Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1908 — IN DEFENSE OF THE AMERICAN SOLDIER [ARTICLE]

IN DEFENSE OF THE AMERICAN SOLDIER

Cowardly Assault of the Jasper County - Democrat Resented, and Its Author j Branded a Traitor. I

The most outrageously fal- e and Insulting language that we have ever seen used in reference to the rcgulir soldier in the United States a>my, and the most cowardly and unpatriotic ever used to the local columns of any newspaper, appeared In the Jasper County Democrat this week. To exhibit the full perfidy and shamefulness of the writer, be it ei her Frank E. Babcock or John Jessen, we publish the paragraph in full just as it appeared in the Democrat in its Wednesday issue, this week. “A company of soldicre camped here Friday dight, enroute from Indianapolis to Chicago. They were regulars and had all their train with them consisting of three or four wagons and an ambulance. This ambulance would not have held a tenth of these defenders of the country. If they could have goit-n half the whiskey the different members attempted to buy. A worse be oze histlng gang has never struck the town before, but be it said to the credit of our druggists, we did not hear of any of them that got their '‘prescriptions” filled. These "prescriptions” bore the name of a local physician, who did what he could to satisfy tbeir thirst.” Believing this to be a libel on the American soldier the writer of this article made the most careful investigation of the allegations contained in the Article, end finds It to be a He, mischievous and malicious and traitorous. Marshal W. S. Parks was one of tbs first persons Interviewed by the writer in regard to the assault on the joldUr. He said that he was on the street throughout the evening and never saw the slightest Impropriety or the slightest evidence of intoxication of any soldier, and he saw no effort on the part of any soldier to procure liquor. B. M. Thomas, night watch, was consulted. He was on the street all evening and all night He did not thick that many ot the soldiers came down town.' There were two or three little squads and they were talking with citizens and there was not a thing out of the way with their conduct. He did not see any of them drunk, uor drinking, and does not think they were. He says the charge that they were a bad lot of "booze bisters" Is false. Two soldiers did ask him where there was a doctor

and he told them, and they went to Dr. Merrill’s office and came down and went into a drug store and he watched them. They went straightway across the river and to the soldier camp ground and did not come back to town. T-fa&t Was the only case lie saw and he watched all ulglit. It was the night of the republican speaking at the armory and there was a show at the opera house, and there were not many people on the streets. Willis J. lines, clerk at Fendig’s drug store, was interviewed. He had been approached by two soldiers with a prescription from Dr. Merrill. He refused to fill it, as it called for whiskey. No others asked him. Mr. Fendlg was interviewed. No soldier asked him to fill a prescription and none asked for liqoOr. Bert Brenner, clerk at A. F. Long's drug store, was interviewed. Two wagoners, not enllßted soldiers, hut civilian employees, who are hired to drive the wagons, came to him with a prescription from Dr. Merrill, It called for whiskey and he refused to fill It. They did not appeal to Mr. | Long and they were the only two . men In any manner connected with the soldiers who were passing through Rensselaer from Fort Benjamin Hart 1son, near Indianapolis, to Fort Sheridan, near Chicago, who tried to procure liquor at that drug store. George Hopkins, clerk for Jce Larsh at his drug store, was approached by the same two wagoners with the prescription from Dr. Merrill. Hs refused to sell them, and they did not get any whiskey. Neither he nor Druggist Larsh were approached by any other soldiers wanting liquor. Mr. Larsh said that several of the soldlets were In his store, bought cigars and tobacco and soifvenlr postal cards, but that none of them asked him for whiskey or liquor. Sheriff O'Connor was on the street that evening and so was his son and deputy, Joe O'Connor. Both said that they saw and conversed with some of the soldiers, and that they were an intelligent and nice lot of men. And Mr. O’Connor pulled a card out of his pocket that one of the enlisted soldiers had given him. Sheriff O'Connor served fourteen years In the American navy, and he was personally much pained to see that a newspaper published In the Untied S ates could so abuse and misrepresent the regular soldier. Mayor Ellis was seen. He sold tickets to -the theatre to some of the

soldiers, and a number of them went to the show. They were orderly and well behaved, clean and tbeir conduct above reproach. Mayor Ellis remarked that they were an unusually fine lot of soldiers. | Postmaster Murray also came into contact with teveral of the soldiers and they pas ed his residence as they went to and from the camp to the city. He said that their conduct was irreproachable at ail times. I Harry Kiplinger, who runs the pool room, saw a few of the sol[diers and that they were all well behaved and hone showed the slightest evidence of dissipation. | Van Grant, who conducts one of the restaurants and ice cream pat lore, said that several of tbe soldiers visited liis place of business, bought some tobacco and sodas and we:e perfectly orderly and that he did not see one thing out of the way with ~ 'Vernon Nowels, who also conducts a restaurant and Ice cream perk r, said that a number of the soldiers visited his restaurant, bought tobacco and other things and were exemplary in their behavior and that none of them snowed any signs of intoxication. C. Arthur Tuteur, first sergeant of the local militia company, vißited tbe camp, and talked with the officers, end was told that there were not to exceed ten or fifteen of tbe soldiers that used liquor. The officers spoke with just pride of the morale of ti e r men. Lieutenant Miller, battalion quartermaster, who contracted and paid for tbe rations for tbe men and animals bought here, settled with Druggist Fendig for some purchase*, taking the government receipts as is required. After the settlement Mr. Fendig offered him a cigar. He declined, wi h thanks, saying that he neither used tobacco or liquor, and explaining that as soldiers they knew what was be t for them and that tbeir work could not be performed properly if they were guilty of dissipation. Tbe soldiers matched from Monon to Rensselaer on Friday and from Rensselaer to the Otis ranch, north of Fair Oaks on Saturday JUA this would ' have been Impossible had '.hey Le n guilty of the false charges so contemptibly made in the Jasper County ’Democrat. ->****'' t And this creates the wonder as to where the Democrat stands on the matter of a United States army, and the further wonder as to bow they stand on the republican policy of pen- . atoning the men who were the *de- ‘ fenders of tbeir country” from 1861 to 1865. And It makes us wonder where Frank E. Babcock and John Jensen would have stood with their newspa- ’ per had they been publishing one during those years when a patriot was known by the way he walked. I The Alnertcan soldiers of today snd the soldiers of the past are due an apology from this strapping big pair of cowards who publish the paper that “knocks” everything and everybody that fails to meef their ideals of successful citizenship. { And some will ask. "Why didn’t this paper that seif boasts of its fearless exposition of wrong doers print the ’■ '