Waterbury Democrat., 1902-04-08
"PETER DOUGLASS"
When Man is Considered Officially
 Dead in the Army.

" AtA st 4hdH IS IoHSluefeu Omclally
 Dead in the Army.
 s'In garrison life Peter Douglass means q dead man-that is, officially, not really dead" observed an army officcer. It had it's origin at Bort Aon- roe quarter of a century or more ago, though there are lumber of officers who knew the original Pete and quite a number more who knew the facts in regard to this case.
 "One of the leading officers of the ar tillery service to-day, then a lieutenant. was sent from Governors Island, in New York harbor. to Fort Monroe with detachment of nineteen soldiers. They came down by sea. and the first night out the soldiers got 0n to q bar rel of fine whiskey which was ill the hold, and by the aid of q gimIet and some straws the most of the nineteen men were in very hilarious condition before midnight On the second night out some of them tackled the barrel again, and in short time they were again intoxicated. Among the number was Peter Douglass. When the time came for them to land at Fort Monroe Peter Douglass could not be found. It was generally thought he had fallen overheard. Anyhow, the 1 lieutenant turned over but eighteen men. He reported Peter Douglass as having been drowned, and the record was made accordingly. Three days afterward, when the ship that brought the party down was unloading some l freight at Charleston, $. c, Peter | orl l 1n1 of 1 ing somewhat the worse for his exper- fence. After bracing Up he managed 10 work his way up to Fort Monroe. where he supposed he would join his company, put on presenting himself to the officer in command there he was tofd that as the record there had shown that Peter Douglass had been drowned, they were required to con sider him dead even if he was not l dead.
 Douglass admitted that he was pretty nearly dead, but that he had managed to pull through Anyhow. he was not admitted to the quarters at the garrison, and was told that he had better move along; that he was out of the army as surely as he had ever l been in it.
 But Peter did not go far away. That evening he met some of his com radeS, three in number, from Cover nor'S Island, and they celebrated his coming to life in true soldierly manner. The celebration wound up in the guardhouSe there, as did the celebra- tors. The record of the grardhouse showed that, though Peter Douglass had been reported dead few days be- fore, he was very much alive. Two days afterward the names of the four were sent to the officer in command as a preliminary to having them court martialled and punished for disorderly conduct and other violations of thelaws or the garrison. The officer, who was Q strong advocate of the power of re- cord, ruled that as Peter Douglass had never entered the garrison, he could not be court-martialled, and that, in fact, Peter Douglass was dead beyond resurrection. He was, therefore, turn ed out and again told to move on, but as he did not realize that he was dead, he did not do so.
 He hung around the garrison for some time, but finally wandered away and got back to New York. Officially he has remained dead ever since, for the record has never been changed The officers preferred to let him re main dead and get him out of the army in thatway than to try and reform him by court-martial, for he seemed to be beyond reform. "W ashington Evening Star.