The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-04
BAD BLOOD IN THE NINTH.
A ROW IN THE REG M OTER
Il RIFLE M.fTCH.

Company n Mon AIirEc THAT tho shooting
able Company A. roam to In the seward
Trophy AN Inv obligation NV In Pros r,,-s.
A controversy which has arisen in the ninth
Regiment between Companies A and X over tho
rifle shooting contest FOR the seward trophy at
Croedmoor recently not only brings into qucs-
ton the honesty of the company which holds the
trophy, but threatens to destroy the reliability
OF many OF tho scores made at CroOdnoor, by
showing that certain of the scorers there are I'M
Trustworthy. Thee accusations have boon EN-.
bodied In formal sworn charges, which have been
presented to Col. William Seward. and Col.
Seward has ordered an Investigation. which Is
now under way.
The charges allegc that members Of Company
A rosortcd to unfair methods in getting the
scores which won the trophy for that company.
and certain scorers are accused Of acting un-
fairly in completely with the Company A men.
The Seward trophy, over which the trouble
arose, Is one offered by the Colonel.
On tho day tho Ninth was last ordered to tho
shooting range the final winning Of the trophy
lay between Companies a and Il, whose previous
scores were Il tic. Company A already held all
the other regimental prizes for shooting, besides
having tho prize for ~cnlistiny the most men.
This is Capt. Samuel S. O'Connor's company,
which attracted considerable comment Mt the
time tho Ninth was ordered to attend divine
service by refusing to turn out because Chap
lain Madison G. Peters bad spoken disrcspect-
fully of the Roman Catholic Church. Capt.
William F. Morris commands Company X.
Before the shooting began Capt. Morris de-
termincd to take unusal precautions against
any unfairncss on the part of Capt O'Connor's
company, and a number of men were detailed
TO Keep close watch of ihc shooting and scoring
OF their opponents. Among those watchers
were Corpora, Q. Bubaseck and Privatcs +.
atiidavits that some of Company AS men were
credited with scores to which they were not
entitled. In. one case, they, assert, that a man
who made four misses and should havo been
disqualified. received "a quail; wing score. Thoy
also allcge that after making these observations
they nude u demand upon the scorer to show
the scorer at first denied that he had kept the
score, and afterward acted in a suspicious man
nor.
The filing OF the charges has caused much
of Company A have threatened to mako 1t hot
for their three accWscrs-spies, rs they call
them-in case these men stray into their quar-
tiers. On the other hand, members of Com
pany h say that Capt. O'ConnOr took some OF
the scorers at Creedmoor to dinner, and that
this WAS an unusual proceeding. Capt. OCon'
nor says he didn't take tho scorers to dinner
Their meals are paid for by the State" he
added. MY company, won the trophy fairly
The Investigations will show this, and we will
surely get the trophy for keeps"
Capt. Morris would say nothing. about the
trouble yesterday except that the charges had
been forwarded to Col. Seward and that they
were under investigation. Col Seward said
that he had no opinion to express upon thu
merits OF the controversy between the com
shooting for trophies was not altogether a good
thing. 1T engenders i'll feeling frequently,
he said, and it. is a question, in my mind
whether the shooting for them had not better
be abolished"