Joseph, born Oct. 3, 1844, in Cass County, Indiana, was 19 when he whittled these mementos; 69 when he died overnight on Wednesday, Jan. 20-21, 1914, in his room at Wichita's Keystone Hotel where he had worked for several years as a night clerk.
Although he seems to have been thought of fondly by those he died among, none knew his story. So no family was present when Wichita's Garfield Post, Grand Army of the Republic, took charge of his remains and buried them on Friday afternoon, Jan. 23, in the Kansas cemetery. It seems likely that the G.A.R. also arranged to have the government-issue tombstone placed at his grave.
+++
We know quite a bit about Joseph's early years. Orphaned at age 12 when his mother died in 1859 he came west from Indiana to the south of Iowa to live with kinfolks. He seems to have made his home most of the time with his older sister, Sarah Jane, and her husband, Alexander T. Graves, near Newbern. They were the parents of Rachel.
For unknown reasons, Joseph was in Peoria, Illinois, when he enlisted at age 17 in November of 1861 for what turned out to be four years of service as a private in Co. B, 11th Regiment of Illinois Cavalry Volunteers, commencing at bloody Shiloh.
After honorable discharge in September of 1865, he returned to Newbern and it remained his home of record for at least the next 20 years, although it seems unlikely that Joseph actually was there much during those years. We know that he was in Kansas, back in Indiana, in Iowa and then in Kansas again. He seems never to have married nor to have made a serious attempt to settle down. It's impossible now to discern what devils chased him during those years.
+++
On the 7th of May, 1886, at the age of 41 or 42, Joseph was admitted as a resident to the Western Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers at Leavenworth, Kansas, one of seven satellites of the U.S. Soldiers Home in Washington, D.C. According to records of the home, he had suffered from "chronic rheumatism" since the war and had been granted a disability pension of $8 per month.
He was described as 5-feet 8-inches in height, dark complected, single and a farmer by occupation. Newbern was his home of record and his next of kin was his brother-in-law, Alexander Graves.
Four years later, on Feb. 11, 1890, Joseph was discharged from the home "dishonorably."
The Leavenworth Standard of Feb. 26, 1890, reported that "Joseph W. Oliver, late private, Company B, Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, has been dishonorably discharged from the Home for drawing a knife against his comrade in quarters and threatening to kill him, repeatedly using vile, filthy and threatening language to his comrades, who were afraid of him."
But on July 11, 1893, Joseph was readmitted to the home upon the recommendation of its manager, and remained there until 1897. Then, after a couple of months in jail and convictions for attempted murder and attempted manslaughter, he traded his Veterans Home bed for a cell in the federal penitentiary, also located at Leavenworth, sentenced to a six-year term.
+++
During his years at the veterans home, Joseph had developed a poisonous grudge against its superintendent, Col. Andrew J. Smith, whom he apparently blamed for many of his troubles.
In all fairness, Smith was heartily disliked by many of the old soldiers at the home and distrusted by many others in Kansas and elsewhere, veteran and non-veteran alike. But he seems to have had sufficient connections to ensure that he was never disciplined, merely transferred when trouble arose.
Col. Smith had arrived in Leavenworth in 1885 under a cloud after holding a similar position in Maine. During the fall of 1896, after years of complaints and smaller investigations of his conduct in Kansas, an exhaustive congressional probe was carried out that involved the calling of some 200 witnesses who testified to the administrator's dishonesty, cruelty and chronic alcoholism.
That committee recommended that Smith be removed and he was in a way --- by transfer into the manager post at the Pacific Branch of the National Home in Santa Monica, California. That transfer was pending during June of 1897.
So Joseph wasn't the only old soldier who heartily disliked the superintendent --- but none carried their grudges to the extreme that Joseph did.
In all fairness, Smith was heartily disliked by many of the old soldiers at the home and distrusted by many others in Kansas and elsewhere, veteran and non-veteran alike. But he seems to have had sufficient connections to ensure that he was never disciplined, merely transferred when trouble arose.
Col. Smith had arrived in Leavenworth in 1885 under a cloud after holding a similar position in Maine. During the fall of 1896, after years of complaints and smaller investigations of his conduct in Kansas, an exhaustive congressional probe was carried out that involved the calling of some 200 witnesses who testified to the administrator's dishonesty, cruelty and chronic alcoholism.
That committee recommended that Smith be removed and he was in a way --- by transfer into the manager post at the Pacific Branch of the National Home in Santa Monica, California. That transfer was pending during June of 1897.
So Joseph wasn't the only old soldier who heartily disliked the superintendent --- but none carried their grudges to the extreme that Joseph did.
