Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-12-02

failed TO show up on Thanksgiving morning
have earned for themselves decidedly I'M
enviable reputation, for 1t is only natural
to conclude that men who would shirk duty
some guardsmen did could not be de-
pended upon in time of necessity; officers
who would loaf as some officers did on that
occasion would hardly fail to be sick
II the command should chance to be called
into service. When New York or Penn
sylvania New Jersey Massachusetts
regiment is ordered to assemble on 1 public
holiday, the only men absent are those
who have been excused for some urgent rea-
son; absence without leave would result
seriously. Similar procedure as to delin-
quents is as necessary here as in the states
mentioned. and the time would seem to be
near at hand when some National Guards
men who wear shoulder straps and others
who are without decoration should be
taught that the day of the play-soldier has
gone by. No man is compelled to join the
| National Guard-hc may come in or stay
| OUTPUT when he has once taken the oath
| the voluntary feature no longer exists; he
| is bound to the service and must comply
with the regulations by which the service
| is governed
| The Experience Was a Good One.
| The riot drills were in the main extremely
| satisfactory. For a while-that is, during
| the first half hour or so-the recruits were
somewhat at sea, so to speak. but they soon
| got over that, and then followed well-exe-
| cuted movements. Several army officers
| were interested spectators and some of
them were quite complimentary in their
criticisms.
| Talking of his experiments to a Star re-
porter, Col. Clay of the second regiment
! said: Il began drilling my regiment at
| N NJ shA
street at 10 o'clock and l drilled the men
| continuously from the corner of 10th street
and Massachusetts avenue cut to 10th
street. and out 18th street to near the
! Boundary and back again to Scott Circle.
We returned to the armory at l O'Clock.
having drilled for about three hours al
most without ceasing. That was the first
instruction in street riot drill that the regi-
ment had had except a short drill at Ivy
| City last fall. Most of the men out Thurs
day were not present on the previous oc-
| casion and there were good many OF
! those who reported for duty who were new
and uninstructed in the school of the SOL
der and the ordinary company movements.
For this reason some of the evolutions were
quite ragged at first, and not altogether
satisfactory, but under the circumstances
| the movements were well executed, suffi-
| GENTLY SO to show that the formations pre-
scribed are good and simple enough to be
| executed without trouble under conditions
of actual combat. There are several points,
notably the use of twos instead of tours by
the second and third companies in street
square. that are better and more in &C
cordance with the spirit of the new drill
| regulations than the movements of riot
drill prescribed by those same regulations.
This spirit is one of common sense. The
| movement by twos enables the square 10
| operate in any direction from which The
danger may come Little attention was
paid to the sharpshooters and they were
rather left to themselves for in cases Of
! actual necessity there will be usually
permanent detail. sufficiently so TO keep
| the men we'll Informed as to the exact du-
| ties required of them. They will always be
selected by virtue of their scores marks
men and thus there will be little uncer-
tainty as to the character of the detail.
They can be drilled individually till they
will be we'll nigh perfect. l think 1t would
| be a very good thing to continue the in
struction in street riot drilling at inter-
walls throughout the winter. 1t is proba BILE
that Thursdays maneuvers will attract the
attention of all the members of the guard
and before the winter is over there will
have been opportunity to give each man
! instruction. We will have the entire regi-
ment well coached by the spring. so that
good battalion will be able to take care of
itself anywhere 1t will probably be pre-
fcrable to take the men out at night; that
would not interfere with their duties and
there would be little or no Interference
from crowds"
Col. Moore Satisfied.
Speaking to Star reporter of the riot
drill of his command, the first regiment
on Thanksgiving day, Col. VIM. G. Moore
stated that he was exceedingly well pleased
with it's success and thought it reflected
great credit upon the officers and men en-
gagged Such maneuvers were not only a
relief from the monotony arising from par
ticipation In the regular drills, but more
| than that, il was a very valuable matter of
instruction to the officers and men. 1t was
of course impossible to say when, if ever
there might be necessity for putting such
drill in practical use. but nevertheless
such a contingency might arise at any
time, and for that reason riot drills should
take place as frequently hereafter as prac-
ticable.
Officers, Attention!
Tonight an important meeting Is sched-
u!ed to take place in the WASHINGTON Light
Infantry Armory. commencing at T:3O
o'clock. Every officer in the brigade, non
combatants alone being excepted. should
have received by mail an invitation to be
present. A lengthy assembly is not prob
able. in fact 1t is expected that the meet
ing Will conclude IN about half an hour
1t Is the first movement in the new season
! toward increasing the efficiency OF the
brigade in the important method OF rifle
practice, and that this effort may be pri-
mariy successful it is necessary that every
officer who can possibly get there be on
/ hand a few minutes before the specified
time. From this day forth rifle practice
Will be more prominent in the general fig
| ure OF merit than II has ever been so IL
behooves the officers who want to keep up
I with the procession to take an interest IN
the en6eavor which has been SO carefully
planned.
Gallery Rifle Competitions.
The rifle practice season for 1894 opened
yesterday morning. OF course there Will
be none but voluntary practice until after
January l. but until that date the gallery
will be open each week day from 10 to o
and on such evenings as battalion inspec-
tors Of rife practice may believe to be
necessary for the practice OF members of
their respective commands. At the last
meeting Of inspectors of rife practice held
Monday evening at brigade Headquarters
! 1t was decided TO set aside one night in
the gallery for each battalion, so as to
stir up the spirit of emulation before official
practice commences The program calls
| for the organization of team of ten men
| In each company, these company teams
! to compete on the night set apart for their
battalion. On the evening of Monday the
| llth instant, four teams from the first
| battalion will shoot in competition with
each other at the first ba ttalion range and
on the same evening the four teams from
the second battalion wiz compete In the