The San Francisco call., 1895-12-02

the captain told the Governor that if those
proceedings were approved he Captain
Trayer) would take steps to have the Gov
ernor removed. And finally it is stated,
that it was because his nephew, Lieutenant
D. L. Hughes, was one of the guilty par
ties, or that it was his ignorance OF mill
itary affairs. But whatever the reason,
his order is unprecedented in military an
nails, and according to those high in au-
thority most remarkable document. It
is stated that some powerful and cogent
reason must have been brought to bear,
since the order is a direct slap at Adiutant-
General Schwartz. The executive order
is not appended to the findings of the
court-martial, which have not been made
public, but starts out by saying that the
order reducing the non-commissioned
officers was illegal. since he did not officially
sign it; but inasmuch as Adjutant-General
Schwartz Is empowered to act for him, this
The order goes on to state that the court
martial was illegally convened, since he
did not issue the order. The Adiutant-
General fatty states that the order was
submitted to and approved of by him.
Now, having found that the men were IL
legally dismissed and the couft-martial
illegally convened, he views the Iatters s
action and says that even had it been le
gally convened he.should have revoked the
findings, since Captain Trayer was refused
four hours postponement, and states that
this action was disregarding the ninety
third article of war.
The statement that Captain Trayer
asked for pos.ponment OF only four
hours is fatty proclaimed an untruth by
those who claim to know. He says that
Colonel J. H. Martin, whom the men are
accused of disobeying, was in command of
the First Regiment, N. G. A., for admins
trative purposes only, and had no author
ity to act, since he could not place himself
in command, but had to wait upon the ac-
ton of a superior officer, and that the
proper ones to command were Ma jor John
A. Black, or, in his absence, Captain John
NJ. Trayer. Inasmuch as Colonel ]. II.
Martin was elected to the colonelcy of the
regiment by vote of the men, this action of
the Governor is unusual, because there is
no such thing as a colonel without
power to command known to military
usage. He also places Major John
A. Black ahead of Captain Trayer
when the latter, in event of his
criticism being we'll founded, outranks
Major Black. Again, he says that the
men are accused, in the charges made
against them before the court martial, of
insubordination while the regiment was
parading as a battalion, and that this
could not be since the battalion formation
was discontinued May 80, 1895. Just how
this disposes of the charge of insubordina-
ton is not clear to the old army men, who
are freely discussing the order in its en-
tirety. The Governor concludes his order
by statin. that the sentencing of the men
to jail was an error, since it was fragrant
disregard of the military code OF Arizona,
the proper section of which provides that
there shall be no punishment severer than
dismissal from service in time of peace.
After finding all this, however, Governor
Hughes flaty contradicts himself by ad-
hitting that there was insubordination
bordering on mutiny; that the men were
flagrantly culpable, and escaped punish
ment only on account of error and techni-
cality. This, in the opinion of army off,
GERS, is establishing precedent which, if
followed, would mean insubordination at
any time an inferior officer would feel dis
posed to disobey the orders of his superior.
The National Guardsmen are intensely
excited. Colonel J. H. Martin, it is
rumored, has sent in his resignation. The
adjutant- general may possibly send in his.
All the officers who presided at the court
martial have or will send in theirs, and
thus the National Guard of Arizona is
threatened with total disruption. On all
sides the men are accusing the Governor
OF incompetency, vacillation and weak
mess