After announcing that Col. Smith should be blown up, Joseph traveled to Atchison, Kansas, purchased two sticks of dynamite, two caps and 25 feet of fuse, returned to Leavenworth --- and did just that. The explosion that collapsed a major portion of the big brick superintendent's residence occurred during the early morning of June 11. Smith, his wife and daughter, were not seriously injured, however.
Joseph was arrested almost immediately, tried and sentenced in the fall to a six-year term in the federal penitentiary, three years for attempted murder and three years for attempted manslaughter. He also was fined $1.
Meanwhile, Col. Smith and his family transferred to Santa Monica where he soon ran into trouble with residents of the home there as well.
On the 28th of September, 1898, a veteran named Matthew B. Brady, who had been expelled by Smith from the Santa Monica home, fired five shots at the colonel, wounding him painfully but not critically with three.
Shortly after that and following another investigation, Col. Smith was dismissed as manager of the home. His friends, however, found him a job as inspector general of the National Soldiers' Home system. He was working in that capacity when he died of complications from cancer on April 28, 1903, in Cuchara Junction, Colorado.
By that time, Joseph had been released from the penitentiary and had settled in Wichita. He seems to have settled down, but was not necessarily a reformed character. He was cooling his heels in the Wichita city jail, for example, when the 1910 federal census was taken.
His death occurred overnight Jan 20-21, 1914, in his room at the Keystone Hotel. This report from The Wichita Daily Eagle of Jan. 23 tells us all we know of his final years. It was published under the headline, "Find No Clue to Family: Efforts to Locate Relatives of Dead Union Army Veteran Fail --- He Never Told Who He was."
The death of Joseph W. Oliver, a Union Army veteran, at the Keystone hotel Wednesday night brought to light a mystery that friends of the dead man are trying to solve. It appears that no relatives of the man can be located. He was always very reticent about his relatives and when questioned would exhibit signs of uneasiness and would change the subject as soon as possible, the acquaintances report.
There is an indefinite clue that leads the authorities to believe that relatives are living at or near Des Moines, Iowa, but so far all communications sent there have failed to bring any word from them.
Mr. Oliver came here about eight years ago and obtained a position as night clerk of the Keystone hotel, where he remained until he became ill a few weeks ago. He was on friendly terms with all the members of the G.A.R. and had a few very intimate friends, but to none did he ever divulge any of the story of his past life. He died practically without funds.
The funeral will be held this afternoon from the Kirker and Marsh undertaking parlors at 2:30 o'clock. The services will be in charge of the Garfield Post of the G.A.R. Interment will be made in Highland cemetery.
Joseph was arrested almost immediately, tried and sentenced in the fall to a six-year term in the federal penitentiary, three years for attempted murder and three years for attempted manslaughter. He also was fined $1.
+++
Meanwhile, Col. Smith and his family transferred to Santa Monica where he soon ran into trouble with residents of the home there as well.
On the 28th of September, 1898, a veteran named Matthew B. Brady, who had been expelled by Smith from the Santa Monica home, fired five shots at the colonel, wounding him painfully but not critically with three.
Shortly after that and following another investigation, Col. Smith was dismissed as manager of the home. His friends, however, found him a job as inspector general of the National Soldiers' Home system. He was working in that capacity when he died of complications from cancer on April 28, 1903, in Cuchara Junction, Colorado.
+++
By that time, Joseph had been released from the penitentiary and had settled in Wichita. He seems to have settled down, but was not necessarily a reformed character. He was cooling his heels in the Wichita city jail, for example, when the 1910 federal census was taken.
His death occurred overnight Jan 20-21, 1914, in his room at the Keystone Hotel. This report from The Wichita Daily Eagle of Jan. 23 tells us all we know of his final years. It was published under the headline, "Find No Clue to Family: Efforts to Locate Relatives of Dead Union Army Veteran Fail --- He Never Told Who He was."
+++
The death of Joseph W. Oliver, a Union Army veteran, at the Keystone hotel Wednesday night brought to light a mystery that friends of the dead man are trying to solve. It appears that no relatives of the man can be located. He was always very reticent about his relatives and when questioned would exhibit signs of uneasiness and would change the subject as soon as possible, the acquaintances report.
There is an indefinite clue that leads the authorities to believe that relatives are living at or near Des Moines, Iowa, but so far all communications sent there have failed to bring any word from them.
Mr. Oliver came here about eight years ago and obtained a position as night clerk of the Keystone hotel, where he remained until he became ill a few weeks ago. He was on friendly terms with all the members of the G.A.R. and had a few very intimate friends, but to none did he ever divulge any of the story of his past life. He died practically without funds.
The funeral will be held this afternoon from the Kirker and Marsh undertaking parlors at 2:30 o'clock. The services will be in charge of the Garfield Post of the G.A.R. Interment will be made in Highland cemetery.
No comments:
Post a Comment