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EDWARD B.CLARIC
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ate
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fyri A WASHINGTON. At both nr
fjiS ,ny "ml n:ivy l",a(1'1"ar'
VkXZir llf b I hat 111'. Ill K IS a
thing of the past, lioth at
llio military and naval
academics, despite a recent, outbreak
iU West Point. Perhaps the officers
are right, perhaps they arc wrong.
Umo and the human nature, or the
devil. If you will, that. Is in hoys may
Minm day get working: nmiln and
show Itself In an outbreak of the old
hazing custom.
Somo time ago there was a hazing
ime at Annapolis and many cadets
were Implicated. They were all
placed In arrest and the number of
bi arrested ones wan no great that
officials thought that a record had
lieeu broken, but such was not the
cam.
The officers bad forgotten, If they
ercr knew it, that once upon a time
the entire corps of cadets at the
Vnitod States Military academy was
placed in arrest and that it wan nee
esfcary to break all army rules by
drawing on the ranks of the culprits
tt secure men for guard duty, a duty
ordinarily considered too honorable
to be discharged properly by any
mau or body of tneu against whom
rbarges of serious misconduct had
hern laid.
There was a riot at the I'nited
States Military academy at midnight,
December 31, IST't. The authorities
"nut only ' called the proceedings a
riot, but they said that it was rebel
lious, in lis nature, and as the result
of it Gen. John M. S( holleld, superin
tendent of the academy, placed the
:t00 cadets under arrest.
The riotous demonstration at the
neao'ciny on that night broke nil
academy precedents. It was planned
by n dozen daredevil cadets of the
first class who were to gradunte the.
following June and who wished to
mark In a manner unprecedented the
ushering in of their graduating year.
About 20 cadets by a continued
course of good conduct had succeed
ed In securing have for two days at
Christmas. When they returned from
their short furlough they brought
with them In valise and in trunk ev
ery variety of fireworks known to
the . .genuity of the manufacturer
Roman candles, skyrockets, cannon
crackers and other noise and tire
making articles. They were carefully
hidden away in the mattresses of the
cadets all over the barracks. For
nearly a week the boys slept on veri
table mines of powder. -
It was curious that the authorities
nt the academy did not note and in
quire into the fact that at least :io
cadets "cut" supper , every night for
a week prior to New Year's eve. It
Is dark at supper time in Into Decent-
tier, and tinder cover of the darkness the ca
dets detailed for the purpose made trips to
Trophy point and from there they brought to
the barracks scores of round shot, pounds In
, weight, which had been made years before
for use in the old muzzle-loading Held and
siege guns, The round shot were hidden In
the "cock loft" of the barracks.
! The cadets who had acted as caisson cor
porals at light artillery drill hud managed to
shdrncl, unseen of the authorities, somo UO
or 40 canvas bags of powder. These- were
tdowed away In the chimneys which opened
into the unustd tlreplaces In the cadets' quar
tets. i Ten (irst ilassmcn fell out" from supper
on New Year's eve. They stole under cover
of darkness down to Mattery Knox ami there
they Ic.ulcd the old smooth bore cannon which
hurt Ikci frowning harmlessly over tlio Hud
son Tor :i quarter of a century. From Hut I cry
Knox the cadets went by way of Flirtation
walk to the seacoast battery, and there they
loaded the HO-ton smooth-bore, the biggest gun
it that lime in the service. The smaller pieces
of the .raceast batteries also were loaded
doubly loaded were a better way to put It
.and then the six 30-pound Parrutts of the siege
.battery were fed with powder. Into the vnnt
of every piece of the three batteries friction
jrliners were Inserted and lanyards were at
tached ready for the pulling. Then the cadets
went back to barracks.
The bell In tho tower of the old academic
building tolled the first stroke of midnight.
