The Train Waited for Its Drunk Captain
Capt. W. P. Goodwin faced a court-martial after his command waited at the Spokane depot while he was missing—and allegedly intoxicated—during the 1894 railroad strike.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
VANCOUVER, Wash., Aug. 29.—A general court-martial has been summoned to convene at Vancouver September 5 for the purpose of trying Capt. W. P. Goodwin, Company G, Fourteenth Infantry, United States Army, on several charges of drunkenness while on duty. The specifications have not been made public, and, indeed, in the special order calling the court-martial neither the name of the accused officer nor the nature of the charges against him appears, but the purpose of assembling the officers is definitely known.
There are several counts in the charge, among others that while on duty at Spokane during the late strike, on July 22, 23 and 24, Capt. Goodwin was guilty of drunkenness. The captain had been with Company G at Huntington, Or., guarding a number of Coxeyites who were sentenced to imprisonment in a barricade there for stealing a train. After this duty was discharged and during the strike Company G was ordered to Spokane. It was made part of its duty to escort the west-bound overland Northern Pacific trains from that city to Tacoma. Goodwin's command was ordered to the depot to await the arrival of the train, but when the cars came in the captain, it is said, was nowhere to be found. The soldiers were, however, placed aboard the cars, and then the entire train, soldiers, passengers and all, awaited patiently the arrival of the derelict commanding officer. When he finally came he is said to have been intoxicated.
After the return of the command to Vancouver Capt. Goodwin is alleged to have repeated his offense. At the close of dress parade one evening, and when the officers had assembled in front of Col. Anderson for the purpose of making their reports, it is alleged that Capt. Goodwin presented himself in a state of intoxication. The colonel himself is reported as being horrified by the personal discovery of the captain's condition.
Capt. Goodwin is very well known throughout the Northwest. His social connections are very high, and his official record is good. He was appointed to a lieutenancy in the army from civil life from Ohio in 1876 by the president, and was made first lieutenant in 1885 and captain last March. He was for two years at Seattle on recruiting duty, and with his family moved in the highest social circles.
“the entire train, soldiers, passengers and all, awaited patiently the arrival of the derelict commanding officer.”
The 1894 railroad strike put federal troops in the middle of a labor war, and officers were expected to keep their commands steady. Goodwin's case became a public scandal because the train itself—soldiers, passengers and all—sat waiting for its missing captain. Questions about military discipline and public accountability still surface whenever troops are deployed amid civil unrest.
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