The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-05-02
GUARDS BANQUETEO
BRILLIANT CELEBRATION OF
THEIR CENTENNIAL.
WITH PATRIOTIC SPEECHES
MEMBERS AND GUESTS PAID TRIB-
UTE TO THE CORPS.

Tables Was EnecttVe-About 100
Were seated-Guests Who Were
Present-Efecttve Speeches Were
Rendered-GOv. Gamblers speech
and That of Mr.. :. b. Adams Were
Particularly Marked.
It was into a scene of enhancing
beauty that the Savannah Volunteer
Guards and their guests entered at the
Guards Hall last night. Seldom, if
ever, in the history of Savannah has
there in a banquet on so extensive a
scale, been an example of the decora-
tive art that was hailed with such
manifestations of pleasurable surprise
and with such delighted calculations.
Rare taste was displayed in the dec
orations. There was a blending of
martial and floral effects that was most
striking while suggestions of the
Guards and their -hundred-year
history were offered in portraits of
leading spirits in the corps that graced
the walls.
In colored chintz and in lace the wide
windows of the banquet hall were
hung, the colors harmonizing with the
rest of the decorative scheme. Here
and there, done in oil and famous in
the corps, hung the pictures of depart
ed commanders. In antique uniform
In their distant day some of the sub
jects were painted, while others wore
the black stocks and the picturesque
fashion of a time long past. Yet they
were Guards, ALL and, could those
whose likenesses hung upon the walls
have been present they. too. must have
delighted in the scene of beauty that
marked the great event-the celebra-
ton of the centennial anniversary of
the Guards.
GOrdOn's Drnped Portrait.
At the end of the hall, in a place of
honor, hung the portrait of Gen. John
b. Gordon, an honorary member of the
Guards, draped about with a United
States and with a Confederate flag.
Cheer after cheer greeted the name of
Gordon. when, during the evening, an
expression of regret upon his inability
to attend the banquet was communi-
Gated by the POSTMASTER
On one side of the hall, above the
head of the commanding officer, hung
the painted escutcheon of the Guards,
with their motto. PRO arts ct focis."
On either side of this, in illumined
figures, were the dates 1902 and 1902,
marking the cycle of time that has been
the Guards. Opposite, on the other
wall, were illumined letters, A. c. D.
and b. designating the tables at which
the four companies were to sit, while,
between c. and D., was the word
Vets" indicating the place of the
Veterans Corps.
Tables Decked with Roses.
Chief, however. of all the decoration
in their profusion and in their rich
beauty and their ravishing fragrance,
were the flowers. These decked the ia
BILE in liberality that was astonish-
ing. Roses they We're and
varieties Great blossoms were
clustered together. and, with red as
the dominant color. they won the eye
and held the fancy throughout the
hours at which the company sat at
board. These roses came from the
country places of Mr.. S. P. Shotter
and Capt. Manigault, who had donated
them for the occasion. Great masses
of them lowered from the magnificent
silver trophies that, tributes to the
unerring aim of the Guards riflemen,
graced several of the principal tables.
The De Soto cup and the DeRenne
trophy bore their rich burdens of per-
fumed beauty and We'd with the flow-
ers in bidding for the admiration of
all. At every one of the more than 400
places lay a magnificent blossom, de-
signed for the buttonhole of its occu-
pant.
The Guests of the Corps.
Assembled in the drawing room of
the Tomochichi Club were the invited
guests and the members OF the Vet
Grams Corps. awaiting the signal to
enter the banquet hall, while below
stairs, in the arsenal of the command,
awaited the four companies. each in
its own assembly room. At $3.50 o'clock
the word was given, and into the great
hall filed soldiers and their guests.
1t was a brilliant assemblage that,
after Maj. Williamson had announced
that a short prayer would be offered by
Rev. Ed. F. Cook, chaplain of the
First Georgia Regiment during the
Spanish War. and after the latters
eloquent effort, sat down for the event
full banquet. On one side of the hall had
been arranged tables in the shape
of the initials of the corps, S. V. G..
and at these sat officers and invited
guests. Running off from the tables
of letters were the long boards at which
sat the companies. some eight or ten
in all.
Seated at table V, which was CEN
trail, were Maj. w. w. Williamson,
with Gov. Gambler on his right. Others
at the table were Hon. Flen'n G du-
Bignon, Judge Pope Barrow, Mayor
Herman Myers, Hon. S. B. Adams, Col.
A r. Lawton, Capt. Davis Freeman.
Capt. T. S. Wylly, Jr.. Col William
Garrard Col. w. S. Basinger Hon.
Walter G. Charlton, Mr.. P. A Stovall,
Col. P w. Meldrim, Gen. w. w. Cor
don, Col w. G.. Obear and Capt. George
p Walker.
At table S were Capt. David C. Bar
row. Maj. w. L. Grayson, Maj. Edward
S. Elliott. Capt. A. Gordon Cassels.
Capt. E. a Leonard, Lieut.. ]. F. Nc
earthly, Lieut.. James Butner, Capt. c.
H. Richardson. Mr.. S. Z. Theus. DR.. w.
W. Owens. DIR. ]. G. FARRELL, Capt. w.
w. Gordon, Jr, Capt. Walter E. Coney.
Capt. w. G. Harrison, Capt. J. c. Pos
ton Cant. Thomas Hunter and Capt.
Abram Minis.
Those at table &c" were Alderman
James NJ. Dixon, Alderman w j. Wat
son, Capt. H. c. Cunningham, Judge
Thomas NJ. Norwood. Lieut.. r. L.
Gignilliat, Alderman r. L. Holland.
Alderman F. F. Jones, Alderman Rob-
ert S. Colding. Alderman f. A. NJ.
Schroeder, Alderman ]. ]. Horrigan, AL
derman J. F. Canty. Capt. j. T. West
Capt. ]. ]. McDonough. Mr.. H. A.
Crane and Rev. Ed. F. Cook