The Twin City star., 1916-08-05
CAPABLE men FOR
new YORK GUARD
Our Countrym0n Eager to Enlist
In Nations Service,
TANDY FIRST LIEUTENANT.

Applicants For Regiment of coIors
Soldiers Pass Rigid Examination
With High Averase-LiveIy Interss
Shown In Effort to Recruit Fifteenth
Infantry to Full War Strength.
The Fifteenth infantry Of the ma
tional guard, the first regiment Of Ne
groes to receive New York designa
ton, although not by any means the
first to be raised in this state, will be
recruited to full war strength in the
next four weeks If the enrolment OF
new members continues at its present
rate, says the New York Evening Post
It was the latter part of June that
William Hayward, public service com.
missioner, was commissioned colonel
Of the national guard by Governor
Whitman for the purpose Of organic,
Ing the new regiment, and in this short
time 425 men have been enrolled. A,
B and 9 companies of the First bat
talon have been mustered into the
state service. with q total membership
Of 200 men, and 100 men additional
have passed the physical examinations
The surgeons who have been eXamin-
Ing the applicants say they are the
finest lot of recruits ever passed ON
for the national guard. Their standard
of physical fitness may be judged from
a a hn v.ir
physical tests only 20 per cent who
apply are rejected. Poor teeth and
eyesight, frequent defects among white
men. are almost unknown among these
Negroes. who, It must be remembered.
are largely town born.
According to Colonel Hayward and
the officers detailed to assist him, they
are an unusually clean cut lot, intelli-
gent and keen for work. The men have
no armory, their only adequate head.
quarters as yet being Lafayette hall
at Seventh avenue and One Hundred
and Thirty-second street. and almost
no rifles and uniforms. But notwith-
these handicaps from GO to 70
per cent of the recruits report every
night for drill, and the schools for
officers and noncommissioned officers
which have been started are eagerly
attended.
A number Of men honorably dis
charged from the four colored regi
ments Of the regular army have en-
listed and already three men have
passed their examinations for commits
sions. V. w. Tandy, an architect, who
has been commissioned first lieutenant
md assigned temporarily to command
If A company. was the first Negro to
receive commission in the New York
national guard. Charles w. Fillmore,
IN ex-maJor Of the Ohio national guard
Ind lieutenant of United States vol
lnteers In the Spanish war, has bsen
appointed captain and placed in COM
nand Of B company. V. FL. Parks, who
las seen service in the Twenty fifth
and Tenth cavalry Of the reg
liar army, also will be commissioned
aptain and probably placed In COM
nand Of G company.
1t Is the intention to give the Negroes
very opportunity to furnish their own !
Ulcers. A request already has been |
ent to the war department for the |
ssignment to the Fifteenth Of Major
'harles Young. Tenth cavalry, the only
'egro graduate Of West Point now in
ervice and one of tho finest officers In :
he regular army. and Of Captain Benz
min 0. Davis. cavalry, unattached.
Tho entered the army through the vol.
nteers In the Spanish war
In some quarters 1t is hoped that an
can be made for Major
oung to take command Of the Fiji
zenith. He has had thirty-one years.
ervice, including service on the plains
the last days of the Indian from
er, In the Philippines and In Mexico.
esides, he has undertaken special
,rvice In Liberia and Haiti, in each
lse acquitting himself with great sue
'ss. The most significant tribute to
ajor Young's tact and personality is
le fact that he has never had the
ightest trouble with the white officers
lder his command.
The present plan Is for one battalion
the Fifteenth to be recruited In
'ooklyn. one in the Harlem section
ID one partially In Manhattan and
e Bronx. Recruiting stations are 10
ted at Lafayette hall. In Harlem.
ID in Brooklyn at ia Myrtle avenue.
sides a recruiting tent at Dean .
'eet and Rochester avenue. A
urth company. d. has been mus
ed I'm. .
Although the regiment will conform :
every way to the latest tactical re- .
of the United States armv