Marian E. Lindberg - Scandal On Plum Island: A Commander Becomes the Accused

Benjamin Koehler as a West Point cadet.

Courtesy Mary Elke.

SCANDAL ON PLUM ISLAND:
A Commander Becomes the Accused

Copyright 2020 by Marian E. Lindberg

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published by

EAST END PRESS

Bridgehampton, NY

ISBN: 978-1732491274

Ebook ISBN: 97817324912-81

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020904007

First Edition

Book Design by Neuwirth & Associates

Cover Design by Mark Karis

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

An island is one great eye

gazing out, a beckoning lighthouse,

searchlight, a wishbone compass,

or counterweight to the stars.

Yusef Komunyakaa, Islands

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

T he captain wore a see-through dress. No dispute about that. Even the captain admitted that in a certain light, guests at the party could see the outline of his body through the muslin shift.

Months later, a lawyer would press for details: Was the dress tied at the waist? What color and length were the captains socks? Did others treat him as if you were a woman?

But on this night, the night of November 1, 1913, a carefree party was in progress on an island with spectacular sea views, whose sole inhabitants, except for the lighthouse keeper, were employees of the U.S. Army and their families. Peace prevailed on Plum Island, as in the rest of the nation, allowing late Halloween revelry to be the order of the evening for some.

Cold winds off the Atlantic announced the approach of winter, but conditions were more enticing inside Captain Philip Worcesters spacious two-story house. Dance tunes from a player piano set a high-spirited tone, and a basement furnace supervised by an Army private kept the rooms warmwarm enough for the host to wear a light dress with little underneath.

Worcester would later say he had borrowed an old, loose dress of my wifes. The highest-ranking officer at the party, Major Benjamin M. Koehler, found that hard to believe. Mabel Worcester was petite, nothing like her husbandthe six-foot, athletic new leader of the 100th Company at Fort Terry, a sprawling coast defense post off eastern Long Island.

Worcester, 34 years old, also bore little resemblance to Major Koehler, Fort Terrys commanding officer, who stood at best five foot three. Koehler, 41 and single, had gained weight since his West Point days and service in the Philippines, where food was both scarce and vile. A live-in cook prepared his meals now, and there was a slight bulge between the fourth and fifth buttons of his uniform, in contrast to Worcesters toned physique.

Worcesters leadership of the 100th Company had taken effect the day of the party. Come midnight, guests could also toast the Worcesters first wedding anniversary. Though he claimed the party was his wifes idea, Worcester certainly acted like a celebrant. He led the dancing, gestured gaily with his arms, and greeted guests in mock flirtation with a fling of his skirt.

Yet the hosts cavorting belied a deep resentment over his new place of residence. Geologically, 840-acre Plum Island was a marvel, the outer lands of a glacially created moraine with seventeen soil types and a freshwater wetland supporting many species of plants and birds. To the Worcesters, though, the island was a backwater, an earthen slab with more gulls than peopleand a five-hour trip by boat and train if Mabel wanted to see her family in New York City.

Major Koehler, the watchful leader of the islands seven hundred soldiers, did not make Worcester any happier about his new assignment. In a mere three months, the two had differed several times, from a dispute over a private labeled the majors pet by one of Worcesters friends to Worcesters dancing and kissing parties, which Koehler considered not respectable.

It had been a long day for Koehler, cantering around the island to monitor the monthly exchange of soldiers. A book, a cocktail, and his favorite chair would have made for a perfect evening, but fatigue was no match for the persuasive powers of his younger sister, Sophia, who lived with him on Officers Row in a shingled house just like the Worcesters. When Koehler had arrived home, Sophia was dressed up to go to the party and she wanted me to go, Koehler later said. Sophia assured her brother that he could leave early and he agreed to accompany her, surprising no one by showing up in his dress uniform rather than a costume.

Not so for Captain Richard Ellis, who tied a ribbon around his neck and came as the cartoon character Buster Browna wealthy boy with long blond hair, pantaloons, Mary Jane shoes, and other feminine features. Lieutenant John Smith also cross-dressed for the occasion, but Worcester went the furthest. In addition to the diaphanous dress, he wore a bonnet pinned with a fake braid of hair, and he periodically raised his hands to his face, curtsied, and affected shyness, supposedly imitating the behavior of a country girl, in his words.

Worcesters manner of feigning a country girl disgusted several women present, including Sophia, especially when she saw the sheerness of the dress in the bright light of the basement, where a dinner of ham, peas, and beans was served. Pillars created a nook in which the Worcesters placed a tablecloth on the floor, surrounded by seats of sandbags and straw, cornstalks, pumpkin lanterns, and witches cut from black cloth. The decorations may have been appropriate, but the hosts costume was not. Sophia called it indecent.

Guests descended to the basement by means of a cobweb game. As Koehler described it, each person was given a piece of ribbon or string and we were told to follow that out and see what was the end of it and these strings went into different rooms and up the stairs and circulated around and finally lead [ sic ] to the basement, where we had supper.

Both Koehler and his sister remembered guests dancing before the game, passing time until everyone arrived. Sophia recalled that Mabel insisted upon my going into the parlor where they were dancing, because I had on a zerape, and she wanted them to see it.

Whenever it occurred, the dancing was another strike against Worcester, who had a very peculiar way of holding one, in the first place, and then he sort of wiggled, according to Sophia, who found it not at all pleasant to dance with him. It was vulgar.

At one point, Worcester danced the Highland fling, a Scottish reel that originated to mark battle victories and later came to serve as a test of mens stamina. While the performance of a dance signifying masculine strength by a man dressed as a woman may have seemed like a parody, the scene was more like a warning, for Worcester would soon be claiming that one of the men at the party deserved to be thrown out of the Army and imprisoned as a traitor to his gender.