Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-09-20
FIFTY YEARS AGO
IN THE STAR

The following paragraph in The Star
Of September IS, 1864. indicates that
that the United
Naval Galley States government
r. was interested dur
Improvement. ing the civil war in
| the development of other devices than
those intended for the more speedy
taking of human life:
For a long time past it has been a
desideratum to have a ships galley
for cooking the food Of the men, where
hard or anthracite coal may be used
instead OF wood, and numerous at
tempts have been made in various
parts of the country to supply this
want, with but little success, it being
difficult to obtain draft at sea suf-s
ficient for a hard coal fire. Several
months ago the attention of the
mechanics at the various navy yards
was called to the matter. and two gal
| leys have been made, the first by Mr..
William Young of our navy yard. and
the other by Mr.. Prescott, a master
workman in the Portsmouth, N H,
yard, and the two are to have a trial
at sea for six months, Mr.. Prescott's
having already been placed on the
.
shortly to be placed on the Mattabas-
sett, and 1t is understood that the gal
ley proving the best adapted for the
purpose would be adopted by the de-
partment and substituted for the gall
| legs now in use. Mr.. Youngs galley
attracts much attention. 1t has an i'm
| portant advantage in having a larger
| amount of baking surface than any
other, and occupies but small space"
The second draft to I'LL the Dis
trict's quota Of troops under the Presi-
dents call was seized.
| Preparing uled to take place Sep
Nd TENDER 20. 1854, and in
LUZ OlaAs. anticipation the citizens
of Washington were for some time
previous engaged in organizing local
| associations for the raising of money
wherewith to hire substitutes. In The
Star of September 16, 1864, is the fol-
| lowing paragraph relative to the
draft:
| Capt. Putnam, the draft provost mar
shall of the District of Columbia has
| received his orders to proceed with the
draft Monday next, and his instruc-
lions by which he Is to be governed.
| It has not, however. been definitely de-
cided whether the wards will be drawn
| in the regular order or commenced
with the one in which the largest de-
| 1ciency exists. number of names to
| be drawn from the wheel is little
over 1900, and the drawing will take
place in the large frame building ad-
| Joining the provost marshafs office. cor
| ner of 18th and ! streets. The largest
| deficiency existing in the wards is in
the first and fourth The second. third
and seventh wards have materially re-
| duced their quotas by substitutes and
volunteers"
| On the 18th of September, 1864, a
soldier was executed in Alexandria for
| desertion and the
Bounty Jumper systematic jumping
| of bounties. The fol-
| Executed. lowing description OF
the execution is printed in The Star
| of that date:
Private Samuel H. Downing, alias
John w. Ball, Company H, 4th Mary
land Infantry, was executed today for
desertion and bounty jumping. 1t ap-
pears from Downing's own confession,
made before Col. Wells. provost mar
shall general. that he enlisted in the 4th
Maryland in August. 1861. and since
then has deserted and re-enlisted. or
| joined the army as substitute, seven
| teen times The amount of bounty and
substitute money he has received foots
up a grand total of $3.50. Downing
was arrested at the provost marshais
| Office at Baltimore, where he had gone
| to re-enlist for the eighteenth time.
common northwest Of the city near
4 Sickle barracks. The prisoner was
marched into the square at fifteen min
| utes past II, accompanied by the bril-
| q "a solemn d1Tge.
| provost marshal, Capt. Gwynne. minis
tiers and guards At the conclusion of
the reading of the sentence by the pro-
| vost marshal the prisoner spoke as fol-
lows. in a loud, clear voice:
| "FWell, soldiers, I suppose I've got to
| be executed, and / reckon it's all right
All I've got to say is; do your duty to
color sergeant of the - Pennsylvania
and an honorable man. but 1 have dis
| graced myself, and now have to die for
it. You had better work for 81 day
all your lives than act as I have.
am worth $4,000, and it won't do me
| any good. Bounties won't do you any
more good in the long run than they
fully and take a little whisky now
| and then-it won't hurt you. 1 haven't
| got time to say anything more. Good
bye.
the prisoner before this speech was
| made it was all gone by the time of its
close. After an exhortation and prayer
| by the ministers in attendance he was
seated on the end of his coffin. with his
face to the east, and blindfolded. Not a
| muscle was seen to move, but to the
| last he braved death as one who had
! fully made up his mind to die. Ex-
| actly at - o'clock m. Capt. Gwynne
| gave the order to fire and the prisoner
| was launched into that eternity for
| which he seemed to have SO little
| dread"
| Notwithstanding efforts by the citi-
zens of the District to secure post
ponement for two weeks of
| The Draft the draft here to fill the
p local quota in order to sup
oeS I'LL. ply the requisite number of
| men without the drawing of names,
| that process started on the 10Th of Sep
| TENDER, 1864. The Star of that day
| says:
'The drawing was conducted, as was
| the first draft, in the city hall, except
| that while the drawing commenced
| with the first ward at that time. the
| twelfth district of the county, having
the largest deficiency, was first drawn
| today. The twelfth district embraces
i LA - --.l.