The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-07-07


 the squadron of cavalry and the battalion of artillery met in Montgomery and unan- imously voted to have the brigade en- campment of the A. N G. in Birmingham, commencing Monday July IS.
 Bids were made by Montgomery and Anniston, but Birmingham offered su- perior inducements in location and ability to handle the crowds. and therefore got the encampment, although Montgomery offered more in money and in the saving of railroad transportation.
 This means that 25OO soldiers will spend one week in Birmingham, and that the summer season will be livened consider ably. Bringing the troops here will prob ably loosen the purse strings to the ex- tent of $5O.O or s6o, GOO, most of which will be circulated among the merchants.
 The Local Committee.
 John W. O'Neill. D. J. Mccrossin and c. H. Harris formed the committee which went 10 Montgomery to get the encamp- ment for Birmingham, and they came back last night with quite a iarge-sized feather in their caps Every effort was made by the Capitol City to secure the troops, but they were outgeneraled at every stage of the game, and simply had no chance. After Birmingham, Anniston stood the best chance to get the encamp- ment, and the efforts of Captain Smith of the Anniston company came nearly landing him the victory. He offered $l6OO cash, the same amount put up by Bir- mingham.
 The exact location in Birmingham has not yet been chosen, but 1t will be either East Lake or near Owenton Both of the sites are suitable for the purpose, and with several hundred dollars spent in im- proving the grounds the brigade will have the best encampment site in the state The East Lake site may not be as large as some of the officers would like, but then the amusements at the lake being so close to the camp site the privates will probably prefer that location to Owenton. At the latter place the grounds are ideal and sufficiently large to hold two brigades if necessary.
 Committee of Officers.
 The committee which had the location of the encampment consists of Col. D. H. Graves commanding officer of the second regiment; Col. R. B. Dumont, command ing officer of the first regiment; Lieuten- ant Colonel Mcconnell, acting commander of third regiment; Major westcott com mander of battalion of artillery; Maj B. B. Atkins, commander of the squadron cav airy. The committee was to have met Tuesday. but when the officers from An niston, Birmingham, Montgomery and other places went to Montgomery to ap- pear before the committee in the inter- ests of their various cities none of the committee were found except Col. Graves Telegrams were immediately sent to the other commanding officers asking them to come at once, or send their proxies. Proxies were received In most instances.
 After the bids had been opened and one or two ballots were taken Birmingham was unanimously chosen. Montgomery's offer was s120O in cash and the remainder was made up in the difference in the rail road fares if the encampment went to that city. It would be several hundred dollars cheaper to move the sol diers to Montgomery than to Birming- ham or Anniston. After the first ballot Montgomery men went out, got some more cash and raised their offer, and they said after the selection was made that if they had any idea Montgomery was going to be defeated they would have raised several hundred dollars more.
 Genera. ciark's InfIuencs.
 One point strongly in Birmingham's fa- vor was the fact that Brigadier General Louis V. Clark, commanding officer of the brigade preferred Birmingham. as he considered the site here superior to that of any of the other cities. He will be in command of the encampment
 Acting Governor Cunningham stated last night that he would be in camp with the boys for the entire week He will have an officers tent at the head of of ficers' row and will be the honored guest of the camp.
 John W. O'Neill. chairman of the Com- mercial club committee, and Captain E. J. McCrossin of Troop D, were very much complimented last night on securing the
 
 tee MT. O'Neill worked hard to secure a site, and afterwards to raise the cash. The other members of the Commercial club committee were Captain Yeatman. Captain Elliott. Captain Stokley and Sterling A. Wood.
 The encampment will continue a week or ten days.
 These members of the committee were on hand: .E. H, Graves, colonel, com manding tho Second regiment; Lieut. Col c. R. Bricken of the Second; Capt. I. N. Eddy. Battery c. Selma. Colonel Graves held the proxies of Colonel Du- mont of the First regiment and Lieut. Col. F. F. Mcconnell, commanding the Third. = s
 Brigade Organization. The military strength of the encamp. ment will be as follows:
 Infantry regiments:
 First Infantry-Col R. B. Dumont. com manding. Headquarters in Mobile The companies are A and R at Mobile c at Geneva, D at Fort Deposit. E at Mobile. at Dothan. G at Brewton H at Troy. at Enterprise. K at Evergreen. L at Uniontewn and M at Mobile.
 Second 1nfantry-Colonel E. H. Graves. commanding, Headquarters at EufauIa It's makeup is of Company A at Mont eemery. B at Prattville, at Selma, D at Montgomery B at Wetumpka. F at Tus-