The Washington herald., 1914-11-29
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of the regiment and kept
in the safe about 5000 No one hut
himself and Rueff, his first sergeant,
had access to it. And a. RueH proved
an alibi, the money might have been re-
moved by an outsider. The court
martial gave Swanson the benefit of the
doubt, and a reprimand for not taking
greater care of the keys, and Swanson
made good the 5000.
Swanson did not think It was burg
lar who had robbed the safe. He
thought Rueff had robbed it, but he
could not possibly prove that. At the
time of the robbery Ruef was outside
the Preside, in uniform, at a moving
picture show in San Francisco. A doz-
ell people saw him there. Besides,
Rueff held an excellent record. He
was silent, clerk-like young man, bet
Ter at paper work" than campaigning,
but even as a soldier he had never come
upon the books. And he had seen serv-
ice IN two campaigns, and was supposed
TO cherish ambitions toward commits
sion. But, as he kept much to himself,
his fellow non-coms could only guess
that
On his captains account he was 10y
ally distressed over the court-martial,
and in his testimony tried to shield
Swanson, by agreeing heartily that
through his own carelessneSs the keys
might have fallen into the hands of
some one outside the post But his 10y
atty could not save his superior officer
from what was a verdict virtually of
mot proven"
1t was most distressing affair, and,
account of the social prominence of
Swanson's people, his own popularity,
and the name he had made at Batangas
and in the Boxer business, was much
commented upon, not only in the SER
vices, but by the newspapers all over
the United States.
Every one who knew Swanson knew
the court-martial was only a matter of
form. Even his enemies ventured only
10 suggest that overnight he might have
borrowed the money, meaning to re-
place it the next morning. And the
only reason for considering this ex-
PLANTATION was that Swanson was known
10 be in debt For he was a persistent
gambler. Just as at Pelin he had gam
bicd with death for his number, in
times of peace he gambled for money.
il was always his own money.
From the start Swanson's own atti-
tude toward the affair was one of blind,
unreasoning rage In it he saw no ne
ccSsary routine of discipline, only
Grass, ignorant stupidity. That any
one should suspect him was so prepos-
ferrous, so unintelligent, as to be nearly
comic And when, instantly, he de-
manded a court of inquiry, he could
not believe it when he was summoned
before a court-martial. 1t sickened,
wounded, deeply affronted him; turned
him quite savage
On the stand his attitude and an
sNers were so insolent that his old
friend and classmate, Capt. Copley, who
was acting as his counsel, would gladly |
have kicked him The findings of the |
Court-martial, that neither cleared nor |
condemned, and the reprimand, were
an intolerable insult to his feelings, and,
in fit Of bitter disgust with the service
and every one in it, Swanson resigned
Of course, the moment he had done so
he was sorry. Swanson's thought was
that he could no longer associate with
any one who could believe him capable
theft. 1t was his idea of showing
his own opinion of himself and the
army.
But no one saw it in that light On
the contrary, people said: Swanson
has been allowed to resign" In the
army, voluntary resigning and being
allowed to resign" lest greater evils
beiall, are two different things. And
when it was too late no one more than
Swanson saw that more clearly. His
anger gave way to extreme morbidness.
He believed that in rcsigning he had as
Surcd every one of lis guilt. In every
friend and stranger he saw a man who
doubted him. He imagined snubs, re-
buffs, and coldnesses. His morbidness
fastened upon his mind like a parasite
upon a tree, and the brain sickened.
When men and women glanced at his
alert well-set-up figure and shoulders,
that even when he wore "cits" seemed
10 support epaulets, and smiled approx
ingly. Swanson thought they sneered.
In a week he longed to be back in the
army with a homesickneSs that made
every one who belonged to it his enemy.
He left San Francisco, where he was
known to all, and Travelled south
through Texas. and then to New Or
leans and Florida. He never could re-
cali this period with clearness. He re-
membered changing from one train to
another, from one hotel to the next.
Nothing impressed itself upon him.
For what he had lost nothing could