The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1902-01-11

situation, and not knowing any better
not knowing but what he had the right to
do that thought he had the advantage
of me and / would make the best Of my
situation. When he came back | said to
him: Colonel, l saw my discharge in the
adjutant s tent while ago, and 1 am
satisfied you put something in there that
you did not intend to say He asked ::
What was that? I said: you state on
there that l have always been loyal and
honest except in one Particular. That is
the equivalent of saying that at least in
one particular l have been disloyal and
dishonest" He said to me: mo, I did
not mean to say you nave been dishon-
est" l said: well. colonel. that is what
| you said" He said: well, | did not
mean to say that. Will have it changed. .
| He took a step or two in the direction of
the adjutants telt and then turned to
me and said: "But l did mean to say that
| you had not heen loyal" / said: In
what respect nave l not been loyal?'s-
and my mind at once reverted to what
1 referred 20 as having taken place at
Miami, Fla, and l will explain that
here.
| He said IT am not referring to that.
| siid: Colonel. what are you referring
to?' He said: 1.-The time you and Major
Mcdonald and McCloud asked me to re-
sign
l said: Colonel, that is not disloyalty
to you, but loyalty to the United states
government" He said: Yes, | think 1t
does. am the colonel or the regiment;
1t means disloyalty to me as well as to
the government" Well, l, realized If he
did not know any better he would not
acknowledge it and. that ne had the ad-
vantage of me, and / still tried to reason
with him. I said: Colonel, even II 1t
means as you say, you have no right TO
constitute yourself judge and jury and
prosecutor and try to condemn me with
out a hearing. If did wrong, you ought
to prefer charges against me and give
me a chance to be tried by courtmartial
where would have an opportunity to de-
fend myself" He said: II thought of do
ing that, but 1 decided not to do it, l
saw that he was bent on putting that on
my discharge and | did not know but
that he had the right to do it. The more
l talked to him the madder | got
Part of 1t Wouldn't Sound Well.
part of what 1 said would not be
proper to say here, but I am willing to
do 1t If the court says so, but there are
some ladies present 1 stated to him,
Colonel know l am going to be mus
tered out tomorrow and L will swear be-
fore God Almighty that you nor no other
man shall put that thing on my discharge
and live" l said, 'If you do, am going
to hold you personally responsible He
Just muttered to me, II am going to do
it, or II have a right to do it, | did
not hear distinctly what he said. turned
and walked off and left him going in the
direction of the adjutant's tent At that
time, / did not know anyone else was IN
the like situation. l went to camp and
met Major Smith, and he told me that
his was in the same language, that 1t had
matter derogatory to him.
did not see Major McCloud's or Chap
lain Fitzsimons' discharge. but know
from what Major Smith told me that 1t
was on our discharge. Major McCloud
and Chaplain Fitzsimons are both dead
and of course that is simply hearsay'
Pasted Paper over 1t.
After l had that conversation with
Colonel Higdon about that discharge,
when got the discharge. | received 1t
with this piece of paper, pasted over 1t,
and / will solemnly swear to this court
that not until the first Sunday In last De-
cember did / ever know that that dis
charge was different from what | say 1t
was, that 1t wound up by saying that he
in one particular but on the first sun
day in December / hunted up. my dis
charge tore that paper loose so | could
read what was under there, and then
found that it says l was gv ty OF insub-
ordination. but until tore that piece OF
paper loose, the first Sunday in December.
thought 1t was as l originally saw 1t.
That was the way we We're mustered
out of the service. When the regiment
was reorganized, Major Smith was elected
colonel and was elected lieutenant. colo
mel. Early in the spring of last year. after
had been appointed Circuit Judge, Colo
mel Smith resigned. l knew then that I
| ought to resign. and the only reason that
/ did not resign was because | had an
| application on file at the war depart
ment trying to get a position in the regu-
| lar army or volunteer army at that time
doing duty in sthe Philippines.
II stated publicly on several different
| occasions that If Higdon was elected l
| would not serve under him. During the
progress of the contest for the colonelcy
| was written to by Captain Morrison, by
| Lieutenant Hasson, by Major Huey. and
| think by Major Parkes, in which the
statement was made to me that my place
was being traded on by the friends of
| Colonel Higdon in order to get votes for
| him. and that the places of Majors Huey
and Parkes were also being traded. They
asked me to authorize them to state that
| II Colonel Higdon was elected that 1
would not resign, and that they would
not resign. and they thought that they
| could still beat him.
81 wrote Major Huey that would agree
| that would not resign. and that he was
| authorized to make that statement Major
Huey had that letter here last week. I
| forgot to ask him about it. but expect
| to ask him when he comes today to sign
| hie teefiuoonv The elecffon mas bald ona