A Mock Dress Parade at the Armory
Seattle militiamen trade drill precision for satire and pipe-mounted 'artillery' to the amusement of a capacity crowd.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The battalion drill was the great event in militia affairs during the week, drawing the largest crowd of the year to the Armory on Wednesday night. The feature of a mock dress parade following the drill proved very acceptable, serving to amuse both the crowd and the militiamen themselves. 'Casey' Moran, officially known as Corporal B.H. Moran of B Company, was the moving spirit behind the farce. Nearly eighty men took part, donning everything from crinolines to Dutch comedian costumes. The highlight was the appearance of the battery: a section of ten-inch water pipe mounted on wheels and drawn by a squad of men, with a rifle concealed in the barrel to simulate firing. Moran read general orders in the parade that would have made headquarters rise in horror, granting pensions and leaves of absence with reckless abandon.
“Casey took his stand and read general orders that would have made 'Headquarters' rise up in horror had they heard them. Leaves of absence and pensions were granted profusely in them.”
This display of 'mock' military theater offers a rare, humorous window into the local militia culture of 1893. While today’s Seattle civic life is often defined by protests or institutional friction, this story reminds us of a time when the National Guard functioned as a social hub—a place where the rigid hierarchies of the state were occasionally dismantled through performance and public mischief.
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