Marooning a Colonel.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXXXIV, Issue 56, 18 June 1908, Page 3

Marooning a Colonel.

A new way with army officers who will not resign when asked to has been discovered by President Roosevelt, and put into effect at the expense of Colonel William F. Stewart (says the San Franciscojcorrespondent of the Age), tort Grant, in Arizona, was once an army headquarters. It is now an ungarrisoned and isolated field post, situated in the heart of a desert. To the com mand of this post Colonel Stewart was assigned. He was given a cook, mess attendant, hospital steward and orderly. These four and the Colonel were the sole occupants of the deserted post. This was-Colonel Stewart's punishment tor refusing to resign from the army under the 30 years' service law when asked to do so. The War Department and the President regard the officer, who has served for 40 years in the army, as an inveterate trouble maker. It is alleged against him that discipline has been impossible to maintain wherever he has had command. His retirement was demanded for the good of the service, and when he stood pat, .he was marooned in a desert fort, more than 40 miles from the nearest village, It was a piece of almost malicious satire to designate him to the " command " of this fort. However, the active intervention of the colonel's wife and some influential friends obtained for him some mitigation of the original harsh sentence.' After several months'

exile at Fort Grant, he has been removed to a small stdtion in Florida, where there is no one to " command," but where 1 his surroundings will be more comfortable than in the desert of Arizona.