The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1900-07-27
That Soldiers Home Episode.

That Soldiers Home Episode.
To simmer the cold facts down, there
has been no cruelty or mistreatment
of the. veterans. UNION Of July 6, 1900.
Was it or was it not inhuman and
cruel to turn comrade Peter Quinn
out OF the Home at the time he was
sick and should have been sent to
the hospital for treatment? He
was turned out in the cold to die
and died from exposure and neglect.
80 hicamauga" in the Hot Springs
Star.
Unfortunately, The UNION has
been cut from the Stars exchange
list and the above reply to our re-
marks of July 9th escaped our no.
tice until local reader of the Star
called our attention to the matter.
To begin with, The UNION repeats
its statement and it challenges
proof to the contrary. The charge
that Peter Quinn was turned out Of
the Home when sick is only in keep
ing with the other stories circulate
ed by a gang of republican vitrol-
throwers, who would today wreck
the best Home in the nation in a
fruitless effort to injure Col. Arthur
Linn. Peter Quinn deserted from
the Soldiers Home and went to
Deadwood, where he worked for
three months, was taken sick as a
result Of a protracted spree and
died in the hospital in that city.
Just where Col. Linn's cruelty"
came in can perhaps best be explain
ed BY the fellows who peddle out
these stories.
Now that the subject is under dis
cussion again, The UNION desires to
say a word regarding the manage
ment Of the Home by the republi-
cans, Magrew and Lucas. It was
strictly "free and easy institu-
ton. Drunkenness was rampant
among. many of the old veterans.
The horrors Of the republican lock-
up can best be realized when The
UNION recalls that in one instance a
poor, old veteran vas allowed to
die in the lookup with an attack OF
delerium tremens. As Manager
Clark of the Evans stated last
spring, it was. unsafe for ladies to
go to the Kidney Springs alone on
account Of SO many drunken sold
iers. But no complaint Of cruelty
or mismanagement was made under
such conditions because the institu.
tion was then under republican
(mis) management. That was be
fore Col. Arthur Linn took com.
mand.
Today the Home al Hot Springs
is the only sober Home in the ma
tion not through republicanism
but in spite of it. 1t is the mos
home-like institution Ct the kind il
tile country and is the pride O
every fair-minded ano honest citi
zen of South Dakota. THE UNIo,
de6es any man in the state or ou
of it to point to a better, cleaner Of
more ably conducted Home thar
the one at Hot Springs, or to max,
PLAIN one act of Col. Linn's admin
istration that would give just ant
honest cause for complaint. Politi
cal hatred is the one thing that ha
given birth to this whole affair, bu
Col. Linn IS not managing the insti
tuition in the interest Of dead beat.
and busted politicians. He is ia
above and beyond the mud-slingin,
of this class of men.
In conclusion The UNION desire
to say that it regrets the necessit,
of having to refer to the earthl,
faults or shortcomings Of any OIL,
veteran who has been mustered in
to the army beyond, but the make,
truth must be given and the inst
tuition which furnishes q refuge 70
those who saved the nation must b
shielded from those whonld drag
into disrepute. None realize NOR
deeply than the writer the grea
debt which the people owe the Of
veterans of the sixties, and becaus
Of the heroic sacrifice which the
made then the home which give
them shelter in their declinin
years should not be hotbed
temptation to finally led them int