Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1915-05-03

still some who did not serve even 90
days in the army and others who fail
ed TO get an honorable discharge from
the service However. congress could
always be trusted TO see that these
unfortunate were not left out in the
cold
One of the functions of the congress
sional committee on military affairs
seems to be to correct the records
of men who have been court martial
ed. convicted of crime, and sentenced
TO Imprisonment.
Take. for instance. the case OF Mat
Logan. who enlisted in 1868 in Battery
II. First regiment. Rhode Island artil-
lery Matt seems 10 have been fair
" lively person in his youth. He was
presently charged with violently at
lacking his superior officer and with
the even more serious offense of at
tempting TO incite mutiny" in the
ranks.
He was tried by a general court
martial. found guilty and sentenced
20 be drummed out of the service OF
the United States, with the loss of
all bounty, pay. and allowance then
que. anu StuNtnNtN " wv |NeAA -
at hard labor"
But what are court martials be-
tween a friendly congress and
needy hero of this kind? In July,
1914. congress gave him an honorable
discharge from the army and put MIN
on the pension roll at $50 month
Nor is the fact that a man did not
enlist until the last days of the war
any bar 20 a pension. Charles B. Gun
diff enlisted in the One Hundred and
Ninety-eighth Ohio regiment on APP
ril s. 1S55-exactly three days before
General Lee surrendered TO Grant and
the war was over.
He was mustered out of the service
on May S-one month and two days
later There is nothing to show that
he ever saw a confederate soldier.
much less took part in any battle.
But congressional committee
thought he was entitled to pension
because he lis almost blind in one
eye and has skin disease"
Little things like deserving two or
three times and enlisting under va
riety OF names are also generously
overlooked by congress.
There is the case of William NJ. Car
roll, alias George Hancock, alias
George ". Thompson, for instance
In August. 1861, one George ".
Thompson enlisted in an Ohio regt-
ment. The records show him to have
been absent once or twice without
leave before he finally deserted for
good in the winter of 1865. He turn
ed up again as George Hancock in an
Ohio cavalry regiment. Evidently he
liked the horses. for after deserving
second time he joined the Seventeenth
Kentucky cavalry, the date of his
third enlistment being February, 1865 /
To the casual observerer there +
might be suggestion in this record
that the man was a bounty jumper. \
great many thousands of men who en- (
listed in the last years of the war
we're paid from $500 TO $1,000 cash I,
bounty for putting their names down T
on the rolls Some of them found It /.
profitable TO desert as soon as oppor- /
tunity offered and enlist again, under /
a new name. for the sake Of q sec
ond bounty. There is official record +
of one man who Jumped the bounty /
no less than 80 times.
But in the case of William N Car /
roll. etc. etc, the committee OF con- I
gross reported that he was mot a /
bounty jumper, as we are informed /
though there is no apparent eNplana- +
ton for his fondness for changing his !
name and regiment so frequently.
As there are old age pensions for I
soldiers. so also provision is made F.
for the widows of soldiers. The law .
is again simple Any widow is elig- .
ible. provided her late husband served .
at least 30 days in the army, was hon
orably discharged, and married her +
prior 20 June. 1S9O-which is % years /
after the close of the war.
The limitation on the date OF the
wedding was. perhaps. thought neces-
sary TO prevent me-cenary women .
from marrying old soldiers at sight.
People who think that a joke are in
vited 10 read the records of the pen
sion Office.
There are at present about $4,000
civil war widows on the pension rolls.
II congress carries out its present
plans it is likely that at least 100000
more will he added during the next
two years-as will he shown in fur
Their articles.