64 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 
Guards, with the following officers: R. L. Ditmars, Captain; 
W. Reid Blair, 1st Lieutenant; W. I. Mitchell, 2d Lieutenant; 
Charles B. Gleason, 1st Sergeant; Charles E. Snyder, Quarter- 
master Sergeant; John Rose, 2d Sergeant; Stephen Beebe, Color 
Sergeant. 
The Company was immediately uniformed, equipped, and 
armed with Springfield carbines, at the expense of the Zoological 
Society ; and even at this date it is the only company of the Home 
Defense League of New York City which is armed with rifles. 
The drilling of the Company was promptly taken in hand by 
Capt. John levers, of the 68th precinct of the New York Police 
Department, and by him, and with the assistance of members 
of his staff, the Company was drilled to a high state of efficiency. 
The Company made its first appearance in public on Mem- 
bers’ Day, at which time it was presented by the Executive Com- 
mittee of the Society with a national flag. 
Through the enterprise and energy of Captain Ditmars, ebly 
assisted by Mr. I. Richker, of Yonkers, the Zoological Society 
acquired vested rights in the rifle range of the Yonkers Rifle 
Club, situated within convenient distance of the Zoological Park. 
Throughout the summer the members of Company A were taken, 
on two days of each week, to the rifle range for rifle practice at 
ranges of 100 and 200 yards. Excellent results were secured, and 
the men of the Company were made thoroughly familiar with 
their weapons. The marksmanship finally attained by the mem- 
bers of the Company was highly gratifying. 
At the approach of winter, the Zoological Park Company 
was supplied by the city with heavy winter overcoats, and there- 
by still further became officially recognized as a part of the police 
reserve force created for the more thorough protection of New 
York during the war. 
Naturally, the presence of this force of armed men in the 
Zoological Park, subject to the call of the Captain of the 68th 
Precinct, is a satisfaction both to the Police Department and to 
the Zoological Society. 
Since the formation of the Company, several of its members 
have taken their places in the regular army of the United States, 
leaving vacancies which must be filled at an early date. A com- 
plete roster of the Company, as originally enrolled, is as follows; 
