The Washington times., 1903-01-25
Commissioned Officers Who
Failed to Report at Last
Official Matches Taken to
Task by Major Bell.
Company,C, Sixth Battalion,
Wins Last Weeks Match
by Score of PIP Points.
News Of the Soldiers.

As a result Of the laEity shown by q
number Of commissioned officers of the
District of Columbia National Guard in
regard TO rifle practice. several OF them
have been quietly rep-imanded by the
higher officials of the organization. Al
though it is believed that the little lee
lures these men received viii suffice. the
military authorities are waiting to see
the Improvement at the next official
practice of the general staff. and non
commissioned officers of the regiments
and battaIions. which viii be held on the
night of January IS.
At the last official matches, which were
held on the 18th OF the present month,
out Of all the commissioned officers who
are expected to report for rife practice,
in accordance with the general orders OF
the organization, only i've put in an ap-
pearance, while the others could not be
located The attention of Brig. Gen
George Il. HaTries. commander of the
District militia. was called 10 the negIi-
gence of the officers, and he ordered that
measures be adopted to bring the deIin-
quents into line. Accordingly. Mai
James E Bell, inspector Of rifle practice,
took the tardy officers TO task for their
often repeated fragrant violation of the
general orders o. the National Guard.
Bell Responsible
Major Bell IS in Il manner responsible
for the good or had workmanship Of the
District National Guard, and only the
pride he had IN the Guard caused him 20
report the officers dereIictioE OF duty SO
the commanding officer. II is believed
that the matter has been settled for all
time now, but IT cannot be denied that
the precedent set by the commissioned
and noncommissioEed officers viii have
q bad effect on the men in the ranks, who
are expected to defend their lives with
their rifles in tine or war, and should
therefore. be expert in handling them
Major Bell has postponed the date Of
the battalion matches until next Friday
1t was originally planned 10 have these
matches tomorrow night, but owing 10
conflict OF dates which would have
been caused If The matches were held TO-
morrow. the postponement was decided
}spon. The regimentaI matches VIII, how
ever be shot of tomorrow night as per
schedule. The rivalry which exists he
tween the First and Second Regiments Is
great. and the men who have been picked
out to defend the honor OF each VIII do
the best shooting of their lives in order
10 Gene out on TOD.
Company Matches.
On the first two nights Of last week
the company matches were shot. The
event was easily won by Company c,
Sixth Battalion. with the high score or
212 points Although there was no bril-
liant shooting on the part Of any par
ticuIar individuals. as a general rule
# was fairly good. and demonstrated
that the guardsmen could. with q little
practice turn out some remarkably high
scores if properly coached
The companies making the highest
Ecores were. Company C. Sixth Battalion.
80 points, Company a. Sixth Battalion.
iQ5 points, Company a. Fifth Battalion,
so5 points. and Company B. First Bat
TALON, 1s8 points With the exception
Of the last. the highest scores were made
BY The Second Regiment men. II is be
Ieved that the men from that regiment
have an easy thing with the First Regi-
ment, IL The scores on January 30 are
anything like the past performances of
the men The following are the scores