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the quarters at Fort Hunt. At the officer’ s request, Bradley cashed the check in Washington with a liquor merchant and paid Strebler’ s bill there, then used the remaining funds to settle Strebler’ s personal accounts at various other businesses in Washington and Alexandria. Bradley claimed … that he was only following orders and was aware of no wrong doing. He thought nothing of the episode until he later overheard the Quartermaster Sergeant and clerk mention that the contractor had been demanding payment for the painting job, but the check had somehow disappeared. At this point Bradley reported the incident to acting post commander First Lt. Willis C. Metcalf.
Digging though Strebler’ s confiscated files, an Army investigator found that the lieutenant had been using his position as Quartermaster, Commissary and even Athletics Officer to skim money from various post accounts. Strebler was placed under arrest in his quarters on Feb. 9, leaving Metcalf the only post officer not under suspicion of theft. The following day he broke arrest and fled Fort Hunt. Searching his quarters, Metcalf discovered that Strebler had destroyed all photographs of himself before escaping. Three months later, the errant officer had still not been apprehended, and was dropped from the rolls of the Army as a deserter.( Matthew D. Laird, PhD,“ By the River Potomac,” An historic resource study of Fort Hunt Park, George Washington Memorial Parkway, Mount Vernon, Virginia, Cultural Resources, Inc., 2000, pp 65-66) 3 Capt. Robert B. Asprey,“ Waller of Samar,“ Marine Corps Gazette, May 1961 4 Gates, John,“ The Pacification of the Philippines,” The U. S. Army and Irregular Warfare 5 Ibid 6 Ibid 7 Ibid 8 Frederick D. Grant, Department of South Philippines, War Department Report 1902, Vol. 9, p. 417
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