The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-11-13
SHANGHAIED INTO
ARMY FOR A YEAR
College Graduate Went to Sleep
in Frisco and Awoke in
Honolulu.

!
ID honolulu, prisoner in guardhouse,
wearing the khaki uniform of a private
in the United States army. To say that
| he was much astonlshed would be to =
put it in its mildest form. He had not
the least recollection of having enlisted
in his country s service. His dazed eyes
looked out on strange land. He had
! lost all trace of time. Even his name
had been changed.
The man who had this weird expert
ence is Frank j. BelYea, in the army
records. He lives in Green Point. L. L,
| that Belyea is not his right name. He
is a graduate of a well-known eastern
university and went west soon after
taking his degree in engineering.
For time he WAS employed as a
civil engineer. Then he tried his hand
! as cowboy. He was a miner and pros
pector, with Indifferent success.
His Christmas Joy.
December, 1901, found him in San
Francisco. Christmas was only two
days off and the bright lights of the
!! city blinked wicked temptation to
begin the day thus early. The tempta-
ton was. accumulated by the feel of
comfortable roll Of bills in his pocket.
His last venture. had been a little pros
pectlng speculation in the mountains of
California. The roll contained close to
$5O0-and Christmas just two days
away.
He met friends by the score. Every
body seemed to be his friend. He dim
ly remembers falling in at last with a
squad of merry-making soldiers, pri-
Yates from the Preside. They took him
to their arms and told him he was their
long-lost friend.
Awoke in Strange Land.
And now Belyea himself gave up this
narrative:
"When I awoke I had not the slight
est notion Of my whereabouts. Every
thing was blank to me. / felt stiff
and sore. l spied soldier in khaki
uniform and thought he must be one of
the companions I had been drinking
with. He had a. gun on his shoulder and
was marching up and down in front of
my -bunklng place.
Hello, matey,' I called out.
whats up and where am I at9'
You re in the guardhouse for as
: saulting everybody on board, and a
drumhead courtmartial will be ready for
you as soon as you get over the D. T. IS.
: is what the soldier boy came back with.
i, He was in Honolulu.
, " 'Guardhouse. is it7' says I. But
f what [ really want to know is what
r part of the map of the world it hap
pens to be on. The soldier told me
f that we were in Honolulu, in Camp Nc
kinley, with a regiment of United States
j soldiers on their way to the Philip
pines.
y ~ asked to see Major Davis, in COM
: mand Of the post. He sent an orderly
e to hear what the row was about. I
n told him I had never enlisted in the
= army and didn't intend to serve, and
h that my family would make it hot for
d Major Davis and the war department
h if I was not let out of the guardhouse
and sent back to San Francisco. One
y of the soldiers said [ must have en-
e the transport Thomas and brought
: along with the regiment. He pointed to
n, my uniform as evidence that I must
d. have enlisted. -- 90 49,.
e Sent to Philippine.
g "All my protests went for naught. ]
g was bundled on board the transport
e Thomas with the regiment and sent to
IS the Philippines. That, was On Feb. II
s long sleep on Jan. II. l had tried to
o establish the fact that had never en-
d listed. But it was no use. 1 was
dropped in the brig and had my berth
with a crew Of cut-throats from the
regiment about all the way over tc
Manila.
s "What puzzled me most was that
. my identity had been lost completely
:, I knew we'll enough who l was, but &C
: cording to the ships list l was Frank
= j.. Belyea and my home was at Devils
IL Lake, n. D.
e eve landed at Manila on March 3
e and [ was sent, with a detachment OF
q troops to the camp at Santa Mesa
y Again / made row about serving IN
y, ~ the army, when I had never enlisted
e and was sent back, to Manila and
y clapped into guardhouse. After fou5
J.. DAYS of it I was sent to serve with ]
:. company Of the, Second infantry al
% Laguimanoc, about 200 miles south OF
,, Manila. There was drilled for several
weeks. -
. Not on the Payroll.
/" "But when the: first payday came
81 around I found that I was not on the
e regular army. list. There was not
J. cent of pay for Private Belyea
IS That was in April On June Is, | got
IS a five-day leave of absence from Lieu.
d tenant Archie Harries, in command OF
a the post. I had to slip thru a quaran,
a. tine guard and after several days
T. wait, slowed away on a Chinese junk
:. that was bound for Manila. On arriv.
: ing there five days later I reported to
# Colonel Greenough, in command al
N Manila.
- "Colonel Greenough decided that ]
J. was deserter and chucked me into a
J. guardhouse. [ was hauled before a
10 courtmartial. / was convicted of alb
"a senting myself from my regiment with
~ out leave and fined So. The court or
=, dered that L should return to my COM
pany and that the fine should be de-
Quoted from my pay.
- "Part of the time in the next few
90 weeks / was in the hospital, and when
nc I got strong enough 1 broke thru the
10 quarantine guard and got to Colonel
10 Roberts, who had succeeded Colonel
81 Greenough as commander at Manila. /
- was fined Sc and sent back to the hos
- pital prison.
Can't Even Get Pay.
~. 81 still owe Uncle Sam the two fines,
81 y, amounting to $11. He owes me for
=, about a year s enforced service IN his
III army, and refuses to pay.
''On Sept. &c, 1902, an order came
from General Chaffee to send me back
VI to the United States. | was placed on
i. the Sheridan, which sailed from Manila
~ on Oct. /, and dropped into the brig like
4 any deserter. As soon as we landed
~ in San Francisco [ was hustled off with
IN the other prisoners to the Preside and
Ninth cavalry camp. / lived in tent
and for two months worked about the
ST reservation with the other prisoners.
s, UExactly year to the day-Dec. %
/ An order came from Washington to
D discharge me. as there was no record te
he show that [ had ever enlisted. l went
IN tn General Hughes who was in com