National Guard Company K Faces Membership Crisis
Local militia leaders threaten dishonorable discharges for those who fail to show up to drill or pay their dues.
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.
An interesting meeting of Company K, First Regiment, N. G. W., was held at the Chamber of Commerce Saturday evening. Lieutenant Allen stated that the company had fifty-six enrolled members, but only about thirty could be depended upon for regular attendance at drills. He declared that those who wished to leave would be granted an honorable discharge if they paid their dues, but those who failed to attend or pay would be dishonorably discharged as required by law. Captain Weatherwax, while East, is perfecting himself in new military tactics. The company intends to reorganize its non-commissioned officers based on attendance and conduct, and plans to join a battalion with companies from Olympia and Tacoma.
“some had moved away and others had not shown proper interest in the welfare of the company.”
This meeting captures the institutional anxiety of the 1890s, where volunteer militias served as social clubs and potential labor-strike enforcers, struggling to balance voluntary participation with rigid legal structure.
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