Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1885-10-30
Military Matters.

hnfC LOuCuCu q PAUSE Ill CIT
cles. The boys are resting after the Aberdeen
campaign but will doubtless begin in few DAYS
toprepare for our drill November 18th.
The SOuthrons held meeting last night to
discuss matters pertaining to the trip to Aber-
deen and the drill here in November, at which
1t Is expected that they will finally win and
clinch their title to the championship Of Mis-
sisslppi.
The Rifles will hold meeting at their armory
tonight at which every member Is expected to
be present. We look for great tldIngs from this
brilliant young company In November
The next drill will be the glorious contest of
the sweet Sweepers. The sweetest sweeper will
be awarded prize broom. The exhibition is
expected to take place the latter part Of this
week, and the man that fails to see It will miss
haif his life. The young ladies are the fairest
OF Vicksburg's society bellies, and theiruniforms
will be as unique as their tactics.
The Fair Association lessees held meeting
last evening and decided to change the schedule
OF prizes for military as follows: First prize.
81 200; second prize 800; third prize, $500 The
prizes II the maiden drill were placed at S306 to
The first, and 500 to the second Individual
prlzes VIII be announced before the drill and
they will be the finest ever given in the State.
we are glau 10 state THAT prominent gentle
man from Aberdeen, in a private letter to a
friend here, writes that he has assurances that
the West Point Rifles will certainly come to our
drill in November. This will be agreeable news
TO the people OF our city, who are anxious to see
anotner contest between the West Point Rifles
A prominent gentleman, of this city, who was
az Aberdeen with the military, tells us that he
true 1acts concerning the West Point Rifles fail.
nre 70 drlll at Aberdeen have never been told to
the the PuDnc dtl ne says that Capt, Levy related
tne lacIs 10 hlm and was correlated by
several leading citizens of West Point
aswell as prominent lady Of that D ace, Capt
levy SAD that the reason his company did moi
enter Ior the Aberdeen drill before October 81
| was simply and solely because most OF his men
| were ClSrkS and their nmnlnvnra VvOuId n0f
SELL. SthC az nrst to lei them go. After it was seer
MnaI Dig affair the drill was going to be the
Ie nIlel elvnilngs gave their consent In response tC
wo,, ~ SOLICITATIONS OF nearly ever man and
MhOinan tho,, ~ In West Point, and his company was
l,t Glen compelled to apply for the unanimous CON
senI OF all the other companies already eutered.
Several days elapsed before the consent was
finally obtained and so much valuable timc had
been lost that he concluded that his men could
not have practice enough to do themselves JUS
tice in such competition as was before
them and therefore he would
not allow them to enter. They thought no more
Of the matter until they read tile article headed
"Was it a bluff" and then his company was
forced to enter; prepared or unprepared they
could not rest under such an imputatiOn as that
article implied ne telegraphed to Dallas, Tex
as, for one or his men, who was travelling
man, and to Alabama for another and the CON-
pany paid their expenses TO come home to the
drill. He said his men had no practice until a
week before the drill and even then he could
nOJ EeG MS Wnole ledn IOgeDneT. He cOuIu not
see why If it was friendly contest, ibis compa-
ny could not be allowed oenter the day before
the drill as well as a week before and he took
them to Aberdeen with the confident
exIiPectaatioH eIipSda drii That HEy they would be
company was entered would certainly not make
any other company drill any worse, and he did
not see why they should oppose it unless they
were afraid Of the result Several of the mem
beTs of the West Point Rifles also stated in re-
gard tO that hfOOn nOicOdn thnt xUhiln tbatr
ton may have been precpitate 1t was done un-
der great pr0V0cati0n and the company intend
ed no want0n insult to anybody. They said that
they had been humillated by being barred out Of
the dill, and then Snubbed In various quarters,
and finally just before the episode referred to
they had been greeted with mock cheers for "the
hOosiers." They say 1t was enough to
make saint mad and they are no saints. They
said they had only the kindest feelings
towards Vicksburg and its citizens and
would always remember with gratitude
the kind treatment received at their
hands. In this connection it may
be well to state that 1t was not the Aber-
deem Fair Association that barred them out,
but the captains Of the companies already
entered except Capt. Lincoln OF the Columbus
Rifles, who was absent These officers held a
secret session and each was pledged not to
reveal what occurred IN order to elicit the
frank sentiments Of each and all. 1t was
generally understood that the Vicksburg Rifles
and their captain, Martin Marshall, were in
favor Of admitting the West Pointers and mas
much as they were ruled out the other captains,
OF the Meridian Rifles, SOuthrons and Aberdeen
Guards, must have been against them. This
however is only surmlse since no one except
those officers knows what occurred in the meet
ing.
We learn from aIprlvate letter received here
yesterday that "the belle Of the State" as the
Plcayune calls her, Miss Mary Lou Green, of
Aberdeen, the Vicksburg Rifles Sponsor, will
visit Miss Annie Wright during tho drill here In
November. We suppose this will be good news
thing or anybody but Miss Green since their re-
turn. Some Of our girls say they might Just as
well go back to Aberdeen and stay there.