Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-08-13
THE CITADEL EMBROGLIO.

lin Military Academy, justice to myself as
we'll as to the cause of sound discipline in the
States military school constrains me reluc-
tantly to break my reticence in connection
with my resignation and to place the facts
before the public tribunal. The case is best
stated in the logical order of the following
communications:
/. Under date of July S, 1885, Colonel
Thomas, Superintendent, wrote as follows
to Genaral Hagood, Chairman of the Board
of Visitors:
"The Executive Committee of the Board
of Visitors having on recent occasion de-
clined to investigate report made by me
as Superintendent, of combination of a seri-
Gus character among the cadets of this Acad-
emy, and having further excused meeting
of said cadets, boldly held without the pre-
vious knowledge or sanction of the Superln-
tendent, both cases involving, as l hold,
principles vital to discipline, l take leave
| to state that I feel that have not been sus-
tained, and that the Executive Committee
has not given to my office the consideration
due to it under the law of the Academy.
"Hence / have the honor, agreeably to
Article 5th, Regulations, to give the re-
quired notice of resignation"
Soon thereafter Iapplied to the Chairman
for his consent to my making public this
notice of my resignation in order that the
issue made might be distinct and discon-
nected from subsequent developments. To
this the Chairman, on ground Of good of the
Academy, declined to assent.
9. Under date of August 2, 1885, Colonel
Thomas, Superintendent, wrote as follows to
General Hagood, Chairman Board of Visi-
| tors:
"Nfy communication of July 5, 1885, con-
tains the immediate grounds of my resigna-
ton. Desiring the Board of Visitors to
understand fully my cause of action, have
the honor to request that you submit to that
body the reports Nos. and 2, enclosed here
with, which the Executive Committee of
the Board did not deem it expedient to in
vestigate.
"While the serious differences of opinion
growing out of grave question of discl-
pline, and some discord in general between
the Board of Visitors and the Superintend-
ent, make my retirement from my office
imperative and irrevocable, let me here ex-
press the sentiment that moves me Of un-
impaired devotion to my Alpaa Mater. Con-
nected for nearly twenty years with the
old Academy and the new, and thus bound
to both by strong ties and tender memories,
I shall continue to maintain with unsWerv-
ing loyalty the cause of the Citadel. No long
er serving the Academy under the Board, I
shall be found in the ranks of the citizenship
of the State doing all in my power to mag
Nifty South Cardinals school of arts and
arms, an institution absolutely indispensa-
BILE to the full development of the mental
and moral forces of her youth. No longer
the executive of the Board, 1 shall be its
ally and it's champion in every wise meas
ure of its future administration.
"AlloW me to close with the expression,
heretofore made three years ago, of my ap-
probation of the confidence of the Board of
Visitors in calling me to the work OF re-
establishing this school, of reluming the
fires on the academic altar. In my sphere 1
have sought, God knows how earnestly, to
lay the foundations broad and deep; to make
the scholarship of the Academy thorough,
accurate and polished /; its soldiership indus
trious and genuine its code of ethics high
in fine to cast it in mould as lofty as l
could fashion. This has been my firm pur-
pose. How far have effected it, and to
what extent am myself responsible for my
unrealized ideal, shall leave to the public
Judgment. But this know, and will de-
clare, that builded the best knew how;
that I have tried to comprehend my trust
and to keep faithful to it with singleness
of aim.
sThat the Board of Visitors has sought
the good of the charge committed to it |
have never doubted; and my prayer is that
it's administration may be blessed with the
largest and best results for the Academy and
the country.
"When the time shall come for me to
relinquish my trust, congratulate myself
upon the fact that shall be enabled to turn
over to the Board of Visitors the Academy
in excellent working order, and without one
dollars Indebtedness"
3. On August 4, 1885, when the Board of
Visitors, sitting at the Citadel, were on the
eve Of adjournment sine die, Quartermaster
White, saying that he had been directed SO
to do, handed me the paper annexed. sign.
ed S. B. JONES' Secretary. 1t came without
previous consultation with the Superinten-
dent and was a surprise to that officer, be-
cause he had been led to conclude from the
individual views expressed to him by
member of the Board that the finding of the
Court of Inquiry would be the end Of the
Schirmer matter, and that my promotion
of Cadet Schirmer would not be called in
question.
Extracts from, Mnutes.l
"CADET SCHIRMER'S CAsE.-When the
recent Court of Inquiry was convened the
Board of Visitors reserved to itself to in
quire, beyond the charges and specifications
presented, into the fitness of Cadet Schirmer
for the office to which he was appointed.
Having discharged this duty,
"Resolued, That, considering all the cir
cumstances developed, while the Board have
acquitted Cadet Schirmer in the Court of
Inquiry of the charges affecting his charac-
ter as q gentleman, yet in their apprehen-
sion the academic career of the Cadet does
not exhibit qualifications enabling him to
discharge the duties of an officer usefully
to the Academy. The Superintendent is,
therefore, directed to revoke Cadet Schir-
mer's appointment as Sergeant of the
corps"
Immediately upon its receipt, inviting
the Chairman to my office, l respectfully
but briefly notified him that, deeming the
order illegal, I did not intend to execute it.
He replied, in substance, that there was
nothing more to be said, and the interview
ended. here state, in Vindication of my
soldierly character, that l stood on these
grounds: the regulations of the Academy
make up the code of the Academy and
stand to the Board of Visitors and the Super
intendent in the relation of army regula
tions to officers and subordinates. The reg
uations of the South Carolina Military
Academy, though made up by the Board of
Visitors, under the authority conferred in
the Act passed December 2, 1912, and en-
titled "An Act to convert the Arsenal at
Columbia and the Citadel and Magazine in
and near Charleston into military Schools"
are binding equally on the Board and on the
Superintendent.
Art. 5, Regulations S. G. M. A., reads:
"The Superintendent will have immedi-
ate government of the Academy, and be
held responsible for its correct manage
ment''
Art. - reads thus: "The cadets of the
Academy shall constitute military corps,
and shall be subjected to military discipline
under command of the Superintendent"