Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-26
LIKE REAL BATTLE
ON HISTORIC FIELD

CONTINUED from First Page.)
ospted in any way. The only safe person
| In Khaki today Is an umpire. who wear:
a white band on his hat.
| All others will be captured and shot
before sunr!se-with ridicule. The
Stars staf correspondent, the only
newspaper man who advanced to the
front with the Red army. was cap
| writing a telegram for q mounted
| messenger to gallop back twelve miles
to the only telegraph station within
| q tremendous area that Is working to-
day. It was only after long struggle
| with the intelligence Of the "bonehead''
| who captured him that the correspond
| emit was allowed to mount his horse and
get back with the Reds in time for
a drink Of cold tea. Every canteen In
the Red army was charged with tea
morning.
Slaughter Of District Troops.
Today the pick of washington's SOL
diery is being ruthlessly Slaughtered
by an umpire's decision. The pride OF
the regiments is being declared dead
by a military gentleman with a white
band around his hat. Theoretical crepe
should hang upon the tent doors, for
the most deadly thing in all modern
war games is moving men aside with
ruthless dispatch, and there is no dis
pute. Today the. umpire.s decision
takes the place of the grim reaper 8
scythe.
Were that great student of the en-
listed man. Rudyard Kipling. here to-
day he might be induced to change
one OF his verses:
And now the hugly bullets come
a-pecking through the dust.
And no man likes to face 'em. but
everybody must"
He could write 1T very truthfully:
And now the jumps decision Is
a-written in the dust.
The soldiers don't believe it-but
the captain says they must.
For it's dreadful thing to be charging
desperately across an open stretcn' ioao-
ing and firing your paper Carriages as
you run, fired with the tales or the men
who fought the same field SO many years
ago. and have an umpire wave his hand
and say your are dead. You hate 10 De-
lieve 1t, but there is no disputlns II.
Back to the rear, you have to CO. no mat
ter what your own personal 1eenngs III
the matter area theoretical deao man Is
supposed to have no feelings.
Decisions Instead of Bullets.
The umpire today Is the connecting
link between sham war and real war.
The field regulations say his decisions
take the place of bullets. They don't
wound so much, but they're just as effect
i've. An umpire is chosen from the regu-
lar officers above the rank of first lieu
tenant, and he is just as sacred as SILK
O'Loughlin or any of the other jumps
that one sees at the ball yard. There Is
no dispute from his bullet decisions:
AS far as possible there Will De no
actual contact The men do not charge
upon one another in actual fact. but are
supposed to stop 100 yards apart. Paper
bullets can go almost that far-or, at any
rate, they go far enough and fast enough
and hit hard enough ~ to make max ~ II mighty
And another thing which the omcers
and umpries endeavor to keep out or the
game is the personal feeling. or 1eenhg
of scrappiness. There must be nothing
partisan about these games, otherwise II
would be perfectly proper to go In ana
club the enemy with the butts OF rlnes.
The war game is not to see who can 90
the most damage to the uniforms on tne
other side, but to develop the 1acuity
which army men use in working out the
big tactical problems 1t Is fine thing
TO shoot the. rifles, and the boys love II,
but the problem given the commanders
may make it necessary to 90 no snoOtiHs
at ALL 1t may simply mean to find the
without being seen.
Like War Times, Except.
Everything is being done just as it
would be done in war time except
where peace conditions prohibit. The
men can't steal chickens, for instance.
and the practice Of riding out far be-
yond the outposts to look over the
hot NJ
bears little resemblance to what Is done
in war.
The intrenchments and gun pits
which would be used in lighting are
actually dug. except where the farmer
makes objection. They do not tear
down bridges. but they leave note
saying this bridge is down." or indi-
cate it in some way. so that troops
connot march over it.
1t is no small job to be an umpire In
a war that covers SO much territory as
the District troops and regulars are
fighting over today. All the studies of
battles that have been fought with real
bullets are boiled down in the minds
not at all based on the spectacular side
of war. And right there is where the
element of chance that often wins bat
ties seems to be lacking In the war
game. Personal bravery has no chance
in the war game, but every possible
consideration is given to all the factors
that would appear in real fighting, but
which are necessarily absent In the
umpire and paper-bullet scrap.
Wireless From Midocean.
A vagrant wireless message from the
steamer Northland, 300 miles out at sea,
came floating over Gettysburg early this
morning and became enmeshed in the
wireless apparatus Of the District of CO.
lumbia Signal Corps Company. Corp.
Duyall was sitting at the receiver when
the vibrations of the faraway steamship
operators key were received and he
pricked up his cars at instant attention.
The message was from man signing
himself Wingate, and said that he was
on his way with balloon" and also
said that the ball Is Open" The ad-
dress was indistinct, but had the ear
marks of an English locality. The men
of the company have an idea that it is
q message being sent back to America to
go to England by cable.
The men who caught this vagrant
vibration Of the Atlantic atmosphere
were drilled in the most important art
of signal work. They had just hiked
out three miles with their eighty-foot
steel mast. They had raised the ten
sections in fifteen minutes. placed the
guy ropes properly and were just ready
to send a message back to camp when
the Northland's message came float
ing in.
The three guardsmen from the I'd
District of Columbia Regiment who got
fresh two nights ago and broke a two
dollar-and-a-haf seat off q Gettysburg