Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-22
COL, STEWART IN EXILE
Brother Writes of ''Inhuman"
Conditions at Fort Grant.
SWELTERS AT III DEGREES
Negro, Sick White Man, Snakes,
Spiders His Companions.
COFFIN SENT TO LONELY POST
Record and Character Defended
in Open Letter-"Convicts Better
Cared For'-No Physician.
Available.
COFFIN SENT TO LONELY POST

That convicted criminals are better
housed. better fed and generally better
cared for than is Col. w. F. Stewart
Coast Artillery. U.S.A.. assigned to iso-
lated service at Fort Grant, Ariz., de-
serted army post, Is asserted in letter
written by Charles Stewart, brother OF
the army officer, to the Baltimore Sun.
Mr. Stewart considers the sentence"
inhuman, unjustified If his brother were
guilty of the worst of crimes. He fur
thermore defends his brothers character
and record. and declares the allegations
against him are not in accord with the
facts in a single particular.
Describing the conditions under which
Col Stewart exists at Fort Grant. his
brother says the temperature is III de-
grees in the shade; that the buildings are
tumbling to pieces: that venomous rep
tiles and insects infest the place. and that
the "prisoner' has the corpanionship
OF only a negro and sick white man.
Idleness under this condition of prac-
teal SOLITARY confinement" says Mr..
Stewart. is heavy punishment for man
convicted of no crime and against whom
there are no charges.
He declares the situation has been
created by the influence of a fellow-of-
icer and civilians with political pulls.
Coffin Sent to Post.
Col. Stewards case was brought to the
attention of Congress toward the close of
the last session by Senator Rayner. who
unsuccessfully endeavored to get the
President to give Col. Stewart a hearing
on the trivial charge preferred against
him.
All that Col. Stewart and his friends
have asked is that the President would
convene a military tribunal to investigate
the charges and let them be proved or
disproved. But this the President has re-
fused to do and keeps Col. Stewart iso-
lated at Fort Grant in the hope, presum-
ably that he will be forced by the hard
ship of his situation to comply with the
Presidents demand for his retirement.
Col. Stewart is second in rank in the
Coast Artillery Corps. and next December
will be the ranking officer. He will not
reach the age of retirement for several
years. Col. Stewards wife is a Maryland
woman and is a cousin of the late Sem
ator Whyte.
Charles Stewards Letter.
The letter from Charles Stewart reads
as follows:
SAN FRANCISCO, July IS.
Marlin E. Pew. writer for the News
Enterprise Association. has recently
made a personal investigation of the con-
ditions under which Col W. F. Stewart.
Coast Artillery Corps. United States
Army. is now living at Fort Grant. Ariz.,
and in one article says he wonders what
crime this man could have committed to
merit such a punishment inflicted upon
him.
Mr. Pew has written several articles on
the subject. that have recently been pub
lished in California papers, and the pic
ture he draws of this officers life in a
dilapidated building, with a negro and
sick white man for his only companions.
who share his quarters with him, is a
sorry commentary on justice.
1t would seem from what Mr.. Pew
writes that convicted felons, the criminal
insane and public indigents are better
housed, fed and generally cared for than
and purposes. is kept in close confine-
ment, deprived of the enjoyment of his
Office and rank, without trial. and with
out even charges of any kind having been
presented against him. This situation has
been caused presumably at the instiga-
ton of a fellow-ofticer, now his senior In
rank who for many years was outranked
by Col. Stewart
Were Col. Stewart convicted of crime
by a court-martial and sentenced to con-
finement, the designation of Fort Grant.
under the conditions there now as the
place for the carrying out Of the sentence
would be an inhuman act and unexpected
in our present civilization. The condi-
tons, of course. would be different were
the post garrlsoned
ITO in Shade One Day.
Mr.. Pew says the place is reached by
driving twenty-six miles over the desert
in a broiling sun, with a temperature in
the shade at Grant the day he arrived
there of 1T degrees; the Buildings. long
since abandoned, are rotting and tum-
bling to pieces, the place is infested with
rattlesnakes and venomous spiders and
animals, and no surgeon is at the post or
in the vicinity to attend Col Stewart in
case he meets with injury or sickness Of
any kind.
The absence of people in the neighbor-
hood makes it impossible to obtain proper
food or the ordinary comforts and neces-
stiles of life. A life of idleness in such a
place, with no proper companionship Of
mankind, is certainly heavy punishment
to one who has been active all his life
Twin in civilized xuif