Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1903-10-21
The UnSOlVed Mystery.
"A SOLDIER TRIES TO SERVE IN
PRISON FOR HIS FRIEND

I The other night several officers
were in a room of the Fort Leaven-
worth Club telling of army expert
ences. The conversation turned on
mistaken identity. One of the old of
fcers who had not told his yarn was
called upon, when he told a story thai
seemed made out of whole cloth or
taken from fiction. He stated posi-
lively that the facts were true, but
that he had changed the names a
little. His story:
i Several years ago, when I was not
as old as I am now, I was the judge
advocate of a general courtmartial.
IA case was referred to me for trial;
the man charged with desertion and
the theft or loss of some Government
property when he took French
leave The man had surrendered
himself. The papers sent to me were
correct. They consisted of the usual
charges, drawn up by the officer from
whose company the man had desert
ed (who, by the way, was stationed
at a distant Western post, I being at
the time stationed in the East), the
statement of the mans services, his
descriptive list, etc. / consulted the
man and he said he would plead
which charged him with theft. I
brought him before the court, and he
declined to ask for counsel-a right,
you know, man has in the army. 1t
being necessary to establish the theft
of the articles, and as it was too far
to have the first sergeant of the COM
pany (who was the witness for the
prosecution) brought East, | made
out a set of interrogatories, with the
consent of the accused, and these
were mailed to the commanding Off
Ger for the proper action in such
cases. Well, two weeks passed, and
finally the papers came back notify
ing me that the first sergeant was
East on a furlough and consequently
his deposition could not be taken.
This was one morning, and the court
was ordered to meet the next morn
the strange part. This same after
noon a man called on me and told me
he was Sergeant So and So (the man
whose deposition I was after), and
that he was on furlough, and hearing
that Private Jones was in confine-
ment he would like to see him in the
guardhouse and have talk with
him. told the sergeant that the
court wanted him in all probability
as a witness, but l got permission for
him to go to the guardhouse and see
Jones. About an hour later back
came the sergeant and asked to see
me. = ...~.tA - =
His opening remark knocked me
fat. 1t was: Lieutenant, that man
you have and are trying is not Jones'
/ laughed at him and told him the
man had been arraigned and pleaded
guilty to the charge of desertion, but
would not plead guilty to the theft
charge, and there could be no mis-
take, for in reading charges / had al
ways said Yes The sergeant said:
i Call uS1p IL, LlSuC0hdAlC, CudC 10 noI
Jones; it is man named Johnson, a
"bunkie" of Jones, who was dis
charged few weeks before Jones de-
serted These two men were insep-
arabic; we all noticed that after
Johnson left Jones seemed all ''brok-
en- up" and we felt that he was so
broken up over the discharge of
Johnson that he deserted to join him."
"'But why would he be willing to
come here and give himself up for
Jones and take his punishment l
asked.
"'That is too much for me, Lieuten-
ant. 1t beats anything | have ever
heard of since | entered the army,
and I admit l was all taken aback
when saw Johnson and not Jones
in the guardhouse.'
, "The sergeant told me the two
men were very much alike, SO much
SO that they might have passed for
one another.
81 went to the guardhouse and saw
Jones, or Johnson, or whatever you
care to call him, an6 he admitted that
such was the case, that he was john
son and not Jones. / asked him what
his game was, but he only laughed
and said that was his business l