The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1902-08-14
ENCAMPMENT OVER.
Fiftieth Iowa Soldiers Abandon
Camp Lacey.

Camp Lacey.
The first rainy weather experienced
by the soldier boys at Camp Lacey
was Saturday night and Sunday morn.
ing: the parade ground was covered
with puddles. The storm did not seem
10 aHect the spirits of the soldiers
however and they turned out in good
shape. Guard mounting was dispens-
Gu Win as the men reported for duty
at the guard house. Capt Holdstein,
Oh Company F, Burlington, was made
oilcer or the day. Lieut. Smith, Com
pany M, of Fairfield, was honored as
senior othcer OF the guard, and Lieut..
Leinen, Company H, Charlton, was
CHOSEN as Junior officer of the guard.
There were no drills of any sort and
divine service was led by Chaplain w.
n. Frost at $3.50 o'clock in the amphi-
theatre. Rev. II. V. Comm lead in the
Scripture reading and Rev. A. c. Kaye
led In prayer. The rest of the SER
vices were under the direction of Rev.
Frost. Qu.te a large number of the
boys were at church, every company
| seeming to think it a point of honor
| to send large delegation.
| Services over the men were allow
ed short time in which to get ready
| for dinner, after which they were al
| lowed the afternoon to themselves.
| The excursion trains over the Iowa
| Central an b. & w. arrived about
noon and as soon as the weather be-
| gan to clear up the people flocked to
| the camp. The Iowa Central brought
| in crowd of over 200 from Muscatine
| and that vicinity and the B. & w. had
| about 600 from Burlington. These
| with the large crowd that went out
| from town soon filed the grand stand
and quarters and made things lively
during the rest of the afternoon. There
was no more soldier duty until dress
| parade at GAS and every man in camp
| turned out to show the folks from
| home" good time The band was of
| course one of the main features and it
was applauded wherever it went. Some
OF the Company l. boys created quite
diversion toward the end of the
afternoon by appearing in all the old
clothes they could find. They carried
| big tin horns fashioned after from
bones and brass instruments of the
band, and with the drum and the
BILLY" goat proceeded to make a tour
of the camp followed by the crowu
They gave serenade in every COM
pany street and even visited the guard
house and the commissary depart
ment. The boys of the hospital corps
were not to be outdone and they too
prepared a surprise which though
somewhat CHASTITY furnished consider
able amusement. One of the members
was laid on a stretcher with a signal
flag tied around his head so that the
re- showed just above the temple A
dash of baking powder over his face
completed the affect and he was car
RED through camp followed by guard
and finally placed in the guard house
with as much solemnity as his bearers
could command.
The hospital boys have been unusu-
ally busy during the last few days and
Tor short time it was thought there
would be some serious cases of lead
poisoning. The boys have been fire.
quenting the lemonade stands in the
vicinity quite often and a number of
them filled their canteens so as to
to save so many trips. In short time
there were about sixty reported out of
condition and getting medicine at the
hospital. 1t is thought that the acid
working upon the lead in the canteens
was the cause of the trouble. The
matter was attended to at once and
none of the boys were very sick.
Another case which called forth the
assistance of the hospital corpse was
the result of thoughtless act on the
part of Harrison Brown, the little col
ored mascot Of Co. G. of Ottumwa.
Sunday morning he was chasing an
other boy around the camp, when Cor
poral H. c. Davis, by way of joke,
stuck out his foot and tripped the lit
tie fellow up. This aroused Browns
wrath and on getting to his feet he
turned around with an open pocket
knife in his hand and threw it at
Davis with all his strength. By ill
luck the knife struck blade first and
landed in Davis back just above the
hip on the right side, making an ugly
wound several inches deep. The boy
was instantly sorry for what he had
done and could hardly do enough for
the sufferer. A plaster was put on the
wound and Davis is not suffering
greatly from the accident.
The Signal Corps.
Among other features of the Fiftieth
camp has been the excellent work
done by the Signal Corps. The or
ganization comprises forty men and is
under the charge of Capt G. T. Prime
The corps is practically new feature
in the regimental camps and The work
they have been doing has e7eIyc the
highest praise on all sides. Two signal
corps have been erected, one at the
east end of the quarters and the other
a quarter of mile west, and the boys
have been putting in their time at
good advantage. Flags are used dur
ing the day and at night the work is
done through a system of acetaline
gas lights. Besides the signal system
the boys have put up telephone line
and have the quarters all connected
with the Colonels tent. The field tele-
graph is also in use and everything is
in ship shape order in this department
commissary Notes.
The supplies issued to the men from
the commissary department during
one days stay at the camp are esti-
mated to cost about S124.50 and are
drawn as follows
Bacon 375 lbs. or beef 6SS lbs.
Bread 500 lbs; beans rs lbs. or rice
so lbs.
Coffee 40 lbs; tea 10 lbs; sugar
rs lbs; vinegar gallons; candles and
L. B. soap 20 lbs. salt 20 lbs: pepper
IL lbs; potatoes 400 lbs; onions 100
lbs: molasses 10 gallons.
All the provisions are of the very
best grade. Pure Java and Mocha cot
Zee is used and the bacon is better
than that sold at the average grocery
store. Besides what is issued from
headquarters each company spends
from ten to fifteen dollars day for
extras. such as cream, butter, pies,
| atc The hakerv wapon was naver safe