The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-01

sertions result from that slight and fool
iSh cause. ','--'
81 belonged to troop once that was
stationed at the, Presidio of San Fran
cisco One of our men. bright fellow
with a pleasing way about him, and
skilful and inveterate gambler, caught on
as a main faro dealer In big San Fran
cisco gambling house at the wind-up of his
second enlistment. 1t wasn't long before
he had an interest in the business him
self, and he made money fast.
and Gggeq i9 9n ID sed to drive
out to the Preside behind a fast and
stylish PAGER in rig and tidy trap with
yaller running gear. Well, after a few
Preside had to request that ex-swaddie,
as a special favor, to cease his visits at
the post. Desertions by the dozen were
traced to those visits "
over and get ambitious all of a sudden. If
he had made suchsa rafting good job of 1T
in civil life, why couldn't they, too--or,
at any rate, make some sort of a stab at
it? They went out of the Preside gate
not to come back any more In sets of
fours. just because they had seen the Wis
ible signs of the prosperity of a man who
had formerly bunked under the same roof
with them. ,,- ga
'"The death of a cherished officer, or
even of a very popular enlisted man, is
tions. In the far Northwest, at a dinky
| little tWo-troop post, there died a first
| lieutenant who was enormously priced by
| the enlisted men.
This officer died of too much drink
He was fine man and a splendid soldier
never was a better soldier man any
where-but the drink had him., and it took
him. The men, though, didn't think any
the less of him for that, although they all
| felt pretty sorry for him. for the drink
was thing that had got beyond him.
Often, when he was officer of the day,
and | was humping my guard post in the
middle of the night, I've taken that officer
! to his quarters--led him quietlike by the
arm, and him not saying word. but just
prowling around the post in the dark,
dazed, and not able to take care Of HIM
self. t'%
But he was a fine mana grand ath-
! lete, too, until the drink Slapped him-and
J he was square to us bucks of the bar
| racks, and fought our battles in the teeth
| OF the old man-and always won, too. He
wouldn't stand for anybody imposing on
us, and-Well, as near as men can get
to loving man, L guess us fellows loved
that good man and square officer.
Pretty gulpy, layout, We Were, son,
| when we Scraped out a hole in the hard
frozen ground for that one. and tossed him
| into it, and fired the volley over him, and
listened to the numbering kid of wind
TANNER sounding taps. The assertions be-
| gan the next day.
''They missed him. They said that the
! post was not only lonesome, but uncanny,
without him. When, month later, the
| w
were not much more than one troop, in
| stead of two-and the cashing in of an
| officer with the heart and the gizzard OF
! a sure enough man was the cause of it.
And, talking of the transferring of
outfits, that, too, has got to be taken into
consideration as a cause, and, in the
aggregate, a big, big cause for assertions.
Men who enlist In certain part of the
don't like to make long shift to a diff
ferent part with another climate. More
assertions result from the shifting about
of regiments than ever appear in the
figures.
Soldiers that get mixed up with women
outside the post gates are particularly
ordered away. The soldier rarely has
the funds to pay the woman's way to the
new station, and he doesn't feel like leav-
ing her, and so there's only one thing
left, and that is to duck.
ANY old country looks good enough to
some soldiers who become involved with
women. The most aggravated case Of
that kind lever saw. and I've seen lot
of such cases, happened when the layout
to which ! was. attached was about tt
leave the Philippines.
with US was a snappy hustling lli6
from Kentucky, a boy about twenty two
right soon after he took on for brigh
work in campaigning and who had all the
makings of fine soldier. Fact Is, he was
in line for commission.
But he got mashed on a pretty Fill
pino girl, the daughter of Filipino com
mandante, and when we were ordered t.
Manila to take the transport for thu
states he couldn't see the thing of leav
ing her. believe they had been married
or something like that. Anyhow, whel
we went to Manila, this Judgment lacking
fool boy stayed with his Filipino woman
But he did something even more fool
ish than that. When the old man sen
a noncom and some men back after til,
kid, he was locoed enough to Join tn,
enemy, instead of just taking to thu
the search for him was oyer.
"They got him by the time our trans
port reached the states. Dye know VIVA
Kentucky is doing now? He IS dom.
ninety-nine years on Alcatraz island TO
deserving to the senemy-thee court mar
tails sentence was death. but It wa
: 4 Ak1a