Evening star., 1918-06-27
246 FIRST NUMBER
DRAWN FOR JUNE )
ARMY REG|STRANTS
Secretary Baker Takes First
Capsule From Bowl at Sen
ate Office Building.
DRAWING DECIDES ORDER
FOR THE 21-YEAR-OLDS
Army Officials and Members Of
Congress Assist; Work Starts at
Once on Classification.

4 Once on Classification.
While twenty one year old men
throughout the nation waited eagerly
a group of Army officials. including
Secretary of War Baker. Gen. March.
chief of staff, and Provost Marshal
General Crowder, drew from historic
bowl in a room in the Senate office
luilding this morning the fateful or
der numbers which determine the
place in the draft of the men who reg
istered June ).
There was great silence in room
e26, where the drawing was held. as
Secretary Baker. blindSolded. dipped
his hand into the bowl containing
1000 numbers inclosed in capsules.
and drew forth the first number at
exactly 9:34 o'clock
The capsule was handed to Capt
! Raymond o. Wilmarth of the provost
marshal generals Office. who opened
it. and announced:
"246"
| Thus the first number to be drawn
in the second national lottery went
! into history. along with the historic
"e5S.' the first number drawn by
Secretary Baker in the lottery held
in the same room July 20 OF last
year.
The 1.200th number. which was 225.
vas taken from the bowl at ll:3s.
Has Military Setting.
The setting of this mornings draw
ing was more military than that Of
last year. although all the other fea-
lures of last years drawing were
practically retained this year.
, Senator Chamberlain. chairman OF
the Senate military affairs commit
tee, drew the second number from
the bowl. II was 1.16S.
The third number was drawn by
Senaor Warren of the committee and
was SIS. Chairman Dent of the House
| military committee drew the fourth
number. 1901. while Representative
| Kahn of the same committee drew
order No. 5-479.
Gen March drew the sixth number.
400. Provost Marshal Gen. Crow
der himself drew the seventh num-
Der. and registrants throughout the
| country who were numbered by the
local boards 49, may feel that they
! owe their order number directly to
the nanuS OIL l0G OlTeCtoT iHc
| lective service system.
. Col. Charles Warren of Gen. Crow
/ der's staff drew the eighth number
! 1J4.
Those Affecting District.
The number 24e. drawn by Secretary
Baker, and the number Ia were the
/ first two drawn which affected Dis
/ trict of Columbia registrants. as all
1T h0r nf
! reeistrants listed by any one of the
/ local boards of the District. did not
/ affect any registrant of the National
! CAPITAL.
/ number. 529 while Maj. Kramer drew
| the tenth number. 3o5
The remainder of the order numbers.
beginning at No. II and running
| through the l. 200 drawn, were picked
| from the bowl by Miss Wellborn OF
the provost marshal generals Office
Dressed in white, and blndfolded.
Miss wellborn drew the eleventh cap
sule and handed il to Secretary Bake.
Z 1t was $50.
From then on the drawing proceeded
steadily Miss Wellborn picking up the
capsules and handing them to young
officers of the provost marshal gen
erals Office, who read them aloud.
Recorded on Blackboard.
The numbers, as announced, were re-
corded on a great blackboard, and
four scorers, sitting at a table at one
side of the room, kept four separate
records AS soon IS the blackboard
was completely filled with numbers IL
was removed and photographed, an
other blackboard Immediately being
put in its place
their place of activity were prominent
in the conduct of the drawing this
morning Three of the officers who
opened the capsules as they were
drawn by Miss Wellborn are District
cant. Charles r. Morris and Capt:
Wilmarth. Lieut.: J.. Mackey OF
North Carolina assisted.
Miss Wellborn. who is known as
Major Billy. Is a graduate Oh 'ne
officers from states widely sera-
rated sat at the recording table.
where four tabulations. all OF which
blackboard were made. Only when II
is ascertained that the four separate
tabulations correspond with the pho.
tographed blackboards exactly Will
the master list" be prepared for
transmission to the states.
At Recording Table.
AT the recording table were Lieut..
w. {. Gilmore of Pennsylvania, Lieut..
J. w. Holloway of. Michigan. Lieut..
Edward Hill of Kentucky and Lieut..
J. /. Miller of Kentucky.
Lieut. Mccormick of the District OF
Columbia wrote the numbers on the
blackboard Prominent visitors held
their breath as the numbers were
drawn and only one cheer was raised
during the drawing-that came when
Miss Wellborn drew her first number.
Official photographers of the Signal
Corps took many pictures while the
drawing was in progress. for pres
eryation as part of the government
historical record of the war.
Cen Crowder. in a brief explanatory
statement declared that today was
not the anniversary of the first draft.
hut that 1--WE are gathered this year
to determine the order of availability
of 100000 registrants." The process
of the drawing, he said. required n"
explanation, as it is a process with
which the public is thoroughly Ia
miliar.
Numbers Stirred Throughout.