Mefoie the second strokiT came there was a
roar. from the river front, followed by another
roar, another and yet another. Then there
came a shock' that shook the plateau nnd sent
tho ecbofh rolling from Cro' Nest to Fort Put
nam and tar away to the hill of Mad Anthony
Wayne. The old 20-ton smooth-bore, doubly,
If not trebly, charged, had spoken. Then camn
the shatp reports of tho Parrotts and then the
miappy bark of the field nieces.
Simultaneously with the roars from tho
river butteries thero came the hlssiiiK ami
screaming of rockets, etc., lircd from every
.' barrack window. The balls from
Itoinnn candles broke through the
'branches of the trees edging the pa
rade ground and dropped their sparks
over the roadway. Cannon crackers
fell and exploded nl ft,rt of ,uo
passing enlisted men sentinels, and
the din or the night was increased by
the crushing of round shot as cadets
rolled tl i down the iron bound
stairs from cockloft to the basement
throrph the echo-breeding halls of
bariiicks.
The cadets who had tired the great
nuns of tho batteries made bettel
than "double time" back to barracks
v
Mr
.A
GHOST OF THE POET DANTE
Said to Object to Anyone Using Room
in Florence. Italy, Where He
Was Born.
Florence. Italy. Kecent occurrences
In the house In this town where the
poet Dante was born probably will
make, other people In the more pro
saic walks chary of taking tip their
abode under roofs which havo former
ly sheltered more celebrated people
er at least w ill mako them very care
ful what trade they pursue when In
habiting such famous homes. The
one trado most to be avoided In such
circumstances seems to be that of
blacksmith, judging from the uncom
fortable not to say painful, experi
ences which the smith now living in
it
.
X'
MM
to-day ho is a seasoned. ' experi
enced soldier, if the country holds
one. .
Col. Kennon Is an example or
the class of men who develop
gravity and solidity of character
after they have expended a fund
of mischief and animal spirits
greater several times than that
which Is allotted to the average
boy. It Is doubtful if one of this
staid soldier's subordinates could
to-day, by tho wildest flight of his
Imagination, picture to himself his
commanding officer holding on like
grim death with six other cadets
to the edge of a blanket while
from Its center a "plehe" was
soaring Bkyward. Yet for this of
fense Kennon was once suspended
from the military academy.
Somewhere out in tho northwest
is Ma, John D. McDonald, whose
service has brought him fame nnd
who looks as though ho couldn't
break a military rule with a sledge
hammer. Not long ago MaJ. Mc
Donald was serving In the Philip
pines as a near neighbor to Col.
E. J. McClernand, who was mili
tary governor of one of tho prov
inces. Probably McDonald never went
across the Philippine fields to call
upon McClernand without think
ing of the six months' confinement
he underwent as a cadet, because
he had an Idea that he could hood
wink the man who rose to the po
sition of an oflker presiding over
a Filipino province.
Wkh McDonald were several
other cadets who
thought that they
could, outdo previous
academy deeds of dar
ing. Some of them got
caught, and some of
them didn't. Among
those who were will-
3
taxi
3
nnd entered by the oue door which had been
left unbarred. The cadets In barracks had
fastened every other door and every window
on tho ground floor, effectually barring the
olllcers from entering. Within three minutes
of the first crash from Mattery Knox olllcers
began to swarm out of their quarters to head
for the nrea of barracks, where they found the
officer of the day dodging the fiery balls of a
fcoro of Roman candles.
(len. Scholleld, roused from his slumbers,
hastily dressed nnd trotted across the parade
ground In the wake of his Juniors. Tho gen
eral howled nn order at the ofucer In charge:
"Hound the long roll."
The officer In charge replied: "Can't do It;
they've stolen the drums."
All this while the night wns full of noise
and the air was full of fire. Finally every
thing burnable was burned tip and the cadets
had tired of the task of carrying round shot
up the stairs only to roll them down again.
The enlisted drummer boys found their In
struments nnd It may do no harm at this late
day to say that they had known where they
were all the time. Long roll was sounded, the
barracks doors were thrown opeu nnd the
cadets fell Into line and answered to their
names.
