The log cabin Democrat., 1912-08-10
LONCSTRETH DEFENDS
 MALTA ENCAMPMENT
SAYS NEWSPAPERS GREATLY MAGNIFIED REPORTS OF
 DISORDER.

Dear Sir and Friend-Some of us have been fully disgusted by the way some insignificant talk has been mag nified into matters of great import ance, by some of the papers of the state, and that the Conway people may know the truth and not be alarm ed at big headlines avowedly written, 1 have assumed the duty of writing you an occasional letter.
 l desire to state that Camp Stafford was the most quiet, orderly, best-man- aged military encampment I ever saw So far as I know, there was only one "stabbing affair."" The captain had one of the boys placed under arrest and sent him to the sheriff to be turn ed over to the civil authorities.
 The prosecuting attorney, sheriff and district judge conducted the en- tire case. The comment of the judge, after hearing the evidence, was that he believed the fellow who got hurt deserved more than he got, and that he saw nothing in the case to warrant referring the matter to the grand jury, and accordingly discharged the boy.
 You possibly heard of the Fordyce affair. The editorials, as you possibly recall, state that fiction in it's place was all right, but in a ease like that reported from Fordyce, the truth should, in q measure, have show" or words to that effect.
 The men interested in the Fordyce affair have volunteered to pay three times the actual damages, but to their surprise, when they had received the money, they learned that the actual damages had increased from $38 to about $500, so I am informed by the men who expected to settle for the damages.
 As l said, practically all of the mil itary men in camp had no money with them, and what little crapshooting there may have been was done more for amusement than with the idea of gambling for profit ,and as I report ed to the chaplain of the regiment, it seemed to me that the regiment need ed and would have enjoyed and appre- ciated a Y M. c. A. tent more than anything else that usually accompa- nies military men, which we did not have.
 The lessons in hygiene and sanita- tion at this encampment will have lasting benefit throughout the state, and was better than 9S per cent of the school yards in Arkansas.
 On the long hike on Saturday, every member of Go. A came through in good shape, and when the bugle sounded for payday, every man was in his place.
 The breaking of camp was an in- teresting scene, each one being in readiness at the sound of the bugle. Every tent dropped instantly. We en- trained promptly at 6:20 p. m., on the 9th inst, all having sleeping car ac- commodations. Travel rations were issued and with the coffee secured at Little Rock, the men were in good con dition when they arrived at the range at Beebe, at 9 a. m.,, on August '. By this time all of the men were expe- rienced. We divided our company in to squads for detail of four men each and signed each detail different work to do, and by 12 o'clock our new en- |campment was established and the grounds had been cleaned up.
 As you know, First Sergeant Smith returned to camp with five of the boys who were unable to go to Alexandria. l was commissioned to act as sum- mary court officer for the week, and we spent Monday evening leisurely trying to settle a case where one of the boys had gone to town without first securing official permission. The was lIOill 70 cents Ilne LU 50 cents fine and five hours hard la bor. Lieutenants Jones and Cunning ham were detailed to have charge of the firing pit for the day. Company K began the preliminary firing with Company H of Yellville, Companies A and B acting as spectators. Com pany A will get its first preliminary firing Friday morning, August 9, and l am expecting the Conway boys to dc reasonably good shooting. Their guns were declared by the inspectors to be in the best condition of any in the regiment, and l believe that they all are as sober and substantial lot of men as l ever saw.
 We were informed today that we would use field rations instead of gar rlson rations at the range. This means l2 ounces for a pound instead