T20 QUARDSMEN.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXIX, Issue 34, 29 November 1912, Page 8

T2O QUARDSMEN.

<r. » ; tiibmm (M ©SEATING. Remarkable ooUrt-majcijal proceed" "lug's against the!"entire' personnel' of tile sum company of the Ist Foot ( Guards, including the,captain, ii non'commissioned orncers, and'llo men, >pe&ed ut Potsdam, to-day (wrote the berlin correspondent "of the 'Daily iSlaU' on {September 23). The .company fs ohaiged with dishonesty in connection with a targetsnooting competition for the coveted "Raiser Prize'' or the Prussian Army last month. The Ist Foot Guards are one of; the proudest regiments of tne .household troops, and tne Kaiser and all ins sons have, at one time or another, served in it. ine 'recruits of the regiment are more or less picked men. 'ihe formal accusation against the company is of "disobedience to orders.'' While the shooting contest was m progress at Doberitz camp, an officer 6t another regiment, wnich was drilling not far iroin tile firing point, noticed a private of the sixth company of the loot Guards put his hand into jus boots and his haversack and take cartridges out from them. Ibis observant officer reported to headquarters and the shooting was immediately stopped. Investigation revealed an amazing state of attains. ' Practically all the sergeants, corporals, and men of the company were, it is alleged, found in possesion of many more cartridges than they were entitled to under the rules, which allowed only 30 shots per man. Ammunition was secreted in their boots, haversacks, and in various parts of their clothing. Altogether 1700 cartridges were found to which the men had no right. The company had even had cartridges buried in certain bushes and trenches, it is said that a certain sergeant of the company had for months secretly appropriated cartridges in order that the company might enter for the "Kaiser competition," which it won last year, much better supplied with ammunition than its rivals. Captain von Schlich, the commander of the company, who is on trial, is charged merely with neglecting to exercise proper control over the action of his subordinate officers. The large number of defendants makes it necessary to hold the trial in one of the civil courts of Potsdam. Sentence on 120 Soldiers. With the exception of a junior lieutenant, the entire sixth company was found guilty by court-martial of cheating in a target shooting competition for the "Kaiser Prize.' All the 120 prisoners were sentenced to various terms of arrest in quarters and imprisonment in gaol. Captain von Schlich, commanding officer, was given one week's arrest in quarters, and Sergeant Huttenberg, the non-commissioned officer in charge of the rifle practice, was sentenced to four months in gaol. Fifteen corporals were given from three to five days' detention in barracks and all the privates three days' detention. The verdict set forth that although the company was supposed to enter the competition for the "Kaiser Prize" with only 30 rounds 'of ammunition apiece each man had between five and 15 cartridges more than he was entitled to. Sergeant Huttenberg admitted that for several years he had tried to "influence" the competition in favor of the sixth company.