The St. Johns herald., 1896-02-29
ANNIVERSARY
Of the One Hundred and SiXty. Fourth Birthday Of the Father Of Cur :.
 Country.

In accordance with the provisions
 of the Military Code of the Terri
 tory of Arizona, which make it q
 duty 10 observe the Fourth of July
 and the 22d of February of each
 year, Company K, First Regiment
 N. G. A., Of this place, on last Sat
 urday, celebrated the one hundred
 a d sixty fourth birthday of George
 Washington, the first President ol
 the United States, in proper and fitting manner. A programme of
 exercises had been prepared, which
 was faithfully rendered, and all Of
 the members nf the company upon
 whom devolved the success of the occasion, acquitted themselves in a handsome manner.
 At 10 o'clock in the forenoon the company, under command of Cap tain Walter G. Scott and Lieuten- ants Tom Peterson and s. Nj. Craig, formed in front of the Armory, on Commercial street, and then par aded the principal streets of the town The line of march ended at the ground in front of Assembly Hall, and was viewed over the en- tire route by our admirlng and in- terested citizens.
 Upon arriving at the plaza front ing the hall, drill oi one houl was held, the exercises being in the open order or skirmish formation. This portion of the exercises was under the immediate command oI of Lieutenant s. N. Craig, and elicited much praise and favorable comment from the large number of citizens who witnessed 1t. Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon Lieutenant Craig and the members of the company for the admirable manner in which he handled the command and the prompt manHer in which they ex- ecuted the commands as given. A very favorable feature of these ex- erclses, and one indicating the in- terest at present taken in the ai- iairs oI the National Guard by the members of Company K, was the fact that every officer, commissioned 1 and non commissioned, oi the com pany was present, the absent ones, l what few of them were unavoidably | so, being privates.
 Immediately after the drill, the company again took up the line ot march, returning to the Armory. | Upon arriving on the ground i'm in front of the ball, the command was inspected by Major Ii, J. Platt, late of the Utah Ma tional Guard. The officers and men presented very crediiable ap- pearance and passed a very favor able inspection.
 At the conclusion of this cere- mony, Corporal Fred L. Davis was ito the front and center" and in a brief speech by Major Platt, was presented with a beauti- fuI silver medal in recognition of his soliierlY qualities, and particu- larly because of the creditable man. ner in which he passed the regular annual inspection last Decembpls The resentati0n was made in Ma jor Platl's most happy manner,and it was evident that the old veteran was at his hest. Immediately after this very agreeable part of he ex- 4rcises the command was dismissed for dinner.
 At one o'clock the men bers of the company were again called to- and at once marched to the target range south of town, and, after being divided into two squads by LieutenantS Peter son and Craig respectively, inau- gurated the shooting season for his year hy friendly contest he ween the tpo squads. The shoot