Evening star., 1897-06-01
WILL DEFEND THEIR TITLE
Norton Cadets Drilling for San Antonio
Interstate Contest
Capt. shilling Determined to Bring
Back the TrOPhy-ComPany VIII
Conpete With Crack shots.

| In order to defend the title CT champion
| military company Of tho United States. won
| a year ago at Savannah. Ga, the Morton
Cadets-Company B, I'd Battalion. District
| of Columbia National Guard-recently &C.
! ceptcd the challenge Of the Belknap Rifles
| to compete for the championship cup In
| the interstate competitive drill to be held
| at San Antonio. Texas. July IL to July -.
| both inclusive. With that end in view.
| Captain Shilling's command will this even
ing begin drilling preparatory to. the big
| contest. The company will be hard at
| work every evening until the time for
departure for Texas, with the exception of
| Sundays, and excepting also the ten days
| spent in the coming camp of the District
| National Guard at Fort Washington, Mary
| lsnd.
Big Undertaking.
| The trip to far-away Texas will be a big
undertaking for the youthful guardsmen.
| far more SO than most people realize. The
| disturbing dissensicns made manifest with
| il the organization last winter left the
company in a somewhat ruptured condi-
ton. and it is practically the same for the
| Boys as beginning all over again. How
! ever. 1t is characteristic of Captain Shii-
| lirg to always look on the bright side of
| everything, and he expressed himself as
1 confident that the company would not only
| IN tnc 1eXaS Grill, Dut tnat
he will carry away from Washington the
| best drilled team ever urder his command
| and that, Furthermore. it will be awarded
first place. and incidentally the Galveston
| semi-centennial championship cup. perhaps
| the st. Louis drill cup and 5000 in cash.
The Mortons will be the only company to
| represent Washington and the District
| National Guard in the San Antonio compe-
| tition. 1t was thought that the National
| Fencibles. upon again joining forces with
the guard, would surely participate in the
next big drill contest in order to retrieve
| lost honors but the company having al
ready arranged several trips of some mag
| Eitude for the summer and fall, finds 1t i'm
possible to journey to Texas. Nearly every
| cne, and particularly the local guardsmen,
is desirous of again having the Mortons
and Fencibles pitted against each other in
an Interstate contest; but, under the cir
cumstances. all are very well satisfied with
| the Morton Cadets as the representatives
OF the military of the capital city.
Confronted With a Problem.
1t may be we'll to state at the outset that
the Morton Cadets, as we'll as every drill
company that is to visit San Antonio, will
be confronted by a problem hard 10 solve.
San Antonio is the home of the Belknap
Rifles. the first company to win the IA
nous Galveston cup. This Texas city dur
ing the past dozen years has been the
home of half dozen other crack COM
panies, and 1t is stated that the large ma
jority of the male residents between the
ages of twenty and thirty-five years have
undergone a thorough military training. In
organizing the Belknap Rifles drill team
| for the coming competition, Captain Nc
Ado had practically the whole city to pick
| from He has been drilling the command
| every night for several weeks past, and
. will continue to do SO right up to the date
| of the contest. Furthermore, the Belknap
Rifles will have no travelling TO do. and 1t
would seem that their chances for victory
! are very bright indeed. But Captain Shil-
| ling is not affected in the slightest by the
| situation Lam inf
slang. for the nonce, he says he expects to
| find the Belknaps dead easy"
The indications are that the San Antonio
, drill will be of greater magnitude than any
event of a similar character since the big
contest in this city in 1887. In a comnuni-
cation to The Star. Mr.. L. c. Irvine, the
general manager of the Interstate Drill AS
sociation, says:
Il feel sure that this WIZ be by far the
| largest camp of instruction ever held In
this country in time of peace, as we are
, positively assured of 1000 Texas troops
ard 1000 regulars. with 800 soldiers out
side of the state for the competitive drill
alone Many more will come to avail them
| selves of the camp of instruction.
AdJutant General Mabry's View.
Adjt. Gen. Mabry Of Texas, who is also
. the custodian of the Galveston cup. will be
, the commandant of the encampment at San
, Antonio. Gen. Mabry accepted the COM
mand on condition that the additional liza
, biiity of adding camp of instruction for
, be assumed by the association. He ex-
plained that in doing this the associa ton
would enable him to order every company
: in the state into camp. This would give in
, round numbers, 1000 soldiers, about 800
! cavalry and artillery, and the balance in
|, | fantry.
Gen. Mabry stated that the uniformly
, favorable view taken by the War Depart
ment of camps of instruction would insure
hearty cooperation of the three arms of
| the regular service. and without doubt.
adding the outside companies. there would
| be at least 5000 soldiers massed, a sight
r | probably never seen by any citizen of the
/ | south since the war. 1t would make the
, | largest camp of instruction ever held In
this country. and Will in no way interfere
with the competitive drills. On the con
| trary. Quitting prizes offered by the state
l to its local companies would aggregate
4 thousands of dollars. and add to the in
= | terest of the event very materially.
' With the promise that Adjt. Gen. Mabry
t will order all of the state guard to San
Antonio, the railroads of Texas have vol
I | unteered to transport to and from that city
| all soldiers of the volunteer service of
J | Texas in uniform free Of charge.
The Thurston Rifles.
: One of the strongest reasons why the
! Morton Cadets are desirous of engaging in
| the San Antonio competition is that they
| will be afforded an opportunity to again
: meet the Thurston Rifles of Omaha, Neb.
: | 1t will be remembered that at Memphis In
l | May, 1895. the Thurstons won the cham
pionship, finishing but a few points ahead
of the Mortons in the race for the cup. In
a drill known as class B. the Mortons
| proved themselves superior to the Thurs
: | tons. while the latter finished ahead of
the local company in the maiden drill.
: | Commanded by the former captain, and for
the most part consisting of members of
the old champion Omaha Guards. IL was
| charged that the Thurston Rifles were
merely the Omaha Guards. masquerading
under a new name In order to permit of
| their entry in the maiden contest.
The Thurston Rifles failed to appear at