Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-05-16
Mortons Congratulated on All Sides
Upon Their Success.
FETED 1T CLUBS And ARkORIES
The Juvenile Troop Of Young
Hussars a Feature.
DE SOTO MATCH GOES OVER
From The Stars STAFF Correspondent.

| SAVANNAH, Ga, May Is, 1926.
May week il fast drawing to close, for
| this evening the announcement of the
| judges Of the prize contests was made,
when the Morton Cadets formally received
the title Of champion military company Of
| the United States" and s., 500 in cash. The
| work Of Capt. Shilling and his company
| has been the talk of the town, and since
| the contest every Individual wearing an
M. c." cap has been stopped on the
streets and heartily congratulated by en-
tire strangers. Without doubt the Mortons
are by far more highly regarded than any
Of the visiting organizations, and in fact,
the youngsters are treated heroes. 1t
seems that everybody. particularly the
members Of the Savannah companies, are
daft on the subject of the Morton Cadets;
the latter are being feted without cessa-
ton at all the armories and clubs, and en-
thusiastic cries of whats the matter with
the Mortons?" and the equally sincere
ply They're all right, all right" with the
accent on the ALL are heard at every
hour. day and night, on the streets, at the
theater and On the electric cars Should the
boys be found egotistical On their return
nome, 1T would be well to remember that
| the cause has been almost Irresistible.
Savannah is a military city. and her
troops have certainly pro1ited by the COM
ing OF the Morton Cadets. The state SOL
SUCH an exhibition of tactical drilling that
| they freely admit, until this week, was
never dreamed of.
Although the Oglethorpe Infantry the
only competitor of the Morton Cadets. ia
| q Georgia company. no prejudice against
the Washington lads has been apparent
locally.
Impartial Story of the Contest.
The leading Savannah paper. in its re-
! port of the drill. very accurately states the
story of the contest follows:
The Galveston semi-centennial cham
| ponship cup, the s., 500 prize offered by the
Military Interstate Association of Savan-
nah and the championship of the United
States belong to the Morton Cadets of
Washington, DC.
The honor was fairly won by the COM
pany yesterday in the best exhibition drill
ever seen i'll Savannah, and what is con-
sidered by military experts to be the best
ever given in this section of country, and
probably in the United States. From be-
ginning to end the drill was wonderful
exhibition of proficiency in military tactics.
There were errors, of course No drill of
this kind was ever given without errors,
but the errors were few and of slight i'm
| portance.
Had the cadets been as proficient in the
extended order drill as they were in the
school of the company the drill might lie
spoken of as practically perfect. When ii
| is considered, however, that the cadets had
never practiced in this drill until they be-
| gan to prepare for the Savannah contest,
and that they had not fired Il blank cart
| ridge since their drill in Memphis a Year
ago, up to the time OF their arrival on the
grounds yesterday. the showing made by
| them cannot be considered as anything less
| than wonderful.
1T was unfortunate that there was not
Closer competition for the main prize. The
| Oglethorpe Infantry of Augusta, while they
put up a fair drill, clearly outclassed
| by the Morton Cadets, and this was evil
i don frNrr flo
pearance the field. The Ogiethorpes
hardly expected to take first prize. They
only recently decided to enter the prize
drill, and did not have sufficient time in
| which to properly prepare themselves for it.
"Superb Drill of the Mortons."
1.-THE drill Of the Oglethorpes in the
! school of the company occupied forty-five
| minutes. Had 1t not been a competitive
drill, it could have been easily spoa IN of as
| a good exhibition in the school of the &C M
pany. but when compared with the superb
drill put up later by the Morton Cadets
the errors appeared to be glaring. The lat
ter had given several exhibition drills, and
| the spectators being familiar with their
proficiency, were inclined to be critical The
| Uniforms were not as spick and span as
| they should have been for drill of this
| KIND, and many Of the men were not well
set up, there being too many bent Shout
| ders. The main errors were a lack of de-
c1Sfon In the movements and q failure to
| maintain the distances accurately in march
| ing. That nicely of precision in the PER
| formance of every movement which is ex-
pected Of a company participating in a drill
| of this kind was lacking.
The exhibition in the manual was very
| 1alr, but there were some errors. In the
hr1ngS it was noticed that blank cartridges
| were not used, the hammers being merely
| strapped instead. 1t was also thought that
| severa! commands were omitted, as it was
| noticed that the Morton Cadets afterward
went through several movements Which
were not performed by the Oglethorpes
The Morton Cadets entered the grounds
| at II o'clock, headed by the Mount Pleas
| sor, Miss Sarah Mills, and her maids Of
honor. Miss Caro- duBignon and Miss HUI
ger. The colors of the company were car
ried in the carriage of the sponsors. Head
| ed by the band, playing Dixie the COM
pany marched down past the grand stand
where it was received with enthusiastic
cheers. The cadets were dressed in dark
| blue fatigue coats, with white trousers,
! and looked particularly handsome. After
passing in review of the judges the COM
pany dismissed, then reformed and
| put through the manual of arms by num-
bers. This was almost perfectly done,
| there being enc or two slight errors.
'Excited Admiration"
1.-The full school Of the company was then
gone through with, including marching
| both by platoon and company front. fixing
| and untixing bayonets, firing by platoons
and by company, kneeling and lying down.
| as well as standing. With the exception of
| one volley the firing was perfect, the guns
| going off as one piece. 1t has been noted
| that the Ogethorpes did not use cartridges
in their firing in the company drill. 1t al
most took the breath of the spectators
| away to see the Mortons go down in the
dirt in those white duck trousers when
commanded to fire lying down. The trous-
| ers showed the effects of the contact with
| the earth, but this did not interfere with
| the drilling Of the men in the least. The
| promptness and evenness with which every
| command was executed, the regularity of
| the movements and the precision with
| which the distances were maintained all
| excited the admiration of the spectators
and won constant applause for the COM
pany.
'The few slight errors were hardly no.
| ticeable in the uniform excellence Of tho
drill. Some Of the men appeared a little
| nervous when the company first appeared
| on the grounds, but this soon wore off and
was responsible for no ill results. The
drill was splendid exhibition of what
| can be done with eOOd ma fariol uoll b,p