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| The fatal meeting between two U. S. Army officers took place on this street in 1893 (JWB Photo) |
On
this date, February 8, back in 1893 coverage of the final preparations for the
great Columbian Exposition took a back seat to a sensational Grand Jury
investigation as testimony ended in the inquiry into the death of Captain Alfred Hedberg at
the hands of Lieutenant James A. Maney at Fort Sheridan on October
30, 1892.
The
story is a long one and by the time it was concluded the ramifications of the
investigation and ensuing legal proceedings stretched all the way to the
nation’s capital, saw the Fort Sheridan Post Commander forced into retirement
after a long and honorable career, and scared the heck out of the troopers
stationed at the brand new post on the North Shore.
As
with all crimes of passion the story of what happened on that night in October
varied, depending on who was giving the details. And the events leading up to the final
meeting between the two men began unfolding years before Captain Hedberg’s
final breath.
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| Captain Alfred Hedberg |
By
all accounts Hedberg was a piece of work.
In late July of 1891 the Captain took the
young son of a visitor out on the lake in a boat piloted by a private. The boat capsized, and a rescue party saved Hedberg and the boy.
Unfortunately, the private drowned.
One
would think that Hedberg would have been joyous at his rescue, but upon setting
foot on dry land he ordered one of the rescuers, a Private Oakmore of Company
G, placed under guard and taken to the guardhouse, apparently for the way the
private had spoken to him during the rescue.
Two
months later The Tribune reported that two privates had filed charges against
the Captain with the post commander, Colonel Crofton. Private Hart and Gauter were in a tailor’s
shop outside the fort. Before they
entered the establishment they had passed the Captain and saluted. They entered
the shop, followed sometime later by Hedberg, who “finding the men did not
notice him or pay any homage to his rank . . . ordered the men to remove their
hats, which they did.” [Chicago Tribune,
September 26, 1891]
Military
regulations required the removal of a hat before an officer when on the
military reservation. The requirement
did not apply to encounters off the base.
The two men objected to their superior’s behavior and asked for him to
be court-martialed, alleging “that his conduct was overbearing and that he
constantly sought means of humiliating the enlisted men.”
At this point morale was at a low
ebb, and desertions were so frequent that
Hedberg’s unit, Company F of the Fifteenth Infantry, was the smallest in the
regiment. Then in the spring of 1892
Captain Hedberg placed Private James Hanson under guard for missing roll
call. Although it was generally agreed
that Hanson was guilty, “the sensational circumstances attending the trial had
thrown the sympathy entirely upon his side.”
[Chicago Tribune, April 24, 1892]
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| Private Hanson ended up in the guardhouse for a failure to answer roll call (JWB Photo) |
Hasnon
was brought before a summary court, at which Captain Hedberg was the presiding
officer. Acting as Private Hanson’s
counsel, a Private Driscoll “objected to Capt. Hedberg on the ground that he had
been dishonorably dismissed from the service, cashiered, and sentenced to one year
in the penitentiary.” Hedberg immediately
preferred charges against Driscoll for “attempting to injure the reputation of
an officer.”
Except
. . . the charge that Driscoll made was true.
While stationed at Santa Fe, New Mexico the captain had been
court-martialed on a number of charges, most of them concerning
misappropriation of government property, and dismissed from the service.
It
must have been galling to Captain Hedberg when several weeks later headquarters
ordered that the original prisoner, Private Hanson, be released from the guardhouse
and resume his duties as a soldier.
Although the host of charges against Driscoll stood, there seemed “to be
no inclination to bring him before the military court.”
On
May 5 Captain Hedberg arrived in Washington, D. C. and the speculation was that
he sought to be placed on the retired list.
If approval had been immediate, the Captain would have escaped his
fate. But the delay was of his own doing
as no decision could be made as long as the charges against Private Dirscoll
stood.
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| Lieutenant James Maney |
Their
feeling was that the life of Haney was not in danger when the two men met. “Hedberg’s arms were full of bundles . . .
When the two officers came face to face, Hedberg disengaged one arm and struck
Maney in the face. Hedberg then reached
for his hip pocket as if to draw a pistol and at that instant Maney fired and
Hedberg fell to the ground.” [Chicago
Tribune, February 8, 1894]
The
case would remain news for the following three years, ultimately reaching into
the highest echelon of the service. I’ll
be returning to this story again and again.
It just gets weirder and weirder.
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