Every privilege was taken away from the
cadets for three months, but not one was dis
missed, for if the guilty had been punished
' not a boy would have been left to the service
of the corps of cadets.
MaJ. Lyman Watson Vere Kennon it the
inrantry, who Is the man who built the Den
guet road In the Philippine Islands, one of
tho most remarkablo examples of engineering
skill nnd of quick construction performance
of recent times.
Col. Kennon (he is a major of regulars, but
was a colonel In the volunteer forces) went to
tho Philippines early In the war game, and he
did not leave until he had played his hand
for six years, and there are few olllcers of the
I'nited States army who have a like record to
their credit. Kennon was an aid on Gen.
Crook's staff in all his western campaigns, and
intr to make the at-
tempt wore one Hewitt of New oik. one
John Urockenrldge. a junior member of that
famous family, one Fairfax Montague, whose
nmne savors of Virginia, nnd one other cadet,
whom modesty requires shall be nameless.
The penalty at West Point for going "off
limits" is dismissal, and the same dose Is giv
en to tho unlucky cadet who Is found to be
absent from his quarters for more than ..0
minutes between taps and reveille. A young
woman living in New burgh, one of West loints
"summ.r girls," knowing these rules and pen
alties, jocosely asked several first classmen
to be present at a party to be given nt her
home, 12 miles up the river, on Thanksgiving
evening. Thev resolved to accept. They suc
ceeded in getting hold of some money and in
bribing a stenm launch captain to agree to
take them to Xewburgh after taps, when there
wa- an inspection, ami to get them back in
time for revcilh) roll call.
Many a cadet from the period of Lee had
been to P.enny Havens', a mile away from the
post, time after time, but such a trip as the
one proposed was daring beyond all prece
dent. Tho chief danger lay in the possibil
ity of a dark-lantern inspection of quarters
while the runaways were absent. There had
not been such an inspection for some little
time, and this fnct made the plotters bold.
' McDonald finally evolved a brilliant
scheme. H was to get certain other cadets to
sleep in the absentees' bunks and to pass for
them in the necessarily hurried lantern In
spection. This plan would, of course. Involve
the substitutes being found absent from their
own quarters, but It was arranged, through
means unnecessary to state, to have them
awakened at once In case an Inspection took
place, and hurried back to their bunks. When
a cadet Is found absent he Is inspected for
every 13 minutes until he returns.
Vnder tho arrangement mnde, of course,
the runaways would be supposed to bo Bound
asleep and their substitutes absent, and It
was for the latter that tho later inspection
would bo ina-io. It was figured out by tho
I.
conspirators that nothing worse could happen
to the substitutes than being reported for 1
minutes' absence, which meant nothing more
than a few demerit marks.
Silence and sleep reigned through the old
stone quarters. Far away up the Hudson
r.pceded the steam launch bearing the pleas'
lire-seeking cadets, In whoso bunks, with their
heads well covered with blankets, lay their
self-sacrificing comrades. There was an In
spection that night. It was made by three
officers Leverett M. Walker, Ucnjauiin Ran
ilolph and E. J. McClernand. Randolph and
Walker found two empty bunks and ordered
the officer of the day to Inspect for the ab
sentees every 13 minutes. Ho did this duty
nnd found tho empty bunks filled. Two of the
cadets dancing way up where the Newburgh
lights twinkled were safe.
.McClernand found In his division of bar
racks one empty bunk. It was that of Fair
fax Montague. McClernand knew a thing or
two nnd was a disciplinarian. After finding
Montague absent he turned every cadet over
in his bunk, threw the light of the lantern full
in his face and then looked at the name over
the alcove to see if face and name coincided.
McDonald and Montague-.McDonald on the
printed alcove slip and Montague in the bunk
did not agree.
