Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-02-25

had been directed by telegraph to desig
nate staff officer to receipt to Lieu
tenant Loring at once for the public
property for which he was accountable
in order that the latter officer might
take an early steamer for the isthmus,
as his services were urgently needed at
his new station. 1t was an open secret
that the general considered himself ag-
grieved by the action of the authorities
at Washington, and said so. He had
made no charge against Lieutenant
Loring. He had merely called that gen.
tleman's attention to the very serious
allegations laid at his door, and this
was true. On the other hand, people
who had been permitted to know any
thing about the matter, notably certain
senior officers of the engineer corps not
under the generals orders, and one or
two staff department officers who, I'M
happily for themselves, were under his
orders and subject to his semioccasional
rebuke. now openly said that not one
allegation against Loring came from a
reliable or respectable source, and that
it was an outrage to have held him even
to inferential account on the statement
of such cad as Escalante's agent, who
hadn't been near the Office since the re-
covery of Captain Moreland, the insinu-
ations of Mr.. Purser Traynor, now to-
tally vanished, and the rumored asper-
sions Of a fair incognita, known only to
Captain Petty, man who had few as
sociates in the cline or outside the
limited circle Of the generals personal
staff, and who was not too we'll liked
even there.
And, as the revulsion of feeling set
in, Petty set out for Yuma. 'Where
there is so dashed much smoke, said
he, as it later transpired, "there must
be some fire" and the general had bid
den him go to Yuma, to ella Bend, to
Guaymas, to the devil if need be, and
find out all the facts. But the linesmen
at Preside and the jovial blades at
Moreland's elbow were loud in their
laughing statement that if Petty were
looking for fire he could have found it
here in abundance. Loring could have
given him more than he wanted.
Then came the order in the case of
Captain Nevins, dismissing that worthy
from the service on charges Of conduct
unbecoming an officer and gentleman,
and awarding years imprisonment at
such penitentiary, etc., as the review
ing authority should direct, and by the
same post the official order transferring
Lieutenant Loring Of the engineers to
duty in the department of the Platte,
and then what did the steamship COM
pany do but issue invitations for a din
ner to be given in honor of that distin-
guished young officer, and great was the
noise thereof until it was known that
the gentleman had gracefully, but firm
~, declined.
Then the papers said sit was rumor-
eds that the general had forbidden his
acceptance, despite the fact that the
general had expressed publicly his graf
ifcation that the company had at last
done something in recognition of it's in
debtedness to the army, which was
most adroit and equally impersonal.
And all the while Ioring himself was
having anything but an enviable time
of it. A man so reticent and retiring
could not but be annoyed by the per
sistent calls and cross questions of all
manner of people in whom he had but
small personal interest. He wished to
have nothing whatever to say upon the
subject, denied himself to reporters and
relapsed into impenetrable reserve when
importuned by brother officers whom he
but slightly knew.
One or two with whom he would
gladly have held counsel were far re-
moved, one at least forever, from his
circle. The stalwart old inspector,
Turnbull, lay sleeping his last sleep in
the cemetery at Monterey. The veteran
who served as president of the Nevins
court was in far Arizona, and Blake,
sound of heart, if not of head, was un-
der a cloud at Yuma. His forceful ex-
pressions concerning the imbecility of
department officials led to his being
confined very closely to company work
and minor, yet exacting, duties at the
post, all because of his abandonment of
Lieutenant Loring at a critical moment,
said the few defenders of the depart
ment's letter to the post commander on
that subject. "AlI because of his too
vehement defense of Loring," said
every body else.
With feverish eagerness Loring
awaited the sailing of the next steamer.
Every item for which he stood account
able was then at his Office, invoices and
receipts made out in full. Nothing was
needed but the officer designated to re.
lieve him. The Columbia was to leave
on Saturday, and up to Thursday even
ing no relief had appeared. Friday
morning the adjutant general received
a written communication most respect
sul, yet urgent in terms, requesting
that the officer might be designated
without further delay, and as no an
swer was received up to noon Loring
followed it with personal call upon
the chief of staff, who said the general
had the matter under advisement