The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-06-22

devices employed by some deserters
 are as ingenious as they are exciting,
 although they cannot be said to be al-
 ways crowned with success. For sheer
 audacity the case of an Irish soldier
 who deserted in a south coast town
 some years ago would be hard to beat
 Just at that time 8 number of deser-
 tions had occurred in the neighborhood,
 and the authorities were therefore un-
 usually sharp to prevent further of
 fences of this nature. But the man in
 question was dissatisfied with solder
 ing, and having number of friends in
 the town who were disposed to help
 him, and being possessed of an unusu-
 ally large modicum of pluck, resolved
 to delay his return to civil life no lon-
 ger. One morning early he slipped. out 1 of barracks and made his way to l friends house without being seen. Ar irving there he shaved off his mus l tache, and, donning a policeman's un- 1 form, boldly promenaded the main streets of the town. He was of course missed in barracks, and knew that the surrounding country was being secured in the hopes of finding him. On one oc- CdSltll HIS StISSllIL IpiliC up to 'iiii and asked him if he had seen or heard anything of the missing man, and he of course replied that he had not, but he
 would keep his eyes open! For more than a fortnight he preserved his dis guise without it being penetrated even by the police themselves, and he then calmly left the town when the hue and cry had subsided somewhat Never theless, his enterprise came to naught, for he was arrested In trying to work his passage back to Ireland.
 Scarcely less audacious was the ruse employed by another dissatisfied son of Mars, and in this case, likewise, it proved futile He happened to know that a certain publican in the town was in anything but affluent circum- stances, for he visited the house regu- larly and from remarks dropped at odd times discovered that the publican was heavily in debt to a Scotch spirit mer- chant. One morning, as soon as the publican opened his doors, the soldier arrived, after having first disguised himself with a beard and wig and donned civilian attire. With him came a friend, who agreed to act as a repre- SpHldllNe Ol lIle idW, anu iic pipiiipIiS told the astonished publican that he had orders to leave man in possession unless the sum owing to the Scotch spirit merchant was paid to him there and then. The publican, of course, could not pay, so the deserter, was quartered upon him and lived in his house and at his expense for more than | week before the deception was dis covered. Perhaps the most successmul deserter-for a time--was William Con- | rad Through one of his comrades he heard of a man whose son had gone to | Australia gold mining, and had appa- rently disappeared, for nothing more had been heard of him, hough the pa- | rent still believed he would see him | again. Conrad therefore hit upon the ingenious idea of leaving the army by stealth, and, going to the man, inform ing him that he was the missing son. As his knowledge of Australia was con- he lost no time in putting his plan into execution, and the parent, be- lieving in him despite the supposed al- iteration in his appearance, provided him with a home and money galore, a he confessed he lacked. But, unfortunately, for him, at the end of eighteen months the real son turned up and what followed can better be imagined than described .--The Regi- ment.