Year: 1870

ed in she figure invite the form of
the cadet who had been called for that


day by the superintendent i'm reference
/ to the anonymous letter. He was
stark mad.


! MARRIED AND THEN. SHOT DEAD.


Great was the sympathy for the Door
cadet on the post among his comrades
/ when the news was bruited about that
ne had become insane. OF course ex-
| cessive study had done the horrid work.
and the "system" of the Academy
came in for some very hard knocks at
/ the hands of the sYmpathizers. Months
/ passed by, and the cadet was himself
| again. His temporary insanity had
| LETT no trace of its raVages, and when
the class of '68 graduated, he stood
among the first ten. He obtained a
commission after his furIough had ex-
pired, of second lieutenant in the artiI-
Iery branch of the service, and was soon
afterwards married to the Fifth Ave
nue. young lady of whom mention has
already been. made. A month or so
after his marriage he was ordered to do
dilty aG southern post, and on pro-
ceeding there he took his young and
beautiful bride along with him. Eve
rything went smoothly NsiA'gEA linn for
some time. YOung-Officen he be-
came very severe discip Il, and
Tor the slightest offences On 1Ile' part of
the soldiers he always meted out the
severest punishment. One Ciay he had
one OF the privates of the post put in
the guard-house for long period for
sOme trivial neglect of duty; andWhen
the man got out he, it is said, sWore he
would get even with the officer. 1t
was the latter's turn, a few days after
he had released the soldier, to drill the
troops IN the manual. He stood in
fH9nt of a soldier whose rifle was loaded
with ball. When the command of
9 Fire was given, the officer fell, shot
through the head, and died an hour af-
forwards. The soldier who shot him
was he who had been placed in the
guard-hOuse few days before. Cir
cumstances pointed strongly against
the man. He, however, was terribIV,
afflicted over the Occurrance and pro-
tested his innocence. He had, on go
ing to the drill, been relieved from
guard duty, and his musket was load
ed: The fact he had overlooked in the


lrlng. The cOrOner's jury acquitted
him of all evil intent, and solid q
cOurt-martial. 1t was fataIfEsthat
placed the officer in front of the loaded
rifle, fatality guided by Him who
ever Furnishes the wrOngdOer. The
young wife of the officer was of course
almost crazed with grief at her terrible
misfortune, and her case excited the
sympathy of all the offers of the fort.
The day after her husbands terrible
death she telegraphed to a clergyman
in New York, of whom she had often
heard her husband speak, inforpoipg
nm OF the terrible tragedy, and as4l1Ilg
him to


BREAK THE NEWS


to the officers mother, who she be-
lieved to be travelling somewhere in FIu-
rope for the benefit of her health. The
officer had told her, when a cadet, that
his father was dead, and that his moth
er was an invalid seeking health
abroad. When the clergyman got the
dispatch, he went straigRtwav to a GER
tain house, IN rather a low neighbor-
hood in New York city, and there found
the officers family-that is, his father
and other persons who ought to have
been dear to him. The cadets story of
his father's death and his mother being
IN Europe was a falsehood. He had
told the story to keep the real condition
of his family in the dark. He did not
have the mani liRess to own to the Fifth
Avenue girl, When he was a cadet, that
his family was is low circumstances
living. In a miserable. locality in the
city but for all that, . honest and as
upright as the richest in the land.


A WRANGLE OVER A CORPSE.


Now to return to the Southern post.


Word was telegraphed to the West
Point authorities, after the officers
death, and preparations were there
made for the funeral. The cadet CORPS
were to turn out upon the arrival of the
1n
to be of very imposing character, for
the deceased was well known to ali the
cadets, having only been a few months
out or the ranks of the corps at the time
or his death. A guard of honor, con-
sisting of four officers, classmates of
the dead man, accompanied the body
ana the sorrOWing widow from the
scene Of the tragedy on their way to
West Point. The train bearing the
corpse arrived at night time at Jersey
City, and, as it was taken out of the
baggage car to be placed in a. hearse,
which the officers had the foresight to
engage to take it to the Hudson River
Railroad depot, when several persons
whom they did not know came tlp and
proceeded, in an Unceremonious way,
to take the body. The officers inter
tered, and the young widow who stood
by placed herself between them &ld
the coffin. The officers sWere that they
would 1.-THE first man who came near
the CORPSE; but the strange party was
nothing daunted, and one of them ad-
| Vanced and declared himself to be the
/ brother Of the dead man. And this
woman,p he added, pointing to fe-
male at his side clad in black, who was
/ weeping, this woman was Lieuten-
ant Us wife. She was married to
him years ago, and that person who
claims to be his wife has no claim on
/ the body" These remarks sdumbfOund-
ed the officers, and the Fifth Avenue
| girl was terrified. She asked for eX-
plantations, and the brother of the off
Ger, Modified at the sight of her sorrow,
told her what her heart refused to be-
heve. The officer had been married


before he became cadet, and a child


was born to him before he got his APP
pOintment. How he Kept the whole


matter secret, and had entered the mill
itary academy bearing his own name,


was a mystery; and whether he was
married, before he became a cadet, un-


der an assumed name, is thing which
but only few can answer. At any
! rate the curtain fell in the last scene of


this West Point tragedy in an humble
| house, in the lower part of the city, a
few days after the wrangle over the


corpse at Jersey City. The scene was


a heaTt~rending one. a small apart
ment was darkened by thick curtains
hung over the windows, and in the


center of the room there was a coffin,
containing the remains of the dead of
ficer. On the lid was silver plate


bearing his full name and rank in the