San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1886-08-09
OUR MILITIA.
BOTH COMPANIES MAKE BRILLIANT
RECORDS,

And Crown the Victors.
Having regard TO the fact that the San An
tonic and Belknap Rifles are competitors in
the great state and interstate drill now holden
at Galveston, 1t is quite natural that anxious
eyes should be turned towards Camp Magru-
der and that news from that point should be
eagerly sought, but as the telegraph reports
are vague unreliable and unsatisfactory, we
must seek elsewhere for reliable news. The
LIGHT therefore reprints from the Galveston
News their reports upon the drill of the local
companies. They are written by one eXper'
fenced in military tactics and by an unpreju-
diced eyewitness, and may therefore ne re-
lied upon.
In critioising the drill of
THE BELKNAP RIFLES
for state and Interstate prizes, the News says:
.'Thc first company 10 drill in this contest
was the Belknap Rifles, Of San Antonio, Capt.
r. Green in command. This company has en-
tered for both the state and interstate contests,
hence they were forced to drill twenty-tour
men, while the preceding companies tnat had
entered for the state drill only, drilled but
sixteen. The uniform of the Belknaps Is
almost fac-simile of the L nitcd states regu-
latiOn artillery uniform, and consists OF DARK
blue blouse, with no trimmings; hght Dlue
pants with red stripe, white helmets with red
plume. This company, OrganiZed IN June,
1884, has won several prizes In local contests,
but were defeated by the Seay Rifles Of this
CITY for first place at the Lampasas encamp-
ment in june 1876. Their drill yesterday was
"a magnificent display of tactical ability, and
but a few movements were necessary 10 clear
liz demonstrate the fact, that for the state
prize they were far ahead of any command
that had preceded them in the drill, and before
the company was taken from the field IL was
evident that their chances were good for one
of the three interstate prizes, though hardly
for the first or capital prlze OF $500. IN the
manual by numbers the company at nrst dls-
played some little nervousness, which was
particularly noticeable in the individuals that
were
BROUGHT OUT VERY PLAINLY
by the white gloves against the dark back
ground, with no white cross-Oelts as n relief.
Their individual errors, however, IN me
manual were few, and the precision with
which the commands were executed
was frequently applauded. Their double
quick company wheel from executing the
manual was so much more CleYerly done than
the execution of the same command by other
companies that ii elected rounds of applause.
Their wheeling was generally good, except
somewhat crowded i'm double time. In the
quite difficult feature of the programme, exc
cutting the manual on company Wheel the
Belknaps commenced the wheel in excellent
style and were vociferously applauded. but
the symmetrical line was broken before the
circle was completed, by one or two irregu-
arites. Their firing by file was well done,
also the dOuble-rank firing The captain made
an error in not taking his men from the
ground in double time, but left il with the dis
tinctOn of being the only company up to that
time that had drilled the programme, and with
considerable time to spare.
The excellent drill of this company was
matter of general surprise, and until the San
Antonio Rifles shall have drilled, their claim
for the first place in the state contest is very
hattering, the only other company in the way
being the Sealy Rifles, Of Galveston, with the
GraysOn Rifles, of Sherman, looming up like
dark horse
Again In the next issue in critcising the drill
of the
SAN ANTONIO RIFLES,
the News says:
For the interstate contest the San Antonio
Il. ,.l..l h. afKnE naAa
was the first to drill, being called about
o'clock. The company is well proportional
and made Il very pretty appearance In their
handsome uniform of a dark blue dress coat
with white and gold trimmings, light blue
pants with white dOeskin stripe, white helmets,
blue and white plumes, white belts and cross
belts and blue and gold epaulets with white
fringe. This company won the first rize over
nine competitors at the state encampment ut
Lampasas last month, hence are the state
championships Houston Light Guard barred.
1t did not require many movements to de-
monstrate that this company was possessed OF
very superior qualities. Their manual, eX-
ccptng few individual errors, was
perfect and was the subject of fire.
qucnt applause and most favorable criti.
csm by the audience. They passed
the swivel stack without Il bObble, and their
company wheels and Ubliquings in quick and
double time were all cXccllcntly executed, cX-
Ccpt i'm few instances where distances were
not kept, and in the platoon wheels convex
front was presented when the reverse is per
missibe.
The marching of the company was scarcely
up TO the manual, but, on the whole, the COM
pany was quite on par, If not superior, TO
the Louisville Legion and Belknap Rifles, the
companies preceding them in the interstate
contest. These three companies, in fact, will
RANK VERY CLOSE IN THE SCORE,
and are all excellently drilled commands. The
firings of the San Antonio Rifles were hardly
up to the standard of excellence of the other
features of the manual, but their manual on
the wheel was so cleYcry done as to elicit
Tnun a other
movements. While the other companies
marched double time in column of file, this
company te executed Ser tnSi moy were an
times somewhat irregular, and in one
instance Il guide of file of fOurs lost his
place mOmentariy but all these were trivial
errors, and were more than cOunterbalanced
by the general excellence of the drill, which
was becoming the subject of general admira-
ton when the company, about the middle OF
the programme, made bad break in double
time oblque and were going to pieces, when
the captain completed the dilemma by run
ming them into the ropes. This lost the con-
idence of the audience more than IL seemed
to rattle the men, and the balance OF the pro-
gramme was executed quite as cleverly as the
first portion. This company completed the
programme in 30 minutes, point in their
taver.
The News in its issue yesterday, makes the
following tattering conclusions: Neither OF
the San Antonio companies are without
chance for capturing one of the interstate
prizes, and
THE FIRST STATE PRIZE
will unGuestionably go to San Antonio. The
other state companies that will win place
among the state prizes are the Bryan Rifles,
Sealy Rifles, and probably the Galveston
Artillery Light Guard, yet to drill. The
other companies that have drilled stand no
chance for place. The first and second state
prizes will beyond doubt go TO the San Anto-
MO companies but in what order IL will re-
qure the official score to determine. The
third prize, so far, lies between the Bryan
Rifles and Sealy Rifles, of Galveston, with the
Galveston Artillery Light Guard and the
Grayson Rifles yet to drill. The San Antonio
companies, which are the Belknap Rifles and
San Antonio Rifles, will also have the distinc-
ton of carrying of the first two state prizes,
drilling twenty-four men against sixteen
drilled by their competitors"
Many enquiries are made as to the system of
scoring adopted by the judges, and in reply
TO those enquiries the LIGHT would say the
system of scoring errors adopted by the board
of judges is as follows: Each perfectly exc
cuted movement counts a maximum of three
points A captains error counts zero, thus
destroying the companys possibility of scor-
ing three points. Individual errors count one
tenth against the score, or thirty individual err
rors are equivalent to cancelling perfectly
executed company movement.
From these pointers it will be seen that both
companies stand well and worthily maintained
the honor and dignity of the Alamo City.
There is an absurd rumor flying around the
city that Lieut.. Cushman, one of the judges,
who is an honorary member of the San AntO-
MO rifles, obtained for the San Antonio rifles
and gave the
GALVESTON DRILL PROGRAMME
sometime SINCE and thus gave them an undue
advantage. Whilst the LIGHT has no author
ity to correct the statement II frankly says
that IL does not believe IL. In the first place
there Is no reason to suppose that when Lieut..
that he would be judge, and in the second
place we don't believe that any United States