The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-10-12
APPEAL TO CONEY
Old Soldiers at the BeaYenWorth
Home Complain.
Some Of Them Are Sensational
in Their Nature.
NEARLY ALL DRINK.
One Han Says That so Per Cent.
Are Drunkards.
q. A. R.Commander Gives Little
Credenee to Stories.
NEARLY ALL DRINK.

/
ed is rampant at the National Soldiers
Home at Leavenwerth. These letters
come from inmates OF the home. SEINE of
whom no doubt have personal griev-
anees which they wish to air.
These letters are interesting" says
Captain Coney. because they show
how some OF the old soldiers up there
feel. I do not attach the greatest inn
portanee to the charges. Some Of the
statements I know to be overdrawn.
do not believe there can be very much
grating; that the tables are robbed for
somebody's benefit, and all that, be-
cause the institution is inspected every
month or so by government authorities.
General Cook and General Piersol. who
are at the head of the home, are not
the kind oe officers who wear much
gold lace; they are competent men, who
won their rank in the war
Il believe that something should be
done. however, to stop drunkenness at
the home. am in favor of the estab-
Hshment of retention barracks, where
! old soldiers who are guilty Of repeated
/ ~ jumping the dump as Z is called
may be restrained of their liberty of
the grounds. If the retention barracks
do not bring about a reform, then the
and getting drunk in those vile Leaven-
worth dens should be dishonorabIy dis
charged from the home. We realize that
| these men have done valiant service for
| their country in their time but we must
I also recognize that Some of them are
now abusing themselves and doing
great harm by their conduct. Out of the
/ 2, 700 inmates of the home, I am inform
ed that only $50 are of the class which
lis difficult Of restraint.
/ OF course the first duty is with the
| Leavenworth city and county officials
/ to suppress these dens of iniquity where
/ the old soldiers lose their money and
get into trouble. The officials seem un-
! willing or unable to do this, and I hope
/ that measures viii be taken to compel
them to obey the. law. They are just
/ as much Violaters OF the law as are the
proprietors Of these vicious dives. Why
does not Lee Bondstae county attorney,
! do something's IS it because his father
owns a building Ia Which is located one
| of the biggest saloons in town, the star
i of the FVeste' I have Known Lee Bond
for a long time and it is very unfor-
tunate that he should wreck his future
| prospects by failure to enforce the law.
7 don't say that a man should never
I take a drink. On the contrary I be-
/ lieve that the canteen at the Soldiers
home is a good thing. At that canteen
the old soldiers can buy beer at 215
cents a glass, and can get pure whisky.
They are allowed to buy only a GER
| tain number of drinks a day, and can
not buy those drinks cOnsecutively. It
IS impossible for them to get drunk at
the canteen. The whisky which they
buy in the dives is this vile connection,
one drink of which acts the same as
knockout drops.
The Leavenworth officials say that
/ they cant get q jury which viii con-
Wet, and they only pile up costs. say,
/ pile up the costs, and pile them up.
and pile them up. Pile them UP 50
high that the taxpayers will know
| they are bearing the burden of law
| violation. Those people who want the
prohibitory law repealed can't bring it
about any quicker than by piling UP
costs and enforcing the law as far as
possible. As long as things run along
as they are in LeaVenWorth. there viii
/ be no great demand for the repeal of
the law
Calls Them Drunken Buns.
One of the letters received by Capt.
/ Coney from an inmate at the home is
] in part as follows:
IF you want to do something for
/ the old soldiers, join the governor in a
war against the joints and dives and
I the heII-hole canteen in the home where
/ the inmates get drunk and then get Oh
the railroad tracks to be killed.
These homes are curse to the
4 country. Eighty per cent of the in
mates are nothing but drunken buns.
See the list of members who stay on
/ here and YOU will see that all IS not
as it should be. The 20 per cent of re-
spectacle inmates can not leave or they
| would. In our wards we have six feet
/ of space for a bed. I now have on
one side of me a drunken Dutchman,
! and on the other a drunken IFishman,
! and am as near he'll as 1 can get on
! this earth. If you make any COM
plant you are told very quickly that
! you don't have to stay. The drunken
! bum spends all his money at the can
/ teen and the officers want him. If you
| were here as a member and could hear
the curses. you would make up your
mind you were in an anarchist camp
I instead of a camp of the defenders Of
/ the country.
There are thousands of dollars
/ thrown away here for the benefit of
/ others We are the animals in the
park for the inspection Of outsiders, 50
/ that the officers and their families can
] enjoy society. The G. A r. is nothing
here. Last Decoration DAY there were
only ~ men in the line of the parade.
i The home officers wear SO much gold
/ lace that they are the laughing stock
of the camp. This home is the biggest
graft and the most rotten institution
I in the state.'N
Would Cooperate Sub-Rosa.
A letters from another inmate of the
home offers to furnish Capt. Coney
with information about the mismanage-
ment of the home, but says that this
must be sub rosa, as he would get into
trouble if his attitude were known. The
! letter says in part;
Seeing your published purpose to
/ avenge the injuries TO comrades in
your baiIiwiclx leads me to ask. Why
not come up to the home as q comrade
of ours. and make inquiry for the At
rican in the WoodpileE You may learn
/ that rules are arbitrary, despot1c ana
unfair to a degree wholly unnecessary
/ in most instances. Is this none of your
/ anair2 Certainly I would make it
mine, were I in your place. I VIII be
4 more than pleased to Cooperate with
/ you sub rosa, but you win have to
make your case from observed and
1 learned facts