HOW SOLDIERS EVADE SERVICE

Otago Witness, Issue 2317, 28 July 1898, Page 55

HOW SOLDIERS EVADE SERVICE

The desperate expedients to which soldiers irsort in order to escape war would give one the impression that they sometimes entertain a iViOre intense, if less holy, horror of fighting than persons who devote' themselves tc- more

peaceful avocations. Whenever two nations engage in deadly 5.1 rife there are sure to be amor.gst the combatants on both sides men who become panicstricken at the barf prospect of having to fight, and who do the most extraordinary things imaginable to avoid active service in the field.

It is utterly impossible to understand the feelings of the soldiei who prefcro to turn hia arms against himself instead of against the foe ; yet there are not aiw instances en

record in which soldiers have taken their own lives rather thin run the risk of having them taken by others amidst all the pomp and circumstance of war.

Those to whom life is presumably sweeter, b'll Wai* none the more attractive, adopt; whatever measures their ingenuity rn;\,y suggest tor evading the call to arms. On the Continent, where it should be said soldier suicides most largely take place, men have been known to break one of their limbs in order lo escape being drafted to the seat of war. Instances of this were not wanting in the great struggle between bY nice .aid Get many, there being cases on both aides of doubtless furious warriors on paper crippling ar"ri or leg, or otherwise maiming themselves, in their frantic eagerness to bo reported as unfit for service.

Such a horror of war would appear to prevail in Turlrcy that parents have not hesitated to destroy their children's sight, in the hope that, when the levies of men were demanded, their own flesh and blood would be rejected and left at home. One would almost think a iemedy of this drastic kind to be worse than the disease, but recourse was frequently had to it. during the. last Rupso-Turkisb war. Formerly, too, it was frequently practised in Ryviit It is on record that there were some extremely re'iULtnnt fighters m the American civil war. who, but for the knowledge that there wine veterans behind them who would have unhesitatingly have shot, them down, would have, certainly turned tail in the i'acc of the enemy, and incontinently fled. Others who had still less hkmjr for the smell of powder escaped service altogether by more, or less clever ruses in evading Impressment, not a lew ior the time being shaking the dust of America from off their ieut and seeking an asylum in England till the fighting was over. One faint-hearted fellow, who could not tolerate the idea of being torn from his non\e, is said to haee escaped services by assuming the attire of the fair sex and masquerading as a woman so long as there was any likelihood of a call being made m bis district The mere rumour of war seems to have had the effect of rendering others hors de combat, for they found it. necessary to take to their beds and to remain there much lougwr than was really good for them or the cause their countrymen had espoused. That the existence- of the deadly internal strife was the means of driving some of the rnorß excitable partisans on both sides into a state of mental aberration is probable enough ; but that their reason should have returned to them as soon as all danger of their services being required was passed, seems a trifle too suspicious for a mere coincidence. Even in the. present struggle between tho United States and Spain, there has been a striking Instance of reluctance to fight. A so-called " crack '" regiment, composed of the sons of the richest men of "New York, is said to have voted against fighting to the tune of 1063 votes to 4 !

It is difficult to understand the purpose for which 1 his " crack " regiment was formed ; but, with the exception of the faithful four, its members might well be allowed to hide their cracked reputations and exploded patriotism in the obscurity of private life henceforth and for evermore.

The Spaniard, it may be mentioned, is by no means a willing soldier, and if he can by any trick escape actual service, he does not hesitate to resort to it Numbers have even gone the length of committing suicide rather than be sent for service in Cuba.