tia, officers of the signal corps, the extra officers allowed to regiments, battalions and squadrons for staff duty, surgeons and assistant surgeons of regiments, battalions and squadrons not part of regiments, assistant surgeons of separate troops, batteries, separate companies and divisions, veterinary surgeons, chaplains and military pharmacists, shall be appointed by the governor upon the recommendation of their immediate commanding officers. When the governor desires to create new organizations, he shall have the power in the first instance to appoint all the officers necessary to commence and complete such organizations. (As amended by chap. 746 of 1900.)

§ 56. Elected officers.-Brigadier-generals shall be chosen by the field officers of the line of the brigade and the commanding officers of separate troops, batteries and separate companies, not part of a regiment, battalion or squadron, but in such brigade, or may be appointed by the governor whenever he shall so determine and direct. If any vacancy or vacancies exist in the position of field officer of the line, the ranking company or troop commander or commanders of the organization in which the vacancy or vacancies exist, shall be entitled to vote. Colonels, lieutenant-colonels and majors, commanders and lieutenant commanders, except as otherwise provided in the preceding section, shall be elected by the field officers of the line, and the commissioned officers of the companies or divisions, of the regiment, battalion or squadron not part of a regiment. Captains and lieutenants and ensigns of troops, batteries, companies and divisions, shall be elected by the members of the respective troops, batteries, companies or divisions, who shall have performed during the period of their membership, not exceeding twelve months preceding the election, at least sixty per centum of the duty required of their troop, battery, company or division and who shall not be indebted at the time to the civil association of such troop, battery, company or division, organized as provided in this chapter.

§ 57. Elections.-The major-general shall issue orders for the election of a brigadier-general when the governor directs. Commanding officers of brigades shall issue orders for the election of colonels of regiments and majors of battalions and squadrons not part of regiments; the commodore or captain of the naval militia shall issue orders for the election of commanders of battalions. Colonels of regiments and majors of battalions and squadrons not part of regiments, and commanders of battalions of the naval

militia, shall issue orders for election to fill all other vacancies, to be filled by election, that may exist in their respective commands. For the election of officers of separate troops, batteries and separate companies and divisions, these orders shall be issued by the respective brigade commanders or the commodore or captain of the naval militia, as the case may be. The officer ordering an election shall detail an officer to preside thereat and shall give or cause to be given at least five days' notice to all the qualified voters when and where and for what office the election is to take place. Such notice shall be served on the persons entitled to vote at such election in the same manner as warnings for duty are given. The person or persons serving such notice shall make return of the persons notified and of the manner of service. The return, if made by a commissioned officer, shall be authenticated by his certificate on honor; if by a non-commissioned officer, by the oath of the person making such service. The oath may be administered by any person authorized to take the acknowledgment of deeds or by any commissioned officer, and such return shall be presented to the officer directed to preside at such election before the polls for such election shall be opened. The commanding officer of the organization in which such election is held shall before the polls are opened present to the officer directed to preside, a list of the persons qualified to vote thereat and a list of persons disqualified with a statement of the facts constituting such disqualification. If such disqualification shall be caused by the non-payment of indebtedness, it may be removed by the payment of such indebtedness at any time before the polls shall be closed. At the time fixed for the election, the officer ordered to preside thereat, or in his absence an officer authorized by him to act for him, or in the absence of such an officer, the commissioned officer highest in rank of those present, shall announce the purpose in hand and open the polls. If it shall happen at any election that legal notice has not been given to all the persons entitled to vote thereat, the presiding officer shall adjourn the meeting and cause such notice to be given; but the presence of a person entitled to vote at any election shall be deemed a waiver of his right to take exception to the want of legal notice to him. If any person offering to vote at any election shall be challenged as unqualified, by any person entitled to vote thereat, the presiding officer shall declare to the person so challenged the qualifications of an elector, and if he shall state himself duly qualified, and the challenge

shall not be withdrawn, the presiding officer shall examine him under oath and determine as to his qualifications as such elector. As soon as all the electors have cast their votes, or at the expiration of one hour from the opening of the polls, the presiding officer shall declare the polls closed and at once publicly canvass the votes and declare the result of the election. A majority of the votes of all persons present voting at an election shall be necessary to a choice. The presiding officer shall forthwith notify the person elected in writing of his election. If a person elected at any such election shall not, within ten days after being notified of his election, signify his acceptance to the presiding officer, he shall be considered as declining the office to which he shall have been chosen and a new election be held. Should there be no choice, the presiding officer shall adjourn the meeting to a reasonable date, and at that meeting open the polls, for another election, and if such second meeting result in no choice, the governor shall be notified and may then fill the vacancy by appointment. The presiding officer shall forward the proceedings of an election in such manner as provided in the regulations issued under this chapter.