The Virginian was ordered hack to his
quarters hi arrest, and McDonald, wnlt.lng
awny all unconscious under the shadow of
the flag pole at Washington's headquarters,
was inspected for every 15 minutes until he
reached his quarters six hours later. He was
saved from the' extreme penalty for his of
fense, but he had six months' confinement In
barracks In which to think over his part In
an escapade that brought about nightly In
spection of barracks for years thereafter. Pos
sibly McClernand when In tho Philippines and
meeting McDonald was glad that for once
military discipline miscarried.
Curfew for Adults.
As soon as the ordinance Is signed by the
nmvor and the required publication Is made,
tt will be unlawful for any adult to bo In the
streets of Paragould between tho hours of
midnight and 4 a. m punishable with a One
If a eood excuse Is not given.
A curfew law for children already Is In
effect, the youngsters Bcamperlng homo with
tho ringing of tho nino odock boll. The law
for adults, however, Is an Innovation. Para
gould currusmjndeuce Arkausas Gazette.
House Where Dante Lived.
Dante's house, whose shop once
formed the bedroom of the poet, has
ust had.
Besides most mysterious noises
which were heard all over the house.
sufficiently disquieting to all ' good
Florentines, and uncanny "carryings-
on ' by his Implements, whlcn ac
quired the uncomfortable habit of ris
ing from where they had been laid
and placing themselves safely out of
reach, causing some very explicit re
marks by the blacksmith and his at
tendants, the most alarming manifes
tation of the presence of a ghostly
visitor made itself felt literally the
other day. A big hammer started
mysteriously from the bench and'
dealt the blacksmith a heavy blow
on the head. History doesn't record
his remarks on this occasion, but ev
erybody will sympathize with him,
whatever he said.
After a few days of exciting epl-
?odes, of which the above are a few
examples, tho inhabitants of the house
thought they had had enough and tho
two assistants of the blacksmith, who
are believed to bo powerful mediums
and the Innocent causes of these phe
nomena, decided to hold a seance.
They therefore summoned two other
mediums and sat down to discover the
wishes of the spirit, which was evi
dently as much disturbed bb them
selves. The spirit obligingly com
plied with their wishes and on being
summoned in tho usual way revealed
himself as the ghost of the poet Dante
and handed over to them a piece of
parchment covered with writing.
An examination of this document
disclosed tho fact that tho spirit had
distinct objections to any ono occupy
ing tho room In which ho was born;
furthermore, he desired that two as
sistants, who were mediums, should'
bo dismissed. Needless to say, these
commands were attended to with alac
rity by the good blacksmith, who had
no desire to feel his heaviest hammer
descending on his head again.
All Florence has been agog over the
affair and tho blacksmith became the
most sought-after man at the tavern
where he was wont to take his even
ing glass. His advice to every one Is,
first, never to take a house in which
any celebrated person has chanced to
live, nnd, secondly, if you must, above
all, don't bo a blacksmith in it.
Mrs. Howe's Old Age.
To me has been granted a some
what unusual experience In life. Nine
ty full years have been measured off
to me, their lessons and opportunities
unabridged by wasting disease or gnaw-.
Ing poverty. I havo enjoyed general
good health, comfortable circum
stances, excellent company and tho
incitements to personal effort which
civilized society offers its members.,
For this II fo and its gifts. I am, I
hope, devoutly thankful. 1 came into
this world a helpless and ignorant bit
of humanity. I have found In it many
helps towards the attainment of my
full human stature, material, mental,
moral. In this slow process of attain
ment, many features have proved
transient. Visions have come and gone.
Seasons have blossomed and closed,
passions have flamed and faded.,
Something has never left me. My re-i
latlon to it has suffered many chang ei
but it still remains, the foundation of
my life, light In darkness, consolation
In ill-fortune, guide In uncertainty.
Julia Ward Howe, In Harper's Bazar,
Main Light with Him.
"They are still talkln' about the
sua's light dying out," some one said
to Mrother Williams, and his comment
wan brief nnd expressive.
"Put ain't worryin' me at all. Db
main question with me Is when Is
my own light gwino out?" Atlanta
Constitution.
