St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-06-06
FIGHTING JACK ON TOP
Gov. Merriam Sustains the
Action Of His Adjutant
General.
The Third Regiment May in
Consequence Go to
Pieces.
Gen.. Mullen Says the State
Wants Men to Obey
Orders,
And Is Not at All Worried by
Threats Of Other
officers.

The officers of the Third regiment
who have rendered their designations. as
result of the adjutant generals order
in regard to the reinstatement OF Ser
geant Bates. of Company G, will not be
asked to reconsider their action. They
are:
Col. Fred P Wright, Lieut.. Col. j. C. Shan
drew; Capt. E. l.. Reed, Company b, Anoka;
Lieut.. g. H. McGil, regimental adjutant;
Lieut.. c. Maudlin, regimental inspector of
small arms practice; Lieut.. s. II. McLaugh-
lin, regimental quartermaster.
Others are said to be ready to resign,
and in fact the regiment is on the point
of disruption. Yesterday morning a
meeting of the officers of the regiment
was held at the Merchants hotel. Its
object was to hear statement of the
facts in the case from Col. Wright and
to select committee to appear before
the governor to effect reconciliation.
Col. Wright told the story of the Bates
matter from beginning to end, and fully
explained his reasons for resigning his
commission. The history of the affair
in brief is about this:
First of all, Sergeant Bates, year
ago, made charges against Capt. Creigh,
of Company g. The charges accused
the captain of having appropriated the
funds of the company to his own use.
Capt. Creigh- was couIt-martialed and
acquitted. He retained Sergeant Bates
in the regiment despite the evident ami
mostly felt against him by the man.
When, however, Bates became abso-
lutely insubordinate, fell out of the
ranks at drill and refused to obey Or
ders, he was discharged from the serv-
ice. Bates subsequently wrote to Capt.
Creigh apologiZing for the charges he
had made, and admitting that he was
wrong. at the same time he asked re-
instatement. He had previously APP
pealed to the adjutant general.
and had been referred to the
officers of the regiment. On his
promise to obey orders, Capt. Creigh
wrote to Col. Wright, recommending
that Sergeant Bates be reinstated. Col.
Wright approved the recommendation
to Adjt. Gen. Mullen. The officers
claim that no notice was taken of the
recommendation, though twice
The Adjutant's Attention
was called to the matter and an appeal
made for prompt action. The action
taken by Adjt. Gen. Mullen is shown in
the following general order:
HEADQUARTERS NATIONAL GUARD,
Adjutant Generals Office,
ST PAUL, Mimi, May 49, 1891.
GENERAL ORDER NO. 6.
On the Sth day of Januury, 1891, Sergeant
A. A. Bates, Company G, Third infantry, was
reduced to the ranks and discharged for the
good of the service.
This discharge was executed and delivered
in the usual manner by the commanding Off
Ger of the Third infantry, upon the recon-
mendation of the commanding officer of
Company G.
The attention of the communicating chief
has been particularly and earnestly called to
the case of Sergeant Bates. and from the evil
dence in his possession he is convinced that
a grave injustice and gross wrong has been
done worthy CITIZEN and conscientious
soldier
1t is therefore ordered, that A. A. Bates be
and he is hereby reinstated as member OF
the national guard of this state. The COM
handing. officer of The Third infantry is here
by authorized and directed to execute and
deliver to the said Bates an honorable dis
charge from the military service of the state,
if he shall request such discharge.
Section seven 60, article two (2), General
Laws of 1888, governs the subject of dis
charge, and reads as follows: Discharges,
except upon expiration of term of service,
shall only be granted in case of permanent
removal from the state or from the city or
town In which the company of the member
seeking the discharge is located. or for phys
ical disability. for the good of the service
ine language OI lIle law is at DeSC unSallS-
factory and uncertain. The word honor
able is not included in the section, yet the
term honorable discharge is as OLD as the
government itself. 1t is safe to assume that
it was the intention of the legislature to
grant an honorable discharge to each mem
Der of the national guard at the expiration
of term of service, for removal from station
or state, and for physical disability. 1t may
also appear for the interest of the state to-
discharge a man 'for the good of the serv-
ice" and yet the party may be deserving of
an honorable discharge. If this is true, then
it is an I'M Justice and "a wrong, glaringy vi
cious, to push him out of the service with a
discharge clouded with doubt.
1t is therefore ordered, that no enlisted
man shall be entitled to a discharge for
physical disability, save and except upon the
written certificate of the surgeon of his COM
mand or from the assistant surgeon, approved
by the surgeon.
1t for the interest of the service to have any
enlisted man of his command discharged for
the good of the service, he will add to his
recommendation brief but clear statement
of the facts in writing and forward to regi-
mental headquarters. Regimental command
ants will then forward the same TO general
headquarters with their approval or disap-
proval, for the information of the com
mander-in- chief.
Hereafter all changes in the national
guard, including all enlisted men discharged
for the good of the service, will be published
i'll general orders monthly, for the lnforma-
ton of all interested No enlisted man will
be dropped from the rolls as discharged for
the good of the service; neither will regi-
mental commandments execute and deliver
such discharges until the name of the per-
son SO discharged shall appear in general
orders
BY the command of the governor.
n