Post-bellum Incidents

From tti8 Washington Star. As a Star reporter entered tho office of a War Department official the other 3ay, lie was struck by tho appoaranco ind voico of a visitor who was jnst takB( his leaye. Ho was a heavy-set man, with an intelligent face, dark brown hair and heavy mustaehe, and appareutly between 45 and 50 years of age. The reporter 's first impression was that he was a military oflieer of some prominence, but as he badc tho official "good day" there was a very perceptible foreign accent in his speech. "Was that an arniy oflicer?" askeiï the reporter after the door had closed upon the departing visitor. "No," replied the official, "I rever saw him before tliat I know of, bnt ho has just relatod to ino a rery interesting story." "I am just in the humor for a story," said the reporter. "WeÜ, niy visitor is a Swede. Daring the robcllion ho left his homo id S weden, a young man. to como to tliis country to fight for li. ..ty. Ho was a man of moaiis, aud was actuatod simply by hfroic motives. Upon arriving here he at once enlisted in a New York regiment and was sent South. His regiment, as I remember it, was rather a hard one, composed mainly of French and Gormans, of a pretty rotigh class, with oflicors not much botter. At New Orleans the young Sirede's abilities were quickly recognized, and he was giveu clerical work. In a short time he was taken very ill with chronic diarrhea, and whin almost at death's door ho was sliipped north on a sixty-days' furlough. That was in the summer. He did not iinprove much, and as cold weather approached tho doctors advised him to seek a warmer climate. He was entirely ignorant of military regulations, aud being desirous only of saving hia lifo he mide his way, he says, to Havana. Thero he was under the care of a phyiician who was in 3ome way connected witli tlio United States Cousulate. By the time he r. gained his health the wnr was over. I hink he then went back to Sleden; at any rato he didn't return to this country again nntil a few days ago, when Jio camo to New York to :" if;e ia businrss. Imagine his surprise when hr leal ipJ that his nam?, is rocorded as that of a desertor. His misaion here is to clear himself of tbat stigma, so that ho can enter business with an unstainod repu Í- a J-C a IJ-, AAffA 4 i i -1 1A niTi.v vnintinn.l l.iiH'Il. lic fítij a UJ'U lio uciu ii;u:in.u a cent from the govornmeiit when be wos iii the army, and did not even get liis botín ty niouey. He doesn't care for tbat, though, he says; all he wants is to have liis ñamo clfared. I don't know an.vthing about the trnth or falaity of liis story, but he tells it very straight. Ho wili have to bring afiidavits and othor proofs to establish it Lefore his case can be actcd upon. I only give yon the story as he related it to me just now. "I suppose yon have many strange war inciden ts bronght to your attention?" suggested the reporter. "Oh, yes, lots ol thcm," was the reply. "í have in mind now the caso of a man who was reported as killed in action, but who turnerl np a few years nf;o at a reunión of his regiment like a ghost among hÍ3 comrades, who liad never heard a word about liim since tlio memorable battlo when he was shot. It was at the second battle of Buil Itun, I think. He was a cavalryman, and rode in the front ranks in a charge. He was shot from his horse at the beginning of the charge, and the wliole regiment passed over him. There was no doubt about his deatht and that his body was not found occasioned no surprise. Aa he tells the stery, he know nothing until he regained consciousness, two or three months later, out in Michigan, being cared for by somo strangers who had taken him in. He wa3 a physioal wreek, and when 1 saw him he looked like a regular Quilp. He was all twisted and torn ont of shape as if he had been blown r.p in a boiler explosión and patched up afterwards. He wandered about for severa! years, and finally visited his farmer home. He lound that his wife, believing him dead, had married again. He didn t trouble her, bnt continued traveling about nntil ünally he gained the friendship of a well-to-do man, and with ljim ho made hifl home, finally marrying oneof his danghters. After his appearence at theYeunion of his regimeut he bronght his case beforo tho depavtment to havo liis record corrected and to secure the pension which he claimed on account of his wounds." "The ttrangest incident within my recollection,"eoutinued the official, "was connectcd with the death of a colored soldier. Botli his widow and hismother claimed a pension. The widow swore that this man, her htisband, died in Tennessee in 1SC2 of the small-pox, but that his mother was not living at tho timo of his death noreven several years before. The mother claimod that tlii1 mau, her son, died in 1864 of smallpox in Tennessoe; that she had repeatedly seen him between 1862 and ISlii. but that her son had never been married. Now, thut was a nice snarl to nutanpflo, for both women were evidently telling the t-rnth. Tbere v.-as a roeord of tlie man in iiuestion, aceording to whicli he was enlisted at a oertaiii dato in that regiment and company, and died of small-pox in 1864. But thero was also strong evidence thut ho died iu 18G2 of small-pox." "How was it utraightened out?" asb ed the reporter. "TVell, it was learned that tho mail did die in. 18G2, as claimed by tho widow. In thoso times, however, and porticularly in those colored regïwents, the oflicers mado every effort to koop their rauks fnll, and as the co'.ored men scldom went by any other namo than loi,c or Pompey, or some sneh wcll known darky name, the Sergeants oxperienood littlo diiliculty in tilliug tho place of some one of the men who diod or desevted. It is supposed that in this instance no record was made of the doath of this Mose, or whatever Lis name was, when he died of smallpox in 1862, bnt the sergeant hntednp a man who looked enough like him to tuko hia pluce, and the new soldier adopted tho ! name of the dead one, and was known as suüIi. Two yeara later he also died i of Hmallpox, andhisdeath wasreeorded. There wore really two soldicrs, bnt ono of wliom was mustered in and but one of whom who died accorüing to the record." "Who got the pension?" asked tho reporter. "I don't reeall the character of the report niado by the department to the pension anthorities, lmt niv imprcssion is that neither got it. Tou ace, the Uusband, who died, did not die nntil 18C1, when it was shown he wasn't tho man, and the son, who did die in 1864, ver wan mustered in, and there you are. One was mustered iu and didn't die, and the othcr died, but was never mustered in." Jonas G. Clark, of WorceeiOT, Mass., proposes to dónate $1,000,000 at once, and as much more as nmy be required to eatablish n iirst claws institution of learning at Worcester to be known by tho name of Clark University.