The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-04-05
DIVIDED RESERVES.
Charges Against Gomman-
der Jaques Filed with
Governor Griggs.
TIE DIsBANDaENT CONSPIRACY
Battalion of the West Makes a
Bitter Protest-Fayorit-
ism Alleged.

Special ID the JERSEY Cttp Meas.
TRENTON, April s. 1S97.-It was ru'
mored here this morning hat the New
Jersey Naval Reserve might be disband
ed. 1t was reported that Governor Griggs
would veto the $4,000 appropriation fol-
the maintenance Of the reserve, because
OF the dissension between the Battalion
of the West and the Battalion of the
East.
Tho Battalion of the West. consisting
of the divisions located at Camden, Had
donfielda and Trenton had flied a vigorous
pro-testsagainst continuing Captain Jacques
in command of the New Jersey Naval Re
serve. The memorial was presented to
the Governor and is in the nature of an
appealp for relief 1t is signed by the
chief officers of the Battalion of the
West, and the charges are of such a
character that the Governor may feel it
Incumbent upon him to order Captain
Jaques court-martialed or to cut off the
appropriation and thereby avoid trouble.
The arrangement of their commanding Of
ticer by the reserves is an unprecedented
procedure in naval circles. and unless the
charges are s-ubstantiated it is probable
that the entire Battalion of the West be
comes liable to court-martial upon the or
der of Commander Jacques.
The charges were presented to the
Governor for action some time ago, but
he advised the sailors to defer pressing
them forf the time. Consequently they
were closely guarded. only indefinite hints
of mhz5 they contained reaching the
putd we
b .ag no hope of improvement. it is
sa3st1hat the Battalion of the West has
tafen the bull by the horns, and, as one
of1cer expressed it, would rather see the
reserve totally abolished thar continue
with Captain Jacques in command
The charges were made public today.
They are signed by the following officers
Of the Battalion of the Vest
Lieut. Commander E. S. Davis, Lieut..
F. A. Turner, Surgeon P. M. Gill, As
sistant Surgeon L. L.. Grover, Paymaster
w. H. Fulper. Lieut.. F. F. C. Woodward,
Ensign w. A. Hudnet, Lieut.. Charles S.
Braddock, Jr., Ensign J. Fithian Tatem,
Ensign f. A. Nye. Lieut.. John A Cor
gus, Jr, Ensign w. H. Carperson and
Ensign Albert de Unger.
The charges are dated September q,
1896. and open with a statement that
from the time of our organization, this
battalion seemed not to be in favor with
Captain Jaques, and instead of assisting
US 70 attain efficiency, he has seemed to
present time we are so crippled by rea-
son of his Methods and orders thai we
nna II impossible to continue our work
penent to the State, and are obliged to
dIpeai 70 your Exceliency for remedy
1t Is then charged that Captain Jaaues
OF the West; that he only visited the bat
laIlon once on the Monitor Ajax in Cam
cen e N lSso. and then with the Secretary
the reserve to accept an offer of the Ma
flonai Guard of the range at Sea Grit
lost rthe practice, and that the reserve
men. The officers further Complain
was the intention of the Command
onlcer OF the Battalion of the West |
= h 1hs frequent drills on board the Ajax.
- enls enc an appropriation was obtain |
from the State for transportation of !
DIVISIONS to vessels so h the Trenton |
alvIsion an Haddenfield division could
9articlpale In these drills. Another an
maintenance and care If vas-
also covered the subsistence neces-
sary Tor the men during these drills. The |
uipose was to have each division come |
- the AJAX and spend twenty-four tn |
:hlrty-sfx hours on board each month
md during that time to nave the gen,
sfal routine Of a man-of-war carried hui
iay ana night The officers to be in
'tloctco on deck duty, and the men in
ne general routine and customs of thas
laval service Captain Jaques refused to
any bills for subsistence Of fIe
men, ana these drills were necessarily
as our men could not afford to |
oay for their food in addition to giving
heir time"
Ihey declare that Captain Jaques took
rom Inc Dattalion's paymaster all his
and tho - fhn ~, : 49,
IN himself the discharge of this officerss
luties as the result of which the nav
n OF the battalion's financial needs.
mas s~urrounded the paynen of bills
WITH needless red tape.
The complaint further states that dijr-
ng the battallcn's cruise in 1895 neither
captain nor a single member of his
visited the battalion, and that it
vent away without necessary medical
torres because of the commanders "dil-
methods In concluding the on
ers say
Sne reasons above mentioned. with
aany others, impel us to lay our posi-
Ion before Your Excellency. The action.
ne orders and the correspondence Of
Jaques, tend to convince US that
IS not in sympathy with theB attalian l.
f the West, and that instead Of irving
encourage and assist US, he prefers to
ripple us in our work, and to exasDerate /
3 personally. Our commanding officer,
commander Charles E.. Dahlgren is IN
he point of handing in his ~resignatfon
t~tributing business and family causes as
IS reasons, but we are convinced that
7ere his position in the Naval Reserve
OF made uncomfortable by the action Of
Jaques, he would remain IN COM
land, as every officer in the battalion
esires him to do.
We desire to say that this memorial is
presented to your Excellency BY rea-
OF any PERSONAL feeling we may have
gainst Captain Jacques, but, in order 10
tram efaclency and. in fact, in order to
xist we mustHhave fair and liberal treat
lent from him. WIesG however, wish to
ate certain facts which perhaps are
y Ex-Governor Werts to organize ne
Reserve of New Jersey. At the
me ne was appointed the Battalion Of
2 year. He simply mustered lis jrtn
1e service of the State. He neversheiped
$ fo draft or to obtain the passage OF
le naval Reserve law. He never as
the Battalion of the West in anu