The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-31

the issue 70 the military advisory board
which, under Sec. xxi Of the act Of lSs5,
has power 70 disband the company. You
may use this letter as YOU may deem best
10 serve the interests Of the lawful and
law abiding military organizations OF the
state. Very respectfully and truly yours,
George a. Mercer,
Col. lst Vol. Regt. Of Ga.
Col Mercer said unless Il is necessary he
Will probably not go any further in the
matter than ne has already done. Col
Gambler, 10 whose regiment the Guard once
belonged. Is very much interested in the
matter OF bringing the recalcitrant com
pany 70 teens. and he has also requested
letters from several OF the field officers
here. Mai A. r. LawtOn, Jr-, recently
wrote letter to Gov. Atkinson on the
subject. In response 10 this request.
Maj. Lawton said wherever he had heard
any discussion Of the matter he had heard
but one opinion expressed, and that was
that this defiance OF the state authority
by the Gate City Guard ought 70 be stopp-
ed He stated in his letter 10 the governor
that he understood the Guard was a pri-
vate organization and had endeavOred 20
have the present legislature pass a bill
giving it the right to parade as well as 9TH
or rights which are allowed only to the
regularly and legally organized militia. He
spoke also Of the fact that the governor
had denied the company the right 10 pa
rade on Memorial day. but it had done so
in defiance of authority.
There is a deep interest taken in the
matter he SAID, and If the military laws
can be openly violated. the task of keep
ing up the military organization will be
doubly difficult. with the Guard as an
example, he said, there might at any time
spring up armed bodies. white or black,
which would necessarily be dangerous and.
10
not inquire into the wisdom Of the militia
laws on the statute books, he said, but
there was no doubt that the law has been
violated. Maj. Lawton referred to the fact
that the company which was violating the
law was located in Atlanta, the capital OF
the state, which made the matter even
worse He stated, i'm conclusion. that he
had no desire to interfere in any manner,
with the execution of the law, but merely
desired to express the sentiments general
ly of the military In this section with ref
erenee to the subject. Maj. Lawton has
also written letter TO Col. Gambler.
There is no doubt about the fact that
there is considerable feeling over the at
itude Of the Guard, and that. too, right
here in Savannah In fact. it has been the
live topic in military circles for several
days. The opinion expressed is every
where the same, and that is that some &C,
ton should be taken in the matter without
some members of the state militia are ask
ing the question as to why they should be
required to enlist and do regular duty
when another company can have the same
rights and privileges without performing
these duties, which are required by law
There are companies in Savannah which
are Incorporated just as the Gate City
Guard. and nobody controls them, but they
would never be allowed to withdraw from
the enlistment rolls Of the state and 10
secure their own arms. There is no doubht
a strong pressure being brought to bear to
bring about some speedy action in the
matter.
Lieut.. Col. Peter Reilly of the First
Georgia regiment has also been
requested to write letter
to the governor on the sub
ject of the Gate City Guard and their at
titude to the state Col. Reilly wrote a
letter to Col. Gambler Of the Fifth regi-
ment of infantry instead, giving his
ideas on the subject. Col. Gambler will be
privileged to use the letter as he deems
best.
las a member of the advisory board l
have already officially expressed my opin-
ion in the action of the board at it's last
meeting, requesting the governor to take
steps in the matter" said Col. Reilly to
a Morning News reporter. AZ approve
fully everything that Col Mercer has
said. The claims of the Gate City Guard
to special exemption on account of its
charter. and on account of the age of
the company, are preposterous. With one
exception every one of the Savannah
commands are older than the Guard
Most of them are very much older, some
being nearly half a century older. These
commands, too, have charters, but we do
not construe them to give us special priv
ileges contrary to the general military
laws of the state. 1 do not believe the
claims of the Guard, under it's charter
are well founded. even allowing that the
charter when granted did confer special
privileges. In my opinion the company
has lost the rights granted under its
charter. The history of the company has
been a varied one 1t has been reorgan-
led no less than three separate times, at
one time going completely out of exis-
tence This being the case 1 do not be-
leve ii has any rights under its original
charter at all and / shall call Col. Cand-
ler's attention to these points in my let
ter to him.