The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1902-05-20

The story ofthe Origin Of an Army Tern
Meaning q De a Man.


In garrison life Peter Douglass
means dead man-that is. Officially
not really dead" observed an arm,
officer. 1T had ts origin At Fort Mon.
roe a quarter OF a century ago. though
there are a number Of officers whc
knew the original Pete and quite
number more who knew tie facts IN
regard 70 his case.
One Of the eadiAg officers OF ths
artillery service lday. then a lieutep.
ant was sent fren Governors Island
In New York harbor, to Fort Monroe
with dstaohmeAt Of nineteen soldiers
They came do by the sea. and the
hrst night out the rrldiers got on In q
barrel 81 ane whisky which was In the
hold, aaa by the aid Of q giNlet and
some stFsvs the nest Of the ninetseu
men were in very hilarious conditlsr
before midnight On the second nishi
out some Of then tackled the barre
again, and IN shert tiMs they were
again iatoKieatsd. Among the nuh.hs
was Peter Douglass. When the tim,
came for then 10 land at Fort Monroe
Peter Douglass could not he found. ll
was generally believed that he had
fallen overboard or. while intoxicated
had jumped overheard ANYHOW. the
lieutenant turned over but eighteen
men. He reported Peter Douglass az
having been drowned, and tbs record
was made accordingly. Three days az
terwnre, when the ship that brought
the party down was unloading some
freight ~ Charleston, 3. c., Peter
Douglass crawled out OF the hold lock-
ing somewhat worse for his experience
After bracinG up he managed TO werk
his way up 10 Fort Monroe. where ht
supposed he would join his company.
bat upon presenting himself 10 the
that as the record hRd shown that
Peter Douglass had beea drowned they
were required TO consider him dead
even II he was not dead.
Douglass admitted that he wss
pretty nearly dead, but that be has
MANAGED 70 pull through. AnyhpW, he
was not admitted 70 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 been
INST
But Peter did not go far away. That
evening he met some OF his comrades,
three In number, from Governors is-
land; and they celebrated his comine
TO life IN true soldierly manner. The
celebration wound up in the guard
house there, as did the celebrators
The record OF the guardhouse showed
that, though Peter Douglass had been
reported dead a few days before. he
was very much alive. Two days alter
wards the names OF the four were sent
10 the officer in command as a prellm-
mary to have them court-martialod
and punished for disOrderly conduct
and other violations OF the laws OF the
garrison The officer, who was a
strong advocate of the power OF record
ruled that as Peter Douglass had never
entered the garrison, he could not be
court rt-martialed and that, In fact, Peter
Douglass was dead beyond resurrec-
ton. He was, therefore, turned out
and again told TO move on, but as he
did not realize that he was dead, ne
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 10 let him re-
main dead and get him out Of the army
in that way than 10 try and reform
him by court-martlBl, for he seemed to
be beyond reform. Washington Star.