The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-17
TO MUSTER OUT RIFLES
MONTGOMERY CAVALRY IN A
 BAD CONDITION.
Affairs Reached Acute Stage and Major Atkins Recommended That it be Disbanded-May
 be New Troop.

Tna long continued dissension in the Montgomery Mounted Rifles will in til probability result in the mastering out of that command from the Alabama .Sd- Major V. B. Atkins yesterday recom- mended that the Rifles be mustered out, and Governor Jelks will, 1t Is confidently expected. carry into % erect thu tnls recon. recon. Squadron. The muster-out order Is ex- pected in the near future.
 Affairs in the Rifles were brought to
 crisis by an election, or an attempted ordered to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Lieutenant Charles l.. Dexter, who was appointed Adtutant of | the Cavalry Squadron by Major Atkins. summer Is said to have been especially unsatisfactory.
 Tie members of the company have | taken but small interest in the harmony
 of the command. The meetings and mus | ters have had but slim attendance. Some | members claim that for several monthly musters the attendance has not met the legal requirements. They state also that | the attendance has not been. large enough | to indicate an efficient organization or | an active interest In the companys af- fairs.
 | At the meeting of the company held
 Monday night at which the successor of Lieutenant Dexter was to be elected, there were twenty-six members of the | company present. It is said that Capt. w. 0. Garside ruled that fifteen of the members present were not entitled to vote because they had not been present | of .he company. It is contended, how ever. that in a muster held just previous to the election, Captain Garside recog- | niZed the absentees as members of the Rifles and counted them as members of | the Rifles in the muster.
 In the election he held that only those who had been present the legal number | or musters previous to the meeting in which the election was held were entitled | to vote. This left eleven members of the company present to chose the Lieutenant l These eleven votes were cast for Ser | geant W. H, Dunn.
 The result of the election, when 1t
 reached Major Atkins. was said to have l been questioned. It is understood that
 Major Atkins held that if the absent
 members had been recognized as belong ing to and entitled to membership in the
 Rifles in a muster just previous to tine election, they were entitled to a vote in the election. If. on the other hand, they had, because of their absence, been ruled
 out of membership in the muster, they were not entitled to vote. But having been recognized in the muster, it Is un- derstood he ruled they had a right to vote.
 At any rate Major Atkins recognized that the company affairs had been and were now In a bad condition. He was of the opinion that the differences were irreconcilable and he was convinced that the efficiency of the command was per naps permanently impaired. He has therefore recommended to the Governor that the Rifles should be mustered out of
 the service of the Alabama National Guard.
 The formal order has not yet been is-
 sued from the office of the AdJutapt Gen
 eral. but it is confidently expected that
 the Governor will direct it's issuance soon.
 This result is not surprise to local
 some time. The dissensions in the com
 pany reached an acute stage last spring
 when round robin," signed by certain
 members of the. company was presented
 to Captain Garside. In this round rob
 bin'' Captain Garside was requested to
 resign the captainey of the company.
 Captain Garside preferred charges
 against the men signing the round rob
 charging him with melting insurbordi-
 nation among the men, Lieutenant Dex-
 ter preferred charges against Captain
 Garside as to. his conduct of the com
 During the encampment of the Second
 Infantry at Pickett Springs last summer
 a specially convened court martial inves-
 tigated the pro and con charges. In all
 cases the charges were dismissed.
 Since then the company's affairs have
 been in a bad way It has been as-
 serted that the company has not had an adequate drill or muster since the court
 martial proceedings.
 It is further charged by some of the members that factions have existed in the
 Rifles for the past ten years; and that recent occurrences are inheritances of old factional differences.
 There Is but slight doubt that the com pany will be mustered out in the next few days.
 In all probability a new command with new officers will be mustered in to take it's place >in Montgomery. Montgomery will be given the preference over other the place of the Mounted Rifles must first receive the approval of Major Atkins and Governor Jelks.
 It Is expected that as soon as the Rifles are mustered out steps will be taken to from a new command at once.