About this time I had some trouble with a man in my company. His general conduct was such as required watching; he was constantly being punished. He would desert and be brought back, tried by district court-martial, sentenced to be flogged and imprisoned for perhaps 112 days. One night I called the roll at tattoo and found him wanting. I reported that night Private James Watson absent, took an inventory of his effects and hoped he would not return. Some few days after I was called to the guard room to identify a man of my company, whom I found to be Watson; but such a sight I never looked upon. It appears he wandered into the country and saw in the middle of a field a scarecrow. The clothes were all in rags, but that did not matter to Watson. He exchanged with the scarecrow, and placing his uniform in its stead, dressed himself in the tattered suit and continued his journey, only to be arrested and brought back to the barracks. The end of poor Watson will be learned later.
Colonel Crofton, not wishing, for private reasons, to go on foreign service at present, made an exchange with Colonel Franklin, who commanded a depot battalion quartered at Colchester, and previous to his departure he was pleased to promote me to the rank of sergeant. I was now on the effective list. Personally I was extremely sorry to lose Colonel Crofton. He had always taken an interest in my welfare and never refused me any reasonable privilege. Colonel Franklin, who took command, was an old soldier and an old man. He was not the disciplinarian his predecessor was—very quiet, and more like a father to the boys than the fiery warrior before him. We knew that Colonel Franklin's command would be short, as he would not take the battalion on foreign service, and that Major McKinstry would succeed him. Our sergeant-major was promoted to the rank of quartermaster, vice Faulkner, retired, and Color-Sergeant George Jackson promoted to sergeant-major, vice Monk, promoted.
We received orders to proceed to Shorncliffe Camp in the county of Kent, a few miles from Folkstone. Major-General Carey having inspected the battalion, we entrained at Farnboro Station. The bands of several regiments in camp came to play us off, and we bid good-bye to Aldershot. That afternoon we arrived at our new station, where we met the 16th Bedfordshires and 18th Royal Irish. We were royally entertained by our new comrades and soon became great friends. Shorncliffe is situated on a high hill just over the town of Sandgate and about two miles from the school of musketry at Hythe. We were quartered in huts, which were very comfortable but not to be compared with our last quarters.
We have our reading room and school, and they are well attended, but we miss the gymnasium, for as yet none has been built outside Aldershot, nor will there be until qualified instructors are forthcoming to take charge of them.
We have four prisoners confined in the headquarters guard room awaiting sentence. One of the prisoners is Private Watson, mentioned before in connection with the scarecrow. These four men had been tried by general court-martial on serious charges—two for striking officers, the other two for desertion and making away with their kits. As a matter of fact they were incorrigible. The evening orders announced that the brigade would parade at 9 a.m. the following day, when the proceedings of the court-martial would be read to the troops and the prisoners. There had been a slight snow-fall during the night and the morning was quite cold. The brigade was formed in the square, the general and his staff in the centre. The prisoners were marched from the guard room under a strong escort, and when everything was in readiness the brigade-major, who had charge of the proceedings, commenced to read. Calling one of the prisoners by name, he stepped to the front, took off his cap and listened to the reading of the proceedings of the court that tried him and which found him guilty. Then followed the sentence in this form: "The court, having found the prisoner guilty of all the charges preferred against him, and in consequence of his previous very bad character, do now sentence the prisoner to be shot to death by musketry." Here the officer paused; the prisoner was very pale and trembling. Continuing, the brigade-major read: "But in consideration of the prisoner's youth Her Majesty has been pleased to commute the sentence to penal servitude for life." The other prisoner for the same offences received the same sentence and commutation. The other two prisoners were sentenced to fifty lashes, which they received that cold morning on the spot, and to be imprisoned with hard labor for ten years.
Our social intercourse with our comrades in the camp was all that could be desired. Entertainments of various kinds were given and a pleasant winter spent. During our stay at Shorncliffe I was sent to musketry school.
CHAPTER III.
In the spring we received orders to hold ourselves in readiness to embark for Dublin. This pleased us very much, for we were anxious to see old Ireland. We were conveyed to Bristol by train and then embarked for Dublin. Arriving without incident, we disembarked. Eight companies marched to and took up quarters at Richmond barracks. The other two companies, which included my own, occupied Linen Hall barracks.
We found quite a difference in the general routine of a soldier's life in Dublin. There were 5,000 troops in garrison, including a battalion of Grenadier Guards, and ceremonial parades were in evidence. The trooping of the colors at guard mounting on the esplanade was one of the most spectacular. The marching past in slow time to the music of massed bands, together with the other beautiful movements attached to this grand old practice, drew thousands of citizens to witness it. Those grand displays were no doubt the means of establishing a friendship between soldiers and citizens. This was a very proud garrison, and the men vied with each other in dress and general appearance on the streets and public thoroughfares of the city. It was commanded by General Sir George Brown.
We said good-bye to Colonel Franklin, and Major McKinstry was gazetted lieutenant-colonel and to command the battalion. The colonel was well liked by all ranks. He was with the 1st Battalion during the Crimean war, and was an officer who studied the individual soldier and attended to his welfare. He had a keen memory. We had a transfer from the 1st Battalion who had also been in the Crimea. He was brought up for being drunk. I do not know whether the colonel intended to bring his previous conduct against him, but in his admonition and advice reminded him that one night in the trenches before Sebastopol he was drunk.