The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-11
SOLDIERS IN A ROW
IN UNCLE SAM's UNIFORM MEN
 HAVE FIGHT ON TRAIN.
Two PrIvateS of Marine Corps Accused By Corporal Couvrette With Att temptiDg to Desert En Route To AIgfers.

Charged by Corporal H. H. Couv- rette. of the United States Marine Corps, with attempt at desertion.
 striking q non n-commissioned officer, and resisting arrest. Privates w. H.
 Thomas and Ward Hopkins, white men of the same branch of the service, were last night taken from Montgomery to
 Algiers, La, where they will undergo
 courtmartfal trial.
 The men were placed in irons for fear. on the part of Corporal Couv-
 rette, that they might attempt escape or do him bodily harm
 Thomas and Hopkins, a couple of husky looking soldiers, were in the city prison from :25 o'clock yester- day afternoon until they were taken from Montgomery last night.
 The men were placed in the GUS tody of local authorities few minutes after 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon when the belated Western Railway train arrived from Atlanta. Corporal Couvrette had telegraphed for police assistance and Patrolmen John Mc- Dade and Jordan were dtailed to meet the train and arrest the men. Without any trouble they succeeded in taking the soldiers into custody.
 Corporal Couvrette, with ten privates of the Marine Corps, were ordered from Norfolk, Va, to Algiers, La, for garrison duty. They left Norfolk about Q o'clock Tuesday morning with the corporal in command. Their route was through Atlanta, Montgomery and New Orleans. thence to their destina- l tion.
 The corporal said last night that the men made an attempt to desert when the Western train reached Opelika. He said the two men asked frequently for their ration money He refused to give | it to them, and on arriving at Opelika, they got off the train but that he I e~af away While speeding on few mtl@s further, the corporal says he wa& $et upon and assaulted by both men. His
 face was badly bruised.
 | The statement made by Thomas and
 Hopkins in their cell at, police head quarters diverges considerably from | that of the corporal.
 | The corporal was feeding us on | sandwiches and going south with the rest of the money said Thomas. | T swear, by all that is holy, that we hadn't had a bite to eat today"
 said Hopkins, until we were placed | in this cell this afternoon and when we got that bacon and peas, we felt
 like John D. Rockefeller.
 l 'sWhen we started out from Norfolk, l continued Thomas, Corporal Couvrette
 had money to afford each of us four | 5e-cent meals on the trip. He gave us only one square meal and that was
 yesterday at dinner. Otherwise he has been trying to feed us on sandwiches at five and ten cents piece. Reach l ing Opelika, we suggested that all or | us go out and get square meal We
 knew it was coming to us' We asked | the corporal for our ration money so | that we could buy ours, but no, we l would have to be satisfied with sand | wiches which we promptly refused. | That's when the trouble started. We | got on the train again at Opelika and when it started we went to the II smoker, soon the corporal came back Il and started to fuss. Pretty soon he II struc< me. and that was when the fight began lit in on hiR and
 nnnched his face That's all have | done, I can prove all l have said"
 And, yes interjected Hopkins
 "They've got me in here when l didn't
 do A thing in the world. l was only
 trying to separate the men. haven
 done anything at all ,,a.,. The men said they are natives oi Ohio and gave their ages ar twenty
 eight and twenty-SeVen SSdIs. @ COT poral Couvrette sdld they nave peet in the service one month
 rho cornoraI said that he had done bis hast to give them all the govern. ment afforded but that 1t was abso lutely impossible to get anything tt
 eat on the train from Atlunta ma to Ioht a gomery as there was no amer on tho 1rsin IIe branded the statements o tbe nrisoners as utterly false.
 '"s sop, after arriving in Montgomer! vesterdav Corporal Couvrette tele
 rs graphed his superior officers at Nor aqln about ios s o'clock last night, command
 ing the corporal to put irons irons on tn men and take them to 'he'F oestlha K [ tion. ,ors tha - o-o aenyreiv bandcuffed. They left tn
 V,tr Were ai seS! e.4S o'clock last night over tn
 9Iey yy,sv,,Ie St % and Nashville Railroad fo N New Orleans