The Savannah morning news., 1902-10-04


team. The managers of that state
shoot WILL no doubt, call on you to
explain this charge. But, even II it
were true that you were unfairly treat
ed at Avondale in 1900, what possible
light could ii throw on the occurrence
! at Sea Grit in 1899? You were at Sea
Girt. You knew the injustice done
our team. You were indignant and
approved the protest. and yet you are
now the champion of the Jersey team
| and are endeavoring to besmirch the
Savannah team and to disgrace the
military of Georgia.
Again: You say that one of the
| Horse Guard discovered at midnight
Savannah members of the Georgia
team at work with dark-lanterns, tape
line and pegs, measuring the distance
| on the skirmish range. Each and
| every member of the Savannah team
| pronounces this statement by you as
| absolutely false. The names
| of the men from Savannah
| at Sea Girt in 1899 you have in the
report of the adjutant general for the
years, 1S991900. Now name the man
or men who were discovered with dark
| lanterns and tape-line and pegs. and
| give the name or names of the men
/ who say they discovered the Savannah
| members with k-lanterns and tape
| line and pegs. That the Savannah
| team and every other team endeavored
| to get information about the distance
| is true but not in the manner that
you seek to impress the public that the
Savannah team employed. But more
of this under another head.
| And now of Philpot, 1.-THE spy" Here
are the facts. Philpot. having seen
| where the targets were located, came
| to the place behind the mess hall
where the teams were assembled. AS
| you we'll know, no one was allowed to
| come within the lines. Therefore it
was impossible for Philpot to approach
| the two Savannah teams and impart
| any information to them exclusively.
| He stood outside the line and remark
| ed: THE firing line is one hundred
| steps further down than we thought it
would be-" He made this remark
aloud so that by your own admission
a member of the Horse Guard heard it
| and Bell, of the Washington team, also
| heard and commented on the informa-
| ton. But what did this remark con-
| vey? Absolutely nothing. For, a few
moments later, when the entire body
| of skirmishers marched out in view of
| the targets, everyone say that they
| had been placed on the sand dunes
and they knew, from their previous
study of the grounds, that the placing
of the figures on the sand dunes re-
1
| further in that direction. But even in
this you cannot tell the truth, for you
state that Philpot impaired his inforA
nation to the Savannah teams exclu-
sively. And you fail to state that the
conduct of this spy so virtuously
condemned by you, after investigation
by the Executive Committee In New
York, was considered of so little mo-
ment that he was wholly exonerated
and reinstated to all the privileges of
Sea Grit.
Again So bitter are you, so malig-
nant towards the Savannah team, so
welded to Sea Grit, and so
determined to defend the manage
ment there in 1899, that you cannot tell
the truth about a printed rule
regulating the contests. You say that
our request for representation in the
pits was refused because the rules
provided that representation, If de-
sired, should be placed in the pits be-
fore the beginning of the match" We
now quote the rule verbatim: Rule
v. During the progressed the matches
and competitions no one except the
officers on duty, the markers and one
representative of each team, to insure
fairness, will be permitted in the tar
| get pit without the special permission
of the executive officer" This rule APP
pears in the official programme of 1899
and was in force during the contests
of that year On the investigation in
| New York we showed so clearly that
the above rule meant that representa-
ton could be asked for at any time
during the matches, that in the later
programme they changed the rules so
as to require the application to be made
before the opening of the match.
AS to the loss of time in getting rep
resentatives into the pits, that is what
| III e n ~
Harries and Col. Brooks offered to
send their men to the pits on bicycles,
by which no time whatever would have
been lost, as the markers in the 500
yard pits had to go to the 600-yard
pits yet the application was arbitrar-
lily refused.
But lastly, we come now to your
studied efforts to deceive the public,
who are unacquainted with the rules
of rifle matches, by alleging that the
Savannah team used unfair means to
get information as to the distance on
the skirmish range. / Will now strip
you of the last vestment in which you
have been masqueradng as man of
such sensitive honor that you would
not even seek to know the distances in
a match of which the skirmish forms
part. You know that no skirmish
match is ever shot without an effort
on the part of every team engaged to
ascertain the distances by all fair
means. You pirate about honor and
the Philpot incident What did you
and your team do at Sea Girt in 1899 ?
Why did you tender the services of
Lieut.. Wilson, of your team, who is
a civil engineer, to assist us in making
the measurements? What did you do at
| the state shoot at Avondale in 1900?
Why was it that you and other mem
bers of your team then stepped off
and located the skirmish range before
shooting in the match? Do you dare
deny that you and others of the Horse
Guard who have qualified as sharp
shooters or marksmen on your
own range at Atlanta are
perfectly familiar with all the
distances thereon. Entertaining
| your opinion, how could you Drac-
tice at Sea Girt, at Savannah and in
. Atlanta what you believe to be dis
honest and unfair? You must know
that in the late state shoot at Macon,
by express permission of the camp
commandant, who is the highest Off
Ger in the state of Georgia in matters
of rifle practice, the men composing
the teams were taken over the Skin
mish ground that they might acquaint
themselves with surrounding objects
| and the distances. You know, or
ought to know, that at the late inter-
state shoot at Avondale the visiting
teams were taken over the skirrnish