In constant care, through weal and woe,
Nor rest by crib or coffin caught,
This pang is mine—I never thought
To kiss your fingers long ago.
CHIEF EGAN’S WAR RECORD WRITTEN FOR STATE ARCHIVES
FROM PROVIDENCE JOURNAL.
David Irwin of San Francisco, an Irishman, formerly First Lieutenant of Company F, Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, who served under Gen. Charles R. Brayton, a guest and speaker at the dedication of the Society of the Sullivan Memorial December 16, 1908, has recently written a sketch of his service in the Army, and while compiling the story ran across several notes of incidents in Army life which directly concern Chief of Police Patrick Egan, of Providence, R. I.
Mr. Irwin has forwarded the information to General Brayton, in order that it may be preserved in the archives of the State. In his letter Mr. Irwin says: “Being a native of the Emerald Isle, I claim the right to make a little Irish bull by saying that when I enlisted at Providence the only man I knew in my regiment was a boy fifteen years old. The day that I made up my mind to be one of the ’200,000 more’ called for by President Lincoln, I went into the workshop where this boy was learning the shoe trade and said to him, ‘Patsy, I am going to enlist. Don’t you want to go?’
“He looked up with a smile on his face and replied: ‘Yes, if you will.’
“‘All right,’ I said, ‘come along. I’m going.’