Omaha daily bee., 1898-10-04
WANT The THURSTONS OUT
Relatives Of Company of tn, First Go
After the Governor
OPPOSITION TO SToLTzENBERG is STRONG
His Appointment to Succeed Colonel
Brntt stirs Up n storm that May
Give Holcomb n had Quar-
ter of Hour.

his morning promises to be accompanied
by feature that may not prove altogether
agreeable 70 him. His appointment Of Ma
ior Stoltzenberg over Lieutenant Colonel
Cotton, as colonel OF the First regiment,
has stirred I'D a storm about his ears and
the associate members and the ladies' aux
Hilary Of :he 1hurston Rifles have deter
mined upon having the First regiment mus.
tered out now, If possible The War de-
partment has left 1t with the governor
wh ch CT the Nebraska regiments is to be
mustered out. A committee of women from
tire ladies' auxiliary, accompanied by Cadet
Taylor and Congressman Dave Mercer, is
to wait upon the governor at the Paxton
hotel as soon as he gets in this morning
and ask him to decide in favor Of the First.
he ladies' auxiliary is COMPOSED OF the
s:hers, sisters and sweethearts of the boys
At Manila.
This acton was .he result OF a meeting
Of the ladies' auxiliary and the associate
members last evening. Cadet Taylor sub
mitted :he correspondence that had passed
between his committee and the governor
relative to the Stoltzenberg appointment
and then offered the draft of an appeal to
the governor for the complete mastering
out of the regiment. On this committee
beside Cadet Taylor were Lee Estelle, R. NJ.
Cross and Charles A. Tracy. Their communi-
cation to the governor contained the follow
ing plain talk:
For your information, governor we desire
to inform YOU that so far as we know. and
we believe we are in a position to advise
you fully, there is not single solitary
father or mother or member among the as
scciate members who favors Colonel Bratt 9
suggestion that Major Stoltzenberg should
be given the position. On the contrary,
should such action be taken there will be
a combined effort on the part OF the fathers
and mothers and friends to have this com
pany Cd mustered out of the service. as
they do not feel that they want their boys
| to serve under the command of Major Stolt-
zenberg. The boys of course are helpless
but their friends at home feel 1t their duty
| to bring every influence to prevent what
| they believe to be an Injustice to Lieutenant
| Colonel Cotton.
| Greatest of the Complaints.
The letter rubbed it into the major quite
little. as for instance, the following:
There is nothing personal in this matter
against Major Stoltzenberg; he may be a
| capable officer but the relatives feel that
he is too much Of a martinez. autocratic and
| lacking in sympathy with the private SOL
! dier. In other words. they think his place
| is with the regular army, where such opin-
| ions generally prevail, and not with the
| volunteers.
| The governors answer amounted to a
statement that Stoltzenbergs appointment
was based upon Colonel Bratts recommenda-
ton and an allusion to Lieutenant Colonel
Colton's position in the Manila custom house
in the regular discharge of his duty. Re-
ferrng to the customs position the governor
| wrote:
1 observe from an interview by General
Greene. who recently arrived from Manila
that Lieutenant Colonel Cotton has a posi-
tion in the custom house. and infer from
| that that he Is more interested In matters
of that kind than in the military affairs, con
nected with the regiment.
When this correspondence was read last
evening it brought out some remarks that
were characterized by military frankness
j. A. Lilly openly said that Colonel Bratt's
recommendation did not amount to any
thing, because he had been guilty of cow
ardice at Manila. Cadet Taylor recalled the
humiliating treatment Stoltzenberg had ac-
corded Captain Culver Of the cavalry wher
Stoltzenberg was but an ordinary lieuten
ant Stoltzenberg, Ii was said owed his
rapid promotion to an intrigue between
the governor and himself; that he had beer
the musteringin officer and in that wa,
had been of service to the governor Thi.
was Mr.. Lilly's way of looking at it. Prof
l.. G. Blake seemed to have an idea tina
, | politics had something to do with the mat
, ter and advised conservative action. Fl
nally an appear to the governor for thu
, mastering out Of the First regiment wal
unanimously agreed upon and Mesdames r
, N. Cross, c. NJ. Primeau, G. e. White, G
E.. Stokes and A. A. Buchanan were ap
pointed committee to wait upon the gov
ernor with Cadet Taylor and Mr.. Mercer i'm
mediately upon his arrival.
why They Want to Get Out.
The reasons set forth in the appeal are
e first, that the First regiment has seel
0 service in a foreign land at great distanc
b and II the present opportunity passes ther
;, will be no hope left of favorable actor
t until the two years expire; second, tn
= distance Of the regiment makes 1t difficul
= for the relatives Of the soldiers to assis
!, them, which is not the case with the Thir
j regiment third, the positions which tn
boys had to give up when they enllste
c cannot be held for them indefinitely If the
( are to be kept in the Philippines, and
g finally, the mastering out of the Third O
y the eve of its departure for Cuba wour
: not reflect credit upon either the state @
: that regiment.
It was stated that Congressman Merce
had wired the War department yesterda
TO know by what authority Governor Ho
comb had taken action in making an ap