THE INFIRMITIES OF TEMPER
or from the persistent persecutions of his comrades cannot be authoritatively said. One officer attributed much of the pugnacity which Smith exhibited early in his course to the injudicious letters sent him by his friends. In some of these he was advised to 'fight for the honor of his race,' and others urged him to brook no insult at the hands of the white cadets. The menial duties which the 'plebes' are called upon to do in their first summer encampment were looked upon by Smith as personal insults thrust upon him, althought his comrades made no complaint. Then the social ostracism to a lad of his sensitive nature was almost unbearable, and an occasional outbreak is not to be wondered at.
"Before he had been in the Academy a week he wrote to a friend complaining of the treatment he received from his fellows, and this letter being published intensified the hostility of the other cadets. Soon after this he had a fight with Cadet Wilson and cut his face with a dipper. Then followed the breach of discipline on drill, the court-martial and sentence, and finally the Congressional investigation, which did not effect any good. Smith says that frequently on squad drill he was detached from the squad by the cadet corporal, and told that he was not to stand side by side with white men.
"WEST POINT, June 19."
THE COLORED CADET.
HIS TRIALS AND PERSECUTIONS—THREE YEARS OF ABUSE— SETTLED AT LAST—"ELI PERKINS" TELLS THE STORY.
To the Editor of the Daily Graphic:
About the 20th of May, 1870, I saw the colored Cadet, James W. Smith land at the West Point Dock. He was appointed by a personal friend of mine, Judge Hoge, Member of Congress from Columbia, South Carolina. The mulatto boy was about five feet eight inches high, with olive complexion and freckles. Being hungry he tipped his hat to a cadet as he jumped from the ferry -boat and asked him the way to the hotel.
"'Over there, boy,' replied the cadet, pointing to the Rose Hotel owned by the government.
"On arriving there the colored boy laid down his carpet- bag, registered his name, and asked for something to eat.