Evening star., 1933-10-22

District Regiment to be posted at the National
Columbian Armory, building erected few
years before
The order promptly obeyed by the adju-
tant of the District regiment. Maj. p F. Bacon,
who in business way a Pennsylvania
avenue grocer. Maj Bacon, it seems, was act
ing for Col Hickey who was absent from the
city. 1t did not take the Militia long to as
semble at the Armory and to real
warlike air. Nor did it take The Star reporter
long to reach there and find out what the
soldiers doing, even if he did get mired in
the mud for which Washington was then
famous His write-up, printed the next day,
said:
About midnight we made our way through
the Maine avenue mud to the Armory, and on
entering the grounds were brought up with
round turn by bit of sharp steel at the end of
a Misunderstanding tube leveled at our head,
and by sharp admonition to stand in our
tracks. Not wishing to imperil a life of con-
siderable value TO our wife and baby "a bOyD,
promptly decided to do nothing rash, and
waited until an order was obtained for our
admission Inside the armory, the ground-f1oor
drill room We found the soldiers on duty for
The night, variously disposed in groups. smoking.
talking, etc, while waiting their turns to relieve
the guard stations about the building. -
Capt TAFT of the National Guards was the
senior officer in command. The Union Guards
were under the command of Lieut. H. c..
Mclaughlin, the Yagers of Capt. Schwartzman,
and the Light Infantry of Lieut. John Tucker.
Lieut. Mclaughlin of the Union Guards was
appointed captain of the day. or rather of the
night.
The heavy clang of the muskets upon the
stone pavementS, as squads of the soldiers were
called to relieve guard: the exchange of watch
words; the sharp challenge, who goes there?'
all served to give military look to the whole
proceedings All access to the arms in the
building not Immediately in use had been cut
off The companies, we may add, turned out
with alacrity and cheerfulness, though not a
few of the members were summoned from their
beds"
THE armory building still stands at the north
west corner of Sixth and streets south
west, though almost hid away among some of
the World War temporary structures which are
still allowed to stand in that part of the Mall.
When it was erected, this part of the Mall
was entirely unimproved, though the Smith
sonian grounds had been laid out into walks
and roads four years before by the celebrated
landscape gardener, Andrew jackson Downing.
Prior to this, in l848 the Smithsonian Insti-
tuition began to beautify its, part of the grounds
by the planting of trees and shrubs
Even for number of years later, it a
desolate stretch of ground to travel across at
night time, and dangerous besides, because Of
the many rowdies and thugs who made it their
rendezvous after dark. At this period, houses
in southwest Washington were few and far
between and many of the streets and avenues,
provided for this section by LEnfant. were not
opened up. So far the Mall itself is
concerned, Congress does not seem to have
taken it very seriously in the early days. In
deed, the Smithsonian Institution at first was
granted So acres out of this fine park and still
holds undeniable right to 80 acres, and at about
the time. the washington Monument So
ciety was decided by President Polk 80 acres.
many years later conveyed back to the Federal
Government
The old Armory was erected in accordance
with the act of Congress approved March 3,
1855, which provides:
And the Secretary of War be, and he hereby
is, directed to cause to be constructed on such
SITE in a central position on the public grounds,
in the city of Washington. as may be selected