Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-08-16
ARMIES CLOSING IN:
SK|RM|SHERS CLASH
Continued from First Page.)

harmony with the divisional headauar-
ters. They will. however keen their
own organizations ready for an engage
ment."
Outside of the cavalry fankers and
the advance guard of the 14th Infantry
men, the entire Red army is within a
mile of it's center. and could rapidly as
semble for a fight. The 14th Infantry
men are two miles ahead Of Gen. Bliss
But field telephone line runs with
them and keeps them in direct touch
with headquarters. At the first sight
of the enemy it is the plan of Mai
Libbey to fall back upon Maj. Bald
wins command, and the two unite to
hol" the enemy in check until Bliss
calls his advance back to his main lines.
The March on Taunton.
The march toward Taunton began in a
| thrilling spectacle of camp breaking at
East Freetown, ten miles out of New
Bedford. Gen. Bliss had camped at the
left of long. narrow and sandy lane, on
high ground overrun with small pine
trees, but destitute of water This was
furnished in a humble sprinkiing cart, to
which detachments from all the head
quarters commands applied with every
kind of vessel. from a wash basin to a
boiler. No one complained of the feed,
but no one praised the waited.
he hospital. consisting of four tents,
placed just south of the tents for Gen.
Bliss and staff, was mere formality of
camp making. Its open tent fronts flap
ped In the breeze, with no one poor as
to limp forward to their shelter. Troops
that came pale white from Washington
passed along the road this morning burn
ed scarlet red. Troops of the eth came
along swathed in cold cream.
Every feature of the Red army sug-
gests that it is organized for speed and
mobility, and is. in fact, flying division,
whose impeachment is not of the sort to
keep 1t tarrying long in one place. Thirty
minutes after the first buge this morning
the last of the quartermaSterS wagons
was on the move When the bugie blew
for tents down regular city of shelter
halves fell as if by magic Horses of four
batteries took their places in front of six
teen cannon. They wheeled out of the
battery parks on to the Taunton road
and one by one the regiments followed
them. In line of march they took this
order: Advance guard. field artillery
engineers. infantry and Signal Corps and
| rear guard.
District Troops Break Camp.
At the corner of the East Assonet and
New Bedford roads the District of CO.
| lumbia troops broke camp half a mile
eastward of Gen. Bliss. They had spent
the night with a cemetery in their i'm
their front. At the left was an old New
England farmhouse known as the Mary
F.. Morton farm. The cemetery was their
private burying ground. and the tents of
the 1st Separate Battalion National
Guard of the District of Columbia, faced
directly against the outer line of grave
stones.
The real warfare OF this campaign has
been opened in earnest Mai. F. 4.
Wells, I'D Infantry. has struck a real
| lighting enemy and has succumbed. The
enemy was stern New England farmer
who had d pear tree once upon q time
but that was before the 7th marched
| along. After II had gone he had only a
scattered collection of drying limbs He
picked them up on the ground and pre-
scented them to Maj. Wells, who had coin
in his pocket to settle for all damages
pursuant to an advertised statement The
only defense of Maj. Wells was to alIege
that some of the pear tree limbs looked
rather withered.
They laid in the sum-" was what the
farmer answered, while the others laid
in the shade
$40 for a Pear Tree.
At that Maj. Wells aide collapsed and
gave forth $40 bill, warning the farmer
not to brag about the size of his bit to
other farmers. for fear they might go
into wholesale destruction of their or
chards. Twenty dollars was the sum of
Sundays damages. More dollars are ex-
pected as soon the troops begin TO
clash. when they will fight over the coun-
try regardless of fence lines and corn
crops For fighting. there's no country
like that in which the two armies Of the