The Hawaiian gazette., 1912-02-20
HARSH ORDERS
!. ON THE SHERMAN
Very Bitter Feelings Between the
Officers and Colonel
TiIlson.
(From saturday,s Advertiser.l }

Officers of the Eighth Infantry con-
sidered themselves fortunate in having
Colonel Rodgers, Second Infantry, in
command during the trip from Mon
terey to Honolulu on the transport
Sherman, which left here yesterday for
Manila, and unfortunate because Col
onel Rodgers left the ship here. For
the remainder of the voyage to the
Philippines the regiment is under COM
mand of Colonel Tillson, between whom
and the officers there appears to be a
deadly feud, which began almost from
the moment the colonel took temporary
command of the regiment at Monterey
in December
Traditions of the Army have been up
rooted since Colonel Tillson has been
in command. There is an undercurrent
of feeling against the commanding Of
icer, who, however, does not fully as
all. If the grapevine line is to be be-
lieved something may occur whereby
Colonel Tillson may be transferred to
another regiment. First of all, the
Eighth Infantry has been considered
model regiment and Al as to eff
cheney. The reports of the inspectors
have all been full of praise, and the
record of the regiment for efficiency
has been we'll known at Washington.
There are honor graduates of the War
College and other service institutions
in the command.
Reduced Their Rating.
When the colonel took command of
the regiment, the yearly efficiency re.
ports were being made up. The officers
had generally been placed in the "ef-
ficiency" and every good" columns,
and few had reached the mere "'good' u
column. The new colonel, who was
with the regiment sixteen days, eight
of which were on leave, went over the
reports and marked the officers gener.
ally down to "good," which is the
lowest courtesy mark that can be given
That was the straw which broke the
camel's back. For some reason or an
other, according to reports which came
from the Sherman yesterday, an inspec
tor was sent down to Monterey by
Brigadier- General Daniel Brush, com
manding officer of the department OF
California, who, after Investigating
conditions, is said to have reported
that the new colonel was "tempera
mentally unfit to command the regi
ment."
Queer Orders Issued Here.
On arrival at Honolulu Colonel Till
son gave martinez orders which have
seldom been issued for the guidance Of
officers here. AS rule officers hav,
been allowed freedom of movement
personally, while in port and only tn,
officers of the guard and day were ex
Tillson demanded that all officers sleel
on board the Sherman. Some asket
that they be allowed to remain ashor,
with their wives, but the commandin,
officer curtly told them the orders wer
issued and would remain. Officers wer
not allowed to leave the dock yesterda,
morning except by permission of tn
commanding officer, this order beini
posted outside the quartermaster' of
4 fee. An additional order was poste,
e that the entire command should drill
= during the entire forenoon, and drill
r they did.
d One officer asked that he be allowe
to remain ashore over Thursday nigh
because his wife, who was recoverin
from a recent illness, was nervous. Th
colonel said he did not propose to hav
his regiment run by nervous women.