners point of view. There was no soldier in camp or barracks whose rifle and equipments were like unto his. At guard mount the ncateSt soldier is al ways chosen for the duties of orderly
 to tie commanding officer When Haarschor was detailed for guard no man thought of competing with him. Time after time he was offered the position of non-cOmmiSsiCned ofh- ] cer and time after time he refused. Why no one ever knew. During the course of his twenty nine years as one of Uncle Sam's soldiers HaarScher saw i service in four different regiments
 and against every form of foe that his adopted country, had to face during | the years covered by his French ma i tivity. One night. at a far northwest ] Crn garrison hc was walking post as l a sentinel upon d frail temporary 1 bridge thrown across q stream. The ! ends of the structure marked the ends l of his heat A storm arose in sudden l fury. The stream rose rapidly and
 the bridge began to give way. Haar-
 Scher kept on walking his post The
 timberS were cracking under his feet l and the water was beginning to creep
 over the planlling. when an officer of i the day appeared at the end of the i bridge He saw the sentinel and his
 peril.
 Come off that bridge, No 5.' he
 yelled above the storm. Ilaarscher
 walked calmly off the bridge and came to an arms port"
 1 ''Haarscher. you d-d fool, didn't you know the bridge was going?' Even as ne spoke the fraiI structure was whrled away.
 That was my post. lientcnant,' ] said Private Haarschcr, and you for get that I am a Frenchman.'
 Private Haarscher was a dandy.
 The ncatncSS of his equipment has
 been told. Once a man who had the | reputation of never having lest the DO
 sition of ''orderly" at guard mount.
 came from another regiment and re-en-
 listed in Haarschpr'S command. Tho
 two privateS. as luck would have it,
 were detailed for guard the same day.
 The whole garrison turned out to see
 which one the adiutant would pick for
 the coveted place. The officer spent
 about twenty minutes examining the
 rifles. waist belts. cartridge boxes and
 hraSSeS of the two men. There was ! absolutely nothing to choose between 1 them in point of neatncsS of appear . lnCt. Finally. as q last resort, the
 adiutant Unbutt0ned the blouse of the
 new claimant for orderly honOrs He
 found q somewhat faded but clean un.
 dershirt. The adiutant passed tC l IT n thppA
 of his coat Haarscher had on a brand new suit of silk underwear that must
 have cost him months pay. Ii
 was the other man on that day who walked post in the hot sun. while Haarscher did "lollng" duty in the shade in front of the commandant's quarters.
 , Tho morals of the Franco-A mericar
 soldier were like his rifle at guaTC mCIInt-SDOtiGSS. There were no low camp or garrison intrigues for him = He was pleasure lover. however. ant
 he joined in all the entertainments
 that went to tighten the evenings o1
 the soldiers life. At no dance ol "hop" under the auspices of Company l \" was there any particularly attend 1 ing maiden singled cut for the atten
 tionS of Private HaarScher He wen
 1 the rounds and danced with all. Dur ing the years he saw his comrnde: l ! marry and leave the service. The! I told him his day would come. IIt , laughed at them. For twenty-eigh
 years he went on in his but little vary
 ing path of duty. with occasional turn l ings aside into the ways of pleasure ' Then this supposedly confirmed ol' . bachelor soldier fell in love. lie me
 the sister of former comrade. Sht
 was thirty years his junior. To thi
 girl he gave all the intensity of low 2 that had marked through the lon! l years his devotion to duty. He wa l. utterly changed. The soldier who has s faced unharmed the bullets of Apache
 Sioux and Spaniard was at last wound cd by tiny shaft from the bow O s the pygmy Cupid. No woman eve 0 had more devoted lover than that vet l. eran. One night last week he wen , to her home in Lake Forest and tol, = her. He spoke with the same sDiri - in which he had replied to the office Il of the day when he was ordered iron Y his post on the bridge on that awfu l. night near the headwaters of the AIis
 souri, The girls answer was no, an
 1 Haarscher knew that she meant it.
 Private Haarscher left Lake Pores l. and went to his quarters at For