Evening star., 1900-10-01
IN THE HOTEL LOBBlES.

II read an article in one of the newspa-
pers the other day that purported to show
how the enlisted men in company in the
volunteer army got rid of unpopular Of
ficer They gave him a dose of ridicule and
drove him from their midst. We did things
differently in the big war between the
states" Capt. T. NJ. Odea of Springfield
H.. told a Star reporter at the National
last night II remember an instance. just
after the battle of Charlottesville. when a
number Of the men in my battery of the
regular artillery re-enlisted and received
their bounty money. They were accredited
to the state of Pennsylvania and had about
81 500 in the crowd. The orderly sergeant
Of the battery was very unpopular man.
He had used his position to make things
very unpleasant for number Of the pri-
Yates, and they had 1t in for him. On the
night they received their bounty money
! they all repaired to the suffers tent and
relieved him of a quantity of whisky he
had purchased for the occasion.
Every man in the bat attery got drunk, the
guard included. They were in fighting
mood and, happening to run across the first
sergeant on their way to their quarters,
they proceeded to administer severe chas-
tisement. Every man armed himself with
wooden club from the stables. The clubs
We're about two inches thick and yard
long-they had been used In wrapping the
baled hay and straw. With these weapons
the men beat the sergeant until he was al
most dead. One Of their number. a little
more sober than the rest saw that they
were going too far, and he called them
to stop, attempting to shield the PROSTATE
form Of the unpopular officer he did so.
The men then turned on him. and in the
melee that followed they forgot the SER
geant entirely.
Two members of the battery who had
taken no part in the struggle lifted the un-
conscious officer n
company office, where they placed him in
bed and called the surgeon. In the mean
time the captain heard the noise and, on
discovering its occasion. he called on the
guard to arrest the offenders. The guard,
however, was as much concerned in the
i! fight as any of the others and they were
not to be found when called upon When
the drunken crowd had deposited the de-
fender of the sergeant in ditch they came
back to finish the work he had interrupted.
They were mad clean through when they
found that their prey had escaped them,
and an attack was made on his quarters.
without result. A couple of the more SEN
sble minded men called their comrades to
order and made them go to bed. The first
sergeant never again appeared in the bat
terry. He was transferred to another branch
of the service"
II come from New York, the home of the
green-goods man and the bunco steerer but
/ saw the slickest game worked in this city
in the way of disposing of cheap jewelry
that ever came to my notice" said Mr.. T.
r. Van Welt in the lobby Of the Norman
die. Il was on my way down 14th street
to the Monument grounds when the trick
was turned. and but for my curiosity l
would never have seen the thing. When l
reached the long stretch OF parking near
the entrance to the grounds my attention
was called to a man who seemed to have
found something the street He stopped
suddenly in his walk and STOPPING down,
seemed to pick up something. He was COM
ing toward me and was apparently SO sur
prised that he attracted my attention to
what he had found
It's pretty, is 1t not? he asked. as
came up, holding out his hand, which con-
tanned small opal ring.
Yes answered. and almost new, too.
Did you just pick 1t up?'
.'The man assented and handed me the
ring to examine. One look showed me that
the stone was false and the whole ring but
a clever imitation. Well one word lead to
another. and finally the man offered to sell
1t to me for 81 so, about 81. 40 more than 1t
was worth. He said he was a jeweler and
instantly recognized 1t as a genuine stone.
saw that the man either did not know
whereof he spoke or he was trying TO do
me, and fatty refused to have anything to
do with II. He walked off and decided
to watch him. Another man was coming
up the street just behind me and about
fifty feet distant from the man who had
found the ring. l saw him stop. hesitate.
stoop and apparently pick up something
from the pavement. He attracted his VIC