The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-08-25
transportation to Gehenna.

We get a great many cuffs and
kicks for the accounts we hold up be-
cause they do not come within the
terms of an appropriation law" re-
marked government auditing officer,
according to the Washington CORE
spondence of the New York Post, land
undoubtedly we do have to cause good
men discomfort now and then when
we are only trying to do our duty. But
a side of our work the public rarely
sees is the lengths to which we go now
and then to save some deserving man
from loss. In war we have instances
OF this sort continually occurring, as
so much has to be done under abnor-
NAL conditions, when the lines must
not be drawn too closely if we would
promote substantial justice.
To give you a case in point: We
once found among the vouchers of an
ot1cer actually engaged in the field
receipted bill for $40 for the hire of
hangman. This was a record breaker
for me. OF course, on its face such a
charge could not be passed.; so 1 or
dered letter to be sent to the officer
asking for an explanation The an
swer arrived in due time, quite in the
style of the bluff old fellow who wrote
it. can't give you the exact language
but it ran somewhat like this:
A. B was a notorious
bandit, blackleg, and bad man, who
had not only kept like a wolf on the
trail of my command for weeks, kill
ing and r0bbing struggling soldiers
wherever he could, but shedding the
blood and taking the property of nom
combatant civilians whom we had been
careful to protect. After long trying in
vain, l at last captured the scoundrel,
and to make an impression on the peo-
pie of the country all around there, I
voc Il rA1 to IL 49, Ii
little out of the ordinary. | sent out a
general invitation to the peaceful in
habltants who had suffered at his
hands to come and bear testimony at
his trial, which I held in the village of
Ballygoo, in the open air, and made as
public as possible, and conducting it on
the general lines of criminal court in
civil community. detailed the men
in my command who knew most about
law to serve as judge, prosecuting at
torney, and counsel for the defense,
and impanelled a jury from the most
intelligent material l could find. 1 was
resolved that the fellow should not en-
joy and honor of anything like a SOL
dier'S trial or suffer anything like a
soldiers death-that would have been
too good for him.
" He was convicted and sentenced to
be hanged, but we had not an officer
or an enlisted man at hand who knew
how to 10 the job properly. l was told
that a civilian who lived back in the
hills had once worked as a sheriff's
assistant and helped three or four muir
derers out of the. world. So [ sent for
him and struck a bargain to hang our
prisoner for $40, including the loan of
rope. [ suppose the whole thing was
irregular, but l was resolved to do it
in an artistic manner; and the good
effect of my policy is shown by the
fact that my command has suffered
no molestation from brigands since
1T was strong plea, and appealed
to me. But how were we to straighten
the account out so as to make 1t SUI
perticially correct? A clerk at my ell
bow suggested a solution in d pencilled
memorandum: Have item made charge
on quartermaster, for emergency trans
portation of A B; Ballygoo to
Gehenna, by most direct route dis
lance unknown; attach order of COM
handing officer for execution, to prove
that transportation was necessary and
for the good of the service.
II woo 60D0 nn1 tho I,iS+nriaYy who
overhauls the archives of that period
will find the papers there and may
draw his own conclusion"