The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-04

island, half of which is occupied by the Fort Leavitt reservation and half of which is given up to the grounds of a summer hotel.
 The fort did not have a wharf of its own, but had been conceded certain privi- leges of precedence at the wharf of the summer hotel. It was in the exercise of these ceded privileges that the command ant of the harbor made himself particu- larly obnoxious to the civilians around him. with the result that complaints reached the department of war and the office of the chief of artillery through outside channels, not being included in the military reports. These complaints related to the arbitrary rulings the com mandant had made obstructing the free ingress to and egress from the island simply by stretching to the limit his rights over the wharf.
 It was following these events that in 1906 the plan of offering voluntary retire. ment to Colonel Stewart was first sug- gested. He had then served 40 years in the army, and was entitled to retire at will. General Grant, who was then a brigadier general and Colonel Stewart 8 department commander, made a report in which he declared that the unhappy conditions at Fort Williams were due to the commanding officer whose short comings he described as temperamental, and who so irritated those around him that in General Grants opinion the only cure was to ''get rid of the irritant, which can be done by offering Colonel stewart an alternative of relief from command or retirement on his own application
 This report was approved, after an in vestigation made by the chief of artil- lery. but the department let things rest, ba praSi1ent mt if. to give Colonel Stewart another chance. His new chance in new environment was given him with transfer to Fort Ba- rancas. some five or six miles from Pen sacola
 If soon became evident that conditions were going to repeat themselves. The only difference was that Colonel Stew arts superiors were more prompt Tn tax Ing note of such conditions as arose. Col onel Stewards management Of the garrl- son and post under him In Florida fn- duced General Duvall. no later than the spring of 1907, to make to the depart ment a most bitter adverse report against the coast artilleryman, recommending Tn inc strongest terms the adoption Of the earlier report made by the ch1ef Of ar tillery.-
 The idiosyncrasies of the colonel seem to have increased with time. Hise con duct of affairs of the Florida post was such that President Roosevelt character ized the colonel as nuisance to the ser vice-incompetent and temperamentally unfit to exercise command over enlsteu men. or to control other officers, or 10 behave with propriety when brought into contact with civilians. The Presidents chara cterization is the summing up or a number of incidents, many Of Whlcn nap nened at Fort Barancas, but others or uJhich are said by Colonel Stewards general officers to have extended through the whole course of his military career.
 The specific charges are an unbridled temper, tyranny toward his lllerlors' gross abuse of his position as an ofnces, and a total disregard for the proprieties in his dealings with citizens. To these the President adds the>further statement that in certain Investigation of local conditions the colonel was not frank Tn his testimony.
 Tho "nagging," officious impossible hearing of Colonel Stewart toward ms ihferiors-the bearing that has won nm the title of the most useless ana most offensive officer in the army but wnlch is beyond the remedy of any court martial-is indicated in nearly every 1n- stance. At Fort Barancas there was a civilian employe, J. E. Turtle,s who Tor a number of years had occupied build ing within the military reservation. Thls building was out of repair when Coionei Stewart took command. window pane having been broken. The strictest inter pretation of the rules forbids a civilian to make any alterations or repairs on a military reservation, and Turtle applied simply as a technicality-for permission to replace the broken pane This item Stewart refused. and refused also, to or der the house repaired in the regular way.
 To his own men he seems to havc