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 p99  Clarence Deems
No. 2521 Class of 1874
Died, May 29, 1824, at Baltimore, Md., aged 73 years.

Col. Clarence Deems, U. S. A., retired, a former well known officer of artillery, died in Baltimore, Md., May 29, 1924. He was born in Charlottesville, Va., Oct. 10, 1850, and was graduated from the U. S. M. A., in the Class of 1874, when he was assigned to the 4th Artillery.

 p100  Col. Deems was retired from active service Dec. 4, 1911, upon his own application, after more than forty years' service. Among his various services he has been on duty at Alcatraz Island, Fort Monroe, Washington Arsenal, Fort Warren, Fort Adams, Fort McPherson, San Francisco Barracks, Fort Hancock, Fort Worden, Fort Howard, and Fort Mason, and during the war with Spain he was in command of Fort Caswell and Fort Macon, N. C.

He took part in suppressing railroad disturbances in Maryland and Pennsylvania in 1877, and was also on duty as Professor of Military Science at Maryland Agricultural College from July, 1878, to July 1, 1881. He was on duty in the Philippines, where he performed highly creditable service. On one occasion in Manila, Gen. Otis, having heard that a conspiracy was on foot among the natives, sent for Col. Deems, then a captain in the 6th Artillery, and ordered him to look into it. The captain took with him about a dozen men, who followed at intervals, each keeping his predecessor in sight. He sauntered down the main street, and just as he was passing a closed door a Filipino gave three knocks so methodically as to attract the captain's attention. The door was opened and Capt. Deems, without even drawing his revolver, at once leaped inside and knocked the man senseless. He then grabbed the astonished doorkeeper before he could give a warning.

His men followed and the little band succeeded in taking prisoners a company of twenty-nine who were upstairs and could not get away. They also captured $43,000 in gold, found under an altar in an adjoining room, which was intended for Aguinaldo.

The family of Col. Deems is one prominent in Maryland history, and its members have been Americans for 250 years. His great-great-grandfather took an interest in the turmoil and strife of Colonial days. His great-grandfather, Frederick Deems, was a private in the Revolutionary War, and enlisted "for the war". His grandfather, Capt. Jacob Deems, served in the 1812‑1814 war with Great Britain at the battle of North Point. His father, Gen. James Monroe Deems, helped to organize and subsequently commanded the 1st Maryland Cavalry during the Civil War, and was brevetted brigadier general by Congress for bravery and gallantry on the field in a number of hotly contested battles.

His son, Lt. Col. Clarence Deems, Jr., Field Artillery, U. S. A., graduated from West Point in 1901, and is now at Fort Leavenworth.

Copied from Army and Navy Journal.

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