Strung Up A Judge

"I was only 19 years of age and held a lieutenant's commission ia the Fifth infantry when an event occurred which gave me a great deal of unsought notoriety, "said a department official the other night. "Not only was the notoriety unsought, but it was exceedingly tmdesirable, " he added, "for it almost made au old man of me in a single day. It was an experienee ealculated to try the discipline and determination of any young officer. ' ' "What kind of an experience did you have?" "I had merely a routine duty to perform, but it wasexciting. The regiment was stationed at Santa Fe, and the department was under1 martial law. The war had just commenced, and people were averse to obeying military orders, but they learned obedience very soon. It was ordered that no person should enter the city of Santa Fe nor depart from it without registering his nam with the provost marshal. The order was positive and was rigidly enforced. One afternoon, when I was officer of the day and, having attended to my duties, was lyiug down in my tent reading a book, an orderly reported that there was a man in the custody of the provost marshal who ref used to give his name. Putting aside my book, I donned my uniform and sash and proceeded to the guardhouse. "There, in the midst of as tough a looking gang as one ever saw, stood a well dressed, distinguished looking gentleman. When I asked him why he was in custody, he informed me that he was under arrest because he had refused to give his name or to register with the provost marshal. When I politely requested him to go with me and register, he responded, 'You know me well enough and do net need ask my name. ' When I assured him that I had never seen him bef ore and I -sjuested him to comply with the oráor under which I was acting, he refused indignantly to do so. "I then ordered the guards to take him to the parade gronnd and tie him to the flagstaff. Upon arriving there I again begged him to be reasonable and give his name, but he obstinately refused to do so. Then I ordered the men to tie him up by the thumbs. After leaving him in that position for three minutes he was let down, bnt again remained obstinately silent. He was drawn up again, and after leaving him in that painful position nearly ten minutes he was let down, but scornfully declined to answer my most polite request to give me his name. I begged him to relieve me of the necessity of resorting to more force and tp relieve himself of f urther humiliation and physical pain, but he scorned me. There I was on the parade ground with that gentleman, who was manif estly of more than ordinary ability and consequence in the world, and in the presence of the regimental staff, I, a young officer, a mere stripling, and yet the officer of the day, was trying to compel him to give his name in accordance with the order of the commanding officer of the department "He remained stolidly silent, and then I ordered the guards to buck and gag him. It was a painful scène, which I shall never forget. The soldiers did their duty, bound him in an uncomfortable position and gagged him so tighfly that the blood rau from his mouth. That was more thau I had intended to be done the first time, and it was more than I could bear to see, so I ordered his release. "As he stood np, trembling with pain, passion and humiliation, he said : 'I ain Joseph G-. Knapp, chief justice of the supreme court of the territory of New Mexico. ' I inimediately ordered his release from custody, and he returned to the Hotel Fonda, where he had registered upon his arrival. His presence in Santa Fe was no secret, and nearly everybody knew him. Therefore he may have reasoned that I knew him and was merely making a parade of my authority needlessly in asking him his name and conipelling him to give it. You may be very sure that I regretted the occurrence when I heard him annoutíce his name, his title and his official standing, as, indeed, I had sincerely regretted the entire scène from the first." "Was anything done about it officially?' ' "Well, I should sayso! Colonel Carleton, commanding the post, wrote a report of the affair, which he characterized as brutal, and recommended proceedings against me, although he knew that I had only done my duty in the premises. If an obscure citizen had refused to give his name, as Judge Knapp had done, Colonel Uarleton would have commended my course. As it was, Judge Knapp and Colonel Carleton were bosom friends and had been for years. Therefore he was biased in the matter. The papers were tinally laid before President Lincoln, who had meantime been seen by some of my friends, who told him the true story of the affair, and the president wrote on the back of Colonel Carleton 's report: This young man lias simply done his duty and is released from arrest. A. LlNCOm. "Did you ever meet with Judge Knapp afterward?' ' -'Sëveral times, but we were never on speaking terms. Ile was not only a prominent official, a great jurist and a popular gentleman, but he mus also one of the proprietors of the St. Louis ReDublican. now called The Remiblic. " - Í