The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-04
WEEKS DO|NGS IN
 NEW YORK CITY Another Chapter In Stewards
 Case THE MILITARY EXILE The IlI-fated Colonel Has Been Or dered Before the Retiring Board of the Army-Has unfor-
 tunate Personality.
BY sEWELL HAGoARD.

dered before the retiring board another chapter is about to be written in this eel ebrated case. Not long ago he was or dered to undergo the riding test of 90 miles, and when the doctors declared that he was unfit to attempt such a thing it gave the colonels enemies the chance they were looking for; he was ordered before the retiring board forthwith. There seems to be little doubt that he will be retired. Although Colonel Stewart has been in hot water with his superiors ever since he was graduated from the School of Artillery in 1871, his military career has not been without honor. The archives of the war department hold in his favor a recommendation for a medal of honor, i and it is on record that he was once pro- noted for courage on the field of battle one of the nameless battles of the Indian frontier.
 To these records of commendable sol dierly activity the friends of Colonel Stewart add the dubious fact that though his brother officers have been seeking for sufficient cause for the colonels re- moval from the service for the services good for many years past, the President, in the capacity of commander-n-chief, has recently been compelled to admit that courtmartial would find nothing overt against the colonel's record, and that for his proper discipline it was nec- essary to resort to the unusual procedure of "marooning" the colonel with his ac- tive rank, full pay and regular attend ance at an abandoned post in the desert of Arizona, 25 miles from a railroad and like distance from the possibility of medical aid.
 A short time previous to the issuance of the order assigning Colonel Stewart to Fort Grant he, as the senior colonel in the coast artillery, had applied for an appointment as brigadier general. His request was refused and he received from Adjutant General Alvord the fol- lowing clear statement:
 Pursuant to instructions from the Pres ident, the department is prepared to is- sue an order assigning you to station, probably Fort Grant, Arizona, without command. The President has directed, however, that before this order is issued an opportunity be given you to apply for immediate retirement under Section 1243, Revised Statutes, and by direction of the acting Secretary of War that opportunity 1 is hereby given you"
 To this note Colonel Stewart replied re- fusing the alternative and demanding a courtmartial or investigation as to any charges that might be before the de- partment affecting his record as "sol- dier, an officer, or a gentleman" The reply of the department was the order isseud by Adjutant General Mccain re- lieving Colonel Stewart of his post at Fort Barancas, near Pensacola, and or dering him to proceed without delay to Fort Grant. The artillery colonel pro ceeded without delay" and remained in [ the open until, In response to the request of his friends. he was allowed to apply for change of station and to return to Florida, taking, post at the abandoned Fort St. Francis barracks, within the l city. limits of St. Augustine, Fla But the colonel was not allowed long to live "in peace;" the enemies he had made at Fort Barancas pursued him tn his new command. Society In Pensacola is inseparably bound up with the society of St. Augustine, and the order bringing Colonel Stewart back into the state of Florida was met with instant opposition. Senator Taliaferro of that state acting for his constituents, wrote his impressions of the situation to the war department, and the homecoming Colonel Stewart was greeted, two days after his arrival in civilization, with a second order di- recting him to return to Fort Grant-this time, too, without delay.
 It seems that Colonel Stewards whole trouble is due to his unfortunate person. ality, which, according to his friends, was inherited from his father, Col. Joseph Stewart. Under circumstances not unlike those of the sons visit to Arizona. the father, back in the seventies, was as- signed to an ungarrisoned command on Angel island in the harbor of San Fran cisco It was just about the time of Col. Joseph Stewards detached duty on the island that his son, the present colonel, got his commission as second lieutenant. From December, 1872, until June of the year following, the young lieutenant was stationed in San Francisco bay, and the story is that he went to Angel island as adjutant under his father, and that the two related officers did not agree as to the three orderlies under them and agreed still less as to their respective property rights in the house that until that time had been occupied undisturbed by Col. Joseph Stewart.
 Exactly when the failure of Colonel Stewart to align himself with the officers around him first became the subject of comment is not known, but President Roosevelt is authority for the statement that the Irritation caused to those around him by Colonel Stewart has been known unoficially to the office of the chief of artillery for some time." Unof-
 
 against Colonel Stewart is said to have been practically coincident with his civil ian appointment in 1866. The reports to the department began to come fn with his promotion to the colonelcy in 1902 when his rank entitled him to independ- ent, not isolated, commands.
 He was first stationed, in 1867, in New York harbor, subsequently, was transfer red to Washington, few miles below the capital, and by 1871 had been graduated from the Artillery school. Shortly after that he went to his fathers post near San Francisco, then to service in Alaska, then to more congenial work on the Pa cif1c coast, then to the very desirable post at Fort Warren, in Boston harbor. Three times he was stationed at the central garrison at Fort Monroe, and immedi- ately before his last promotion he was at Fort Hancock.
 As colonel he has held two,commands- both marked with trouble for himself, his subordinates, the war department, and the civilians who lived round about him. He was first stationed in Fort Williams about six years ago as commandant or the several posts and Notifications lying off the harbor of Portland, Me. There his conduct, aside from showing his tenn peramental unfitness, was described by President Roosevelt in letter last win ter to Senator Rayner as "culpably re- miss"
 The President also refers in this letter to troubles the coast artillery had with a civilian, MT. Cushing a resident of the neighborhood, whom the war department felt called upon to order Colonel Stewart from meddling with The troubles with