Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1902-01-23
DESERTERS' TRICKS.
Much Ingenuity Displayed in Their
Efforts to Escape.
Instances Wherein Some Clever De-
vices Were ResOrted To by Dis
contented Soldiers But With
out Gaining Their Liberty.

To desert from either the army or
the navy is not the easiest thing in the
world, and even when accomplished
the culprit lives in daily fear of being
recaptured and sentenced to a heavy
term of Imprisonment. Therefore the
devices employed by some deserters
are as ingenious as they are exciting,
although they cannot always be said
to be crowned with success, says The
Regiment. 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 a number of assertions had oc.
Cured in the neighborhood and the
authorities were therefore unusually
sharp to prevent further offenses of
this nature. But the nan in question
was dissatisfied with soldering and,
having a number of friends in the town
who were disposed to help him, and
being possessed of an unusually large
modicum of pluck, resolved to delay
his return to civil life no longer.
One morning early he slipped out of
barracks and made his way to a
friends house without being seen. Ar
irving there, he shaved off his mus
tache, and, donning a ~policeman's uni
form, boldly promenaded the main
streets of the town. He was, of course,
missed in the barracks and knew that
the surrounding country was being
secured in hopes Of finding him. On
one occasion his sergeant came up to
him and asked him if he had seen or
heard anything of a 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 disguise without it being pene-
trated even by the police themselves,
and then he calmly left the town when
the hue and cry had subsidized some
what. Nevertheless 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 his 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-
LARRY, and from remarks dropped at
odd times discovered that the publican
was heavily in debt to a Scotch spirit
merchant. One morning as soon as
the publican opened his doors the sol
der arrived, after having first dis
guised himself with a beard and wig
and donned civilian attire.
With him came a friend who agreed
to act as a representative of the law,
and he promptly told the astonished
publican that he had orders to leave a
man in possession unless the sum ow-
ing to the Scotch spirit merchant was
paid to him there and then. The pub
lican, of course, could not pay. so the
deserter was quartered upon him and
lived in his house and at his expense
for more than a week before the de-
ception was discovered. Perhaps the
most successful deserter-for a time
was William Conrad. Through one of
his comrades he heard of a man whose
son had gone to Australia gold mining
and had apparently disappeared, for
nothing more had been heard of him,
though the parent still believed he
would see him again. Conrad, there
fore, hit upon the ingenious idea of
leaving the army by stealth, and, 60
ing to the man, informing him that he
was the missing son. As his knowledge
of Australia was considerable he lost
no time in putting his plan into execu-
ton and the parent, believing in him
despite the supposed alteration in his
appearance, provided him with a home
and money galore, a commodity he con-
fessed he lacked. But unfortunately
for him at the end of IS months the real
son turned up and what followed can
better be imagined than described.