The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-23
MORE TROUBLE OVER THE CUP.
THE GALVESTON TROPHY GROW
ING QUITE F'LIRTATIOUS.

Gen. Mabry Has Asked Capt. FOye of
the ThurstOns for an Amdavit, and
on That the Cups Fate Seems to
Depend The Question as 20
whether the Thurstons Received
the Challenge of the Morton Ca
dets-Capt. FOye's Rather Face
tIous Remarks About the savan-
nah Military.
The Military Interstate Association is
having a hard time over the Galveston
championship cup. for which some days
ago a contest was ordered here. to take
place in May. by Adjutant General W. II.
Mabry OF Texas. its trustee.
1t now looks as x there Is considerable
doubt as TO its coming. The Morning News
received a special dispatch from Austin.
Tex. last night giving Gen. Mabry's view
OF the case. II says:
The Savannah interstate drill and the
Galveston cup seem TO be in an interminal
tangle with the Thurston Rifles OF Omaha.
Yesterday Adjt. Gen. Mabry had a letter
from the Rifles in which Capt. Foye pro-
tests that his company will neither go to
Savannah nor allow the cup TO go saying
he never received a challenge from the
Morton Cadets, nor notification from the
drill management that they had been
challenged.
To-day Gen. Mabry has a telegram from.
President William Garrard Of the Savan-
nan association, saying that he wired
Capt Foye March 81, and received the re-
ply: Regret IL impossible to be there"
He also has letter from Capt. Foye under
date Of April l, confirming the dispatch of
the day before. Capt Schilling Of the
Morton Cadets wires afiidavits that he
mailed in the presence Of witnesses a
formal challenge to the Thurston Rifles.
Gen. Mabry has wired Capt FOye to know
If he viii make affidavit that he never
received the challenge
IF he makes the affidavit" Gen. Mabry
said, Il do not see swhat further steps
can be taken in the matter"
A special from Omaha. to the Morning
News says: THE Thurston Rifles of this
city, last year won at the Memphis drill
the Galveston cup. and, of course, brought
the magnificent trophy home with them.
The Galveston Exhibition Association,
which put the cup up for competition, gave
II over into the custody of Adjutant Gem
eral Mabry Of Texas, and formulated
rules governing the possession of the Cal
WESTON Semi-centennial championship cup.
The Thurston Rifles received the cup under
those rules and gave bond in the sum
OF 800 for its safe keeping.
The managers of the Savannah military
and rifle contest made demand upon the
IhurSton Rifles for this cup to be put up in
competition at the interstate drill in Sa-
Vannah in May. The Thurston Rifles pos
itively decline to surrender the cup at tlis
time, and have so notified the Savannah
managers and also Adj Gen. Mabry. ]
Capt. w. ]. Foye Of the Thurston Rifles
was Interviewed to-day. No" said he,
I'VE shall not surrender the Galveston
cup to the Savannah drill. Our reasons
for this determination are substantially
these; First the Thurston Rifles were not
challenged to participate in the Savannah
drill in the regular way and in accord
ance with established rules under which
we hold possession of the cup, Second,
the Savannah affair Is not military drill
In the strict sense, but by reference 20
their circulars II is evident at a glance
that the alleged drill is more of rifle con-
m f.
ures simply having been added as an after
thought in order to attract visitors
Rule 4 governing the possession of the
cup reads like this: The company holding
the cup must be prepared TO defend the
possession and custody thereof upon re-
ceiVng a challenge to that effect not more
than fifteen days after the announcement
of the interstate drill or encampment at
which Il is proposed to compete for said
cup This clause was utterly ignored by
the Savannah people, and we did not re-
ceive notice that the Rifles would be ex-
pected to compete at Savannah until the
hfteen-day limit had expired three or four
times over We then looked into the mat
ter Of prizes offered and found them to be
too insignificant for us to consider for a
moment, inasmuch as the expense of GO
ing to Savannah, the distance being great.
would be very heavy upon our boys. As
far as we can gather, the Savannah drill
is in no sense a regular competitive inter-
state drill of military companies. 1t is a
local affair and controlled by men who
know nothing about the rules and regula-
lions pertaining to military drills. The
many Irregularities in their procedure
looking to the securing of the Galveston
cup are, within themselves. fun justihca-
tion for our declining to either compete
in the drill or surrender possession of the
Galveston cup. have written the south
ern people fully on the subject. and am
confident have made our contention plain.
Our boys. however, are anxious to compete
this year, somewhere. They seriously OBJ
ject to the rigorous practice drill with no
hope of entering prize contests. But we
have determined that the Savannah peo-
pie shall not have the cup, and, of course,
are prepared to defend our position al all
hazards"