The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-03-11
TERRoRIzED BY SOLDIERS.
Abolition of the Canteen Blamed 5or
the Chicago Riot.

CHICAGO, March u.-Army officers
here declare that the adjustment of the
canteen at military posts IS responsible
for the disorderIy acts of soldiers from
Fort Sheridan in the saloons Of High
wood, a fashionable Chicago suburb
where drunken soldiers from Fort Sheri-
dan, one mile distant, have demolished
several saloons, fired shots It inofensive
citizens, and SO terrorized She vicinity
that all day Friday, until two companies
of regulars had been sent from the fort
TO patrol the town. arrest the culprits,
and preserve order women were unable to
venture on the streets for fear OF insult
Since the canteen at the army post Was
dispensed with dozen saloons have been
opened at Highwood. and attractions
have been provided by the proprictors TO
induce soldiers TO visit their places Gen
/ eral Otis, commander of the Department
I Of the Lakes, says:
while ! have received no official re
port Of the trouble at Highwood, I am
| led 70 believe from thu statements
made by the officers at the post that
I things are lively up there Fights and
braWIS are likely TO occur when soldiers
leave the reservation and drink lot OF
vile whisky Take lot of your citizens
and pen them up as soldiers are and see
what they would do There are large
number Of men at Fort Sheridan. just
now, including about $50 new recruits for
the Twenty-niuth Infantry Regiment,
which Is being organized New men may
be relied upon to heIp debauchery along
Il was strongly opposed 10 the army
cauteen when it was first proposed but
the War Department issued orders 20 Is
tablish them, and the drinking places
/ were opened l was one of the officers
/ detailed TO study the operation Of the
canteen and note the effect on the men
From the investigation / found the can
teen worked so much better than l ex-
pected it would that I was compelled 70
/ endorse il Under that system the profits
! Of the cauteen went TO buy deicacle5 for
! the mems Ia bic, 50 that they got the tuI
benefit Of all that was spent for beer on
] the reservation Now the men spend
. more money than before and the profits
go TO the owners Of private gin mills.
! Although General otis has issued no
{ official orders on the subject. the COM
. mander at Fort Sheridan VIII endeaEoF
} TO arrest the men responsible Tor the
! trouble at HighWOOd and have them tried
before "A court martial The great Dim
! Guilty IN prosecuting soldiers IN cases Of
this kind is, as rule, the saloonKeeptIS
! refuse TO testify for fear OF losing the
/ favor Of their patrons Nearly every SOL
: der at the fort has spent All the money
he drew last "Wednesday, ana no iGFliieE
trouble is expected in EIghWood before
next month. when the paymaster makes
another visit There was a scTlHmaSe IN
one Of the saloons Saturday night ana II
looked for d few minutes as If the place
would Ge as thoroughly wrecked as II
/ Mrs Nation had visited il When front
! window was broken the soldiers departed
F'orttlrat elv for the citizens Of High
/ wood the soldiers cannot all leave the
! fort at the same time A. 4 result OF
this il takes the men about three days
. 10 distribute most of the money left by
( the paymaster. During these lays drunken
/ men are as numerous on the streets as
sober ones.
Friday night four Of the recruits at
/ tempted 10 force bartender 70 serve
/ them hot whisky under the threat that
| they would put the place out Of bust
ness II refused. The barkeeper drew a
] revolver and the recruits vanished.