The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-31
Has Court of Inquiry Been 0rdereds IF so, ITS TO FIND OUT WHERE CAMP MONEY WENT
 @-s- Members of Rumored Inquiry Board Deny Appointment. zn same Chain Of Reports Come. ons of Colonel au sIont's Reslgnation AS Commandsr of The FrFst
 rnfantry.
 

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 A report which, in spite of aeniais from authoritative sources, is believed by local military officers. indicates that another Alabama military scandal Of big proportions is brewing. The report was published In. Mobile We'd nesday that Col R. B. du Mont, com manding the Ist Infantry had resign ed. and that considerable dissension prevailed in the First. all of which grew out of more or less friction dur- Ing the Birmingham strike.
 Following close upon the heels of this Mobile report there came another rnmor of greater consequence, affect ing the entire Alabama National Guard
 It was said that Governor Conner as result of report made to him by one of his examiners of public accounts has or would have ordered in the near future a court of inquiry to examine into the alleged niisspending of money during the Hationai guard encamp- 1nents.
 So far as understood it is not charged that any officer embedded any money or misused 1t except in spending 1t for supplies for which the state should not he charged. The persistent report had 1t that the court of inquiry would in- yeStigate the camp accounts of the three infantry regiments and the other arms of the state's troops.
 It Is understood that the order, if it Is issued. will not charge the military Officers for any misuse of money ex- cept that some of 1t was spent in 8 way that was not contemplated by the state authorities. The court of inquiry if held will consider the contents of this report which although made sew erai months ago has not yet been made public. and the court will investigate the orders made for and paid for at the various encampments.
 The same rumor had 1t that General R. F. Ligon would serve as a member of the court. General Ligon Is mem Der of what the Alabama military men call the war College" which is in fact the Governors Military Advisory Board. consisting of General Ligon, Barry Holt and Blob Graves. The re- port Wednesday had it that the court had been ordered and that General I.igon had been appointed on it. Gen. efkl Ligon "Wednesday night stated that the report was untrue.
 He said: +No such order has been iasued If 1t had been Issued, cer- tainIy would have heard of it. There is no court of inquiry so far as know, and certainly have not been assigned to duty on one"
 Adiutant General Bibb Graves was fiji in bed and could not be seen.
 Ma5or b. VI McIver. Chief Clerk In the. office of the kdJutant General, said in answer to questions:
 You have come to the wrong place for information. know nothing whatever about the matter"
 It is known that an examiners re- mort has been. with the governor for several weeks in which encampment expenses were discussed. But its con- tents are not known. It is known, however, that military men have been on the alert in expecting some oroer from the Governors office, directing court of inquiry. if for nothing eise. to define what should not be bought Aat encafnpiuents. Well informed mili- tarv men do not doubt that military move of considerable consequence IS under consideration > .
 The report of Colonel du Monts vaatrnation is no new thing. It has hears heard several times before. Mili- tarv men believe that the resignation has been sent to the Adjutant Generals s office but that it has not been accept I'd. unduestionably there is dissension in the First and perhaps half dczen other officers have submitted tnelr resianafions But what caused the digsensfon the outside world does not know.
 Nfont's resignation. according to all the information that could be gathered, has nothing Co do with the examiner's re- port or with the rumored court or ino,iiry. It is understood that Colonel du Mont had tried to resign seVeral times since last summer, long before there was any talk of the general court of inquiry on encampInent expenses. The examiners report had nothing 10 fo with the rumorei resignation.
 In the meanwhile every officer of the Alabama National Guard is expecting something to happen