§ 58. Appeal from an election.-Every person thinking himself aggrieved by the proceedings at an election, may appeal to the governor, by filing at the time of the election with the presiding officer thereat notice of such intended appeal and forwarding a full statement of the grounds of such appeal within ten days from the date on which the election took place. The governor may direct upon such appeal, an officer to take testimony in the case, and to report his findings, and such officer shall have the same power to take evidence, administer oaths, issue subpoenas and compel witnesses to attend and testify, and produce books and papers and punish their failure to do so, as is possessed by a general court-martial.

59. Oath of office.-Every officer duly commissioned shall, within ten days after his commission is tendered to him, or within ten days after he shall have been notified personally or by mail that the same is held in readiness for him by a superior officer, take and subscribe the constitutional oath of office. Such oath shall be taken and subscribed before an officer authorized by law to administer an oath or some general or field officer or an officer who shall hold the assimilated grade of a field officer, who has taken the oath himself and who is hereby authorized to admin

the established rules of law for the government of the military forces of the state. Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter, the president and judge-advocate, if there be one, of every military court and board are authorized to administer all oaths taken by such court or board or by any person or in the course of its proceedings.

$110. Form of mandates; execution by public officers.Military courts are empowered to issue all process and mandates, including writs and warrants, necessary and proper to carry into full effect the powers vested in said courts. Such process and mandates may be directed to the marshals of the court, the sheriff of any county and the constables and marshals of any town or city, and shall be in such form as may, from time to time, be prescribed by the governor in the regulations issued by him under this chapter. It shall be the duty of all officers to whom such process or mandate may be so directed to execute the same and make return of their acts thereunder according to the requirements of the same. The keepers and wardens of all city or county jails shall receive the bodies of persons committed by the process or mandate of a military court and confine them in the manner and according to law. Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter, no fees or charges of any nature shall be demanded or required to be paid by the state or any military court or member thereof or person executing its mandate or process by any public officer for receiving, executing or returning any such process or mandate or for any service in connection therewith, or for receiving or confining a person in jail or custody thereunder.

§ 111. Commitments for disorderly conduct.-Any person who shall be guilty of disorderly, contemptuous or insolent behavior in, or use any insulting or contemptuous or indecorous. language or expressions to or before any military court, or any member of such a court, in open court, tending to interrupt its proceedings or to impair the respect due to its authority or who shall commit any breach of the peace or make any noise or other disturbance, directly tending to interrupt its proceedings, may be committed by warrant under the hand of the president of the court to the jail of the city or county in which said court shall sit, there to remain without bail in close confinement for a time to be limited not exceeding three days and until the jailor's fees be paid.

§ 112. Attendance of judge-advocate; accused may have counsel. In courts of inquiry and general courts-martial, a judge

Any commissioned officer who has become or shall hereafter become disabled, and thereby incapable of performing the duties of his office, shall be withdrawn from active service and command and placed on the retired list. Any commissioned officer who has become, or who shall hereafter become unfit or incompetent, and thereby incapable of performing the duties of his office, shall be discharged upon the recommendation of his commanding officer or the recommendation of an inspecting officer. Such retirement or discharge shall be by order of the governor and, in either case, shall be subject to the provisions of this section. Before making such order, a board of not less than five commissioned officers, one of whom shall be a surgeon, shall be appointed, whose duty it shall be to determine the facts as to the nature and cause of incapacity of such officer as appears disabled or unfit, or incompetent, from ny cause, to perform military service, and whose case shall be referred to it. No officer, whose grade or promotion would be affected by the decision of such board, in any case that may come before it, shall participate in the examination or decision of the board in such case. Such board is hereby invested with the powers of courts of inquiry and courts-martial, and whenever it finds an officer incapacitated for active service, shall report such fact to the governor, stating cause of incapacity, whether from disability, unfitness, or incompetency, and if he approves such finding, such officer shall be placed on the retired list or discharged, as provided in this article. The members of the board shall, before entering upon the discharge of their duties, be sworn to an honest and impartial performance of their duties as members of such board. No officer shall be placed upon the retired list or discharged by the action of such board, without having had a fair and full hearing before the board, if upon due notice he shall demand it. It shall not be necessary to refer any case for the action of such board arising under this section, unless the officer designated to be placed upon the retired list or discharged, shall within twenty days after being notified that he will be so retired or discharged, serve on the adjutant-general a notice in writing that he demands a hearing and examination before such board. Boards for the national guard shall be appointed by the governor for officers above the grade of colonel, and by the commanding officer of the national guard for officers below the grade of brigadier-general; boards for the naval militia shall be appointed by the governor and shall be composed of officers of such grade or rank as he may determine.