The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1898-06-06

hn,unio Is quartermaster sergeant OF the
'eSi,nent' Both OF them are old member,
y, we respective organizations with which
thcy went to Austin--the Houston Iiahi
Guard and the Belknap Rifles.
inc first Texas came near losing its cf-
ficient adjutant. Lieutenant Duval West,
during the past few days. Lieutenant west
applied for position In the Judge adyo-
ates department of volunteers, with the
rank OF major, and would undoubtedly have
oesn given the appointment had 1t not been
LOT tne TACT that the board was filled be-
fore his application was filed He resigned
.he position of assistant United States MT
torney 10 accept the one ne now holds ot
present. San Antonio was his hea1auar
teB and he practiced law there for a num-
Der OIL years previous to entering the army.
The work Of forming a band for the First
Texas is now well under way, and II is OK
pected that the organization will have zoe,
effected within the next two weeks. Chief
musician III. Lemaire has selected nineteen
men from the regiment f5r places in the
band, and acquisitions for instruments have
already been made
me pands OF the regulars, the concerts OF
which have relieved the dull monotony NJ
camp life so pleasantly, will have departed
within the next few days days, and the
volunteers are glad to know that they are
10 have n musical organization of their
own.
Pine trees or hot wea Their or desire to
get at the willy Spaniards, or something
eise' seems TO have tendency toward de-
veloping to a remarkable extent the inn
aginative powers of the young men compos
ing the two regiments of Texas volunteers
In camp here. Rumors and fairy tales of
various kinds are as thick as are the flies
around the mess sheds. and in most cases
the former are even more troublesome
IMAM the latter, which is saying considera-
Bile. Many of these baseess stories are
circulated around camp. and written home
as facts by the soldiers without thought
being given to the harm they may do.
lhere is no way to stop the practice, of
course. and as result the reports continue
TO go out.
During the early part OF last week all
OF the Texas papers except The Post pub
lished cock and bull story TO the effect
that a private soldier of the Eleventh
United States infantry had been executed as
result of ar attempt to poison the spring
IRON which the camp secures its drinking
water sentence having been passed on the
Unfortunate soldier by Summary court
martial An emphatic denial Of this fable
has already been wired The Post, but 1t
may not be amiss to say few words more
concerning the matter. TO begin with, the
spring water has not been used Tor lun-
Der OF days past. the stream which flows
from the spring now being devoted exclu-
si,ely to bathing purposes.
Then, again, summary" court martial
would not sentence man to death. no mat
ter how heinous an offense he might have
committed A summary court martial is
made up of one officer and his jurisdiction
is limited to Furnishing minor offenses. such
AIS failure to perform camp duties, etc.
And. to end with, such an occurrence as
that related by the Texas papers in ques-
tion never took place. Lieutenant Stanley,
one Of General Openheimer's aides, used
some very forccful language when he au-
thorized me to deny the report. and II the
young man who wrote the letter to his
father could be located he would probably
be made TO think that he had encountered
censorship compared TO which that at
Key West would be mild indeed.
Another thing which was successefully
worked" on the people At home was the
report that Lieutenant Scurry, Sergeant
McIlhenny and Corporal Bolts of company
A, First Texas, had been ordered to Hous
ton to recruit the company up to the limit
of 106 AS has already been explained in
these dispatches, the report grew out OF a
Joke perpetrated by Captain Mccormick
on his two lieutenants. who In turn had
some fun with their non commissioned CT
ficers. Lieutenant James Smith of company
l. is the recruiting officer for the regiment,
Nd Jbar 10 IN fin,