The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-07-03
BRIDGEPORT SOLDIER, TERRIBLY HURT
 IN PHILIPPINES, PARD0NED BY TAFT
 FROM 50 YEAR SENTENCE FOR MURDER

greater rapidity than they butcher pigs in Chicago slaughter house.
 Private Rhodes remembers doubling up one native with kick and that was all. The next day he awoke in terrible agony. | He found himself lying amongst number of dead com rades. The natives had mutilated him unspeakably. How he ever lived, no one can explain, but the surgeon who. afterwards attended him said that clots of blood had formed and dried in such manned as to staunch his wounds.
 In the meantime the command had retreated precipitately for reinforce mentS. The nearest help was Is miles away. When they returned with it, there wasn't Philipino within 50 miles of the spot where the engage ment took place. Private Rhodes was in the hospital six months, how ertng between life and death, but fin ally pulled through
 From the nature of Rhodes wounds, he should have been honorably retir- ed from the army at the end of his hospital term, but as the army then lacked men he was put back on duty. Had he been discharged he would have been entitled to a pension of SIP a month. sr
 On the 2nd of May 1901, he was do- ing sentry duty at Catdelogan. Gen. eTdl OHlItH, WHO SuDOue0 the lSldnQ, had been succeeded by General Fred erick Dent Grant, whose efforts to fill the shoes of his father inspired the military world with more Or less amusement. His predecessor General Smith was a fighter; he was cruel and he caused the soldiers to carry out his threat and make Samar "a bowling wilderness All other generals had utterly failed.
 The war department let General Smith finish his work in his. own style, and when the island was entirely con- quered and half the population killed, they recalled General Smith on hu- Grant in his place. General Grant new CT smelt powder except on the Fourth of July.
 One night when Private Rh@es was on guard, a number of officers who had been attending a Spanish "fian- dango" dance, returned somewhat the worse for beverages, and were making quite a noise under General Grants window.
 Grant opened the window and ord- cred Sentry Rhodes to \"arrest those men,
 They are officers, sir," replied
 General Grant began to dress hastily hastened away. When the General came out he was furious. He accused Rhodes of warning the officers, and brought Rhodes before court martial. He tried to get the names of the men from Rhodes but the latter wouldn't tell, claiming that he didn't know.
 See if three days on bread and water will refresh his memory" said General Grant, and the order was car ried out but Rhodes was firm and wouldn't tell.
 Some time after that incident, Gen. eral Grant encountered Rhodes.
 Rhodes declares that General Grant looked sneeringly at him and re- marked:
 You're the fellow that doesn't know anything? We'll, I'll fix you"
 Rhodes says that if he had had witnesses to support this statement, it might have made a great differ ence in the trouble that followed.
 Some weeks later Rhodes was do- ing day sentry duty at the post, when he saw two Philippines engage in an altercation over a load of hemp which was being brought in upon a caribou cart.
 One of the natives hit the other with bundle of hemp and felled him. The injured one jumped up and ran to Rhodes, seizing his gun.
 Amigo" friend) he exclaimed, try ing to wrest the gun from the private and shoot his enemy.
 Rhodes repulsed him and the Philip pinos had another fight. Again the man who got the worst of it rushed to Rhodes. This time he attacked Rhodes and tried to take the gun away from him, for the purpose of shooting the other. Rhodes gave the native the musket-butt end to-on the head, and fractured the Philip pino's skull. He died the next day.
 General Grant ordered court mar tial According to all military law, a sentry is justified in shooting man who tries to take his gun away from him. He is sworn to keep that weap pon, and would be court martialed for cowardice if he let anyone take it away from him.
 These facts were laid before the court martial, which found Rhodes not guilty by a vote of g to g. Gen. eral Grant thereupon reversed the yer fenced him to 50 years imprison- ment.
 Rhodes says that General Grant ex- plained, in defending this rem markable action, that he had found that Amer ican soldiers who had been mutilated by the Philippines were very vindic- tive and were trying to revenge them selves. He therefore found Rhodes guilty of murder with mallce afore- thought Rhodes states that two sisters of the man whom he killed were employed as maids in General Grants house.
 Rhodes was imprisoned in 1901. Imm ediately he began making efforts to bring his case to a higher tribu- nal He succeeded in getting copies of his court martial papers from Washington. He appealed to a num- Der of prominent men, including eX- President Grover Cleveland, and Pres ident Roosevelt He afterwards found that his appeals were generally side tracked before they got into hands where they would do any good.
 His last appeal was made to Sen ator Penrose of Pennsylvania. The papers at last were brought to Presi- dent Taft's attention. He imme- diately granted an unconditional par don.
 In the meantime, Rhodes had been shifted to the military prison at Ala traZ Island, off San Francisco He was turned loose, after 10 years for a crime of which he had been found not guilty with the munificent sum of s5 in his pocket and a $7.50 suit of clothes on his back. No pension IS allowed to him, although the wounds he sustained fighting for Uncle Sam have pacitated him.
 On his release, Rhodes at once started working his way to this city, intent on finding his son George, who is now 5 years of age. His former wife, who divorced him, is now Mrs Charles Hopkins of this city. He ar