The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-04
STRIKE AGAINST HASH
SOLDIERS AT FORT SHERIDAN OBJ.
JECT TO THEIR FOOD.
Denounce "Mess Grabber," RidicuIe
Officers and Are Placed Under Ar
rest-Raid on Restaurants.

CHICAGO. Jan. "a strike-an "anti-
hash strike-was declared at Fort Sheridan
last evening by a whole company of SOL
diers, and as a result the strikers-and
there are 10 of them-are under arrest.
The strike went into effect shortly after 6
o'clock, when the soldiers walked out of
the messroom singing their rallying re-
frain:
Always, always, meat balls all ways, all
ways"
The breach of discipline met prompt re-
Duke by the wholesale arrests that fol-
lowed, as all of the strikers, including the
noncommissoned officers, came under the
discipline of their superiors. One soldier
who was particularly bitter in character
izing the fare set before him spent the
night in the guardhouse. The others, al
though under arrest and forbidden to leave
their quarters, marched in a body to High
wood, and there devoured almost every
scrap of food that the restaurants had in
stock.
There has been considerable discomfort
among the soldiers for some time over the
quality of their mess. In the Twenty-frst
battery Of artillery, where the parody of
Always" originated, the situation was ad-
mitted to be acute. The men said they got
hash five days a week, and when they re-
fused to eat hash they got the meat balls,
which are Familiarity known in army par
lance as horse balls"
The members of the Twenty-first were In
mood to rebel at the sight of horse balls
when they marched into the messroom,
where they beheld the platters heaped gen
erOuSly with the familiar Offering. They
murmured then reviled, and finally, with a
tumult of overturned chairs and shutting
feet, fled from the hall, only to hold an in
dignation meeting outside. Captain Braes,
officer of the day, heard of the matter and
Immediately hurried to the scene.
Captain Mearns, officer of the mess, or
mess grabber," in the language of the
belligerents, ordered the sergeants to take
the rebellious men back into the hall, and
his commands were reinforced by Captain
Braes. The soldiers obeyed, and then new
barrack room ballad the men satirized the
menu and ridiculed the officers, especially
Captain Mearns. although the soldiers
knew their action to be breach OF dis
cipline.
twenty-five cents is allowed for the
daily fare of each soldier, and only cents
is invested" shouted one of the men. An
other wanted to know what the mess
grabber" did with the other 20 cents.
Captain Braes and Captain Mearns final
| ly lost patience with the incorrigible liz
and ordered them from the hall after an
nouncing that each man should consider
| himself under arrest and be confined to
quarters. The last man to leave the hall
was Michael Huss. who recently was trans
ferred from the Ninth Battery because he
was not eligible TO go to the Philippines
For this or some other reason Huss was
especially bitter, and as he was about to
pass through the door he was seized and
marched to the guardhouse.
Then the striking soldiers made for a new
base OF supplies. bearing down on the res
| taurants of Highwood till all the chops and
steaks We're exhausted, after which they
| crowded into the grocery stores and ate
cheese and crackers. When they returned
| TO quarters they said their money had
! given out before their appetites
Colonel McCaskey has ordered an inves-
tigation of the whole affair to-day, and the
| officers fear that the trouble is not ended.