Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1908-06-17
$4,000 OF ARMY PAY
SCATTERED BY WIND
Blown 500 Yards When Storm Hits
E%ncampment at Pine Plains.
SOLDIERS HURT IN THE BLAST
Levels Tents and Injuries a Score of
Troopers - Headquarters Mess
Flung High in Air-Grant's Tent
Blown Over.

A0Ao"h otS1s
Pine Plains, N. Y. - Havoc was
wrought on the Hogsback when d
violent w~indstorm, accompanied by
rain and hail, bore down on the city
of tents where the National Guard
and the regular troops are encamped,
ready for the military maneuvres of
the Department of the East. Every
tent in the camp was blown down,
and a number of soldiers were in
jured.
Major William E. Halliday, Pay
master of the camp, was paying off in
one of the tents in the Twelfth In
fantry reservation when the storm
broke. He had almost $25 1000, most
ly in bills of $40, IS, 50 and 81 de-
nominations. The tent under which
the Paymaster sat was swept away
and the money was scattered by the
wind. Late at night the search for
some of the missing money was still
going on. Some of it was found after
the storm 500 yards away.
Many of the militiamen are
bivoucking on the wet ground, dis
gusted with camp life, for the pres
ent, at least.
The Massachusetts National Guard
suffered more than any of the other
organizations, although few regiments
escaped damage.
All was activity in Pine Camp early
in the afternoon when a black cloud
was observed coming out of the
northeast. 1t came on rapidly. Just
at 8 o'clock the storm struck. A
culver ran throughout the camp, and
was Tapping in the wind, and the men
went scurrying this way and that,
lodging the tents and tent poles as
they were uprooted and hurled along
by the blast.
1t is estimated that the gale blew
sixty miles an hour for a few min
utes after it struck. And while the
soldiers were staggering against the
force of the wind the hail struck and
then the rain: On the top of the
Hogsback, a knoll which oyerlooks
the entire encampn1ent. and on which
was pitched the tents of General
Frederick Dent Grant and his staff,
the greatest damage was done. Cen
eral Grants tent was one of the first
to go down before the wind.
The General was in his tent talking
to Major Lloyd Mccormick, the In
spector-General, when the first blast
struck. Before the General and the
Major could spring out of the door
the big A-shaped tent fell about their
heads, and as they scrambled to free
themselves from the canvas it was
lifted by the wind and carried down
the hill.
The tents occupied by the military
observers and the umpires were
grouped around that of General
Grant. Every one of them was blown
down and some of the observers mar
rowly escaped injury.
Over the crest of the hill swept the
wind and down into the lowlands
where the militia and regulars were
encamped. The Eleventh and Thir-
teenth Cavalry Regiments suffered.
Most of their tents were swept to the
ground. The Twenty-fourth Infantry
also suffered severely. The Fifth and
Twelfth also had tents blown down.
The Second. Sixth and Eighth Massa-
chusetts had their tents carried away
and the canvas torn and tent poles
broken.
One man in the Massachusetts
troops had both shoulders disloeated,
another's ear was nearly orr Off, and
a thirds back was sprained.
1t will take the engineer corps two
days to get the camp in order again
and repair the damage done by the
storm. The storm lasted only about
five minutes and then the rain poured
down. Before the storm the soldiers
suffered greatly from the heat.
With the coming of the 5000 United
States troops by foot and rail. anu the
arrival of the National Guard organ
izations, Pine Plains presents a spec
tacle the like of which has not been
witnessed in times of peace. The site
of the camp is a broad, sandy plateau
stretching along the shores of Black
River, near the village of Felt Mills
and half way between Watertown and
Carthage.