Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1914-12-06
'H[ANS OF CONTINGENT
4 DASHED BY WASHINGTON
State Department Quickly Puts Stop
S. to Organization. Of Force
of Americans.
,,rIHEYs FIehf JUST THE SAME
Many Well-Known Citizens Of United
States Now Enrolled ms Loyal Sub.
ijects OF England, Having Sworn to
London us Their birthplace.
.nY HAYpEN rALnoT.

IS tLONDON. December 1.-The mystery
OF the disappearance OF the much pre-
advertised Anglo American contin-
gent"--the /, body OF 1.2uo, Americans
which Lord Lyxeden ANNOUNCED he was
going to offer to Earl Kitchener after
they bad had5three ,months training
is n mystery no longer. And thereby
hangs, not one, but several tales.
To begin with, the Anglo-American
contingent suffered Il. sudden and peg
emptorya and rainglorious end upwards
OF a month ago--immediately follow
Ing the publication in the United States
of cabled dispatch from London tell
Ing of Its. organization and brilliant
prospects Nobody concerned will tell
exactly what happened. but 1t Is
learned to-day. on excellent authority.
that immediately Washington learned
that citizens of the United States In
London were preparing to fight In
"kitchener's army" short but em-
phatIc message was cabled to the
i American ambassador here. within, an
hour afterwards His Excellency. MR.
Page, had succeeded in convincing the
War Office that the Anglo -American
contingent was I'm. fact an American
contingent and that. as such. 1t was
wholly displeasing to. the strictly neu-
trial minded authorities at Washington.
slfDDESLE FIND HOPES
Then and there the War Office adj
ytsed Lord Lyveden that his: contin-
;Yent could not be accepted as q unit
ifrthe new army--and 900 enthusiastic
Americans suddenly found all their
hopes dashed to tho ground. Although
the men responsible for obtaining pub
licity for the contingent inslsted-bc-
fore Washington administered the
crushing blow-that the ranks were
quite full, n Is learned that, only one
quarter OF the desired number had &C
tuaily sheen got toge th$F.
AS matter of faof this Is less OF
reflection on Americans in London
than appears on tile surface. 1t. Ia
extremely doubtfu1tif there were more
thhn 800 Americans eligible for army
service In England at the time the con-
tingent was formed. But there were
thousands of Americans in the, United
States hooking for a scrap" and
goodly percentage Of them had indi--
Gated In letters their Intention OF COM
Ing over to join the contingent 2
1.-The action of the State Department,
duly communicated TO these would-be
recruits, resulted in, a, change in their
pYans purely geographical in nature.
For, instead of taking ship for Eng
land, they took trains for Canada.
where, according to -ha3or-General'
Sam Hughes War Minister OF the Do,
ininion. 10000 of them appeared. and
insisted on their lnalienable right of
getting into trouble. ~
1.-THE 500 in London. meantime. were
not exactfyaiaie. They had Joined the
contingent because they wanted to
HIGHT and because their enlistment APP
351fcation differed from the regular
sform In the Important particular that
'it.ald not contain any question as to
tile nativity OF the applicant Negative
Iythose applications suggested the sign
.er was n British subject and n God-fear-
Ing man. Actually there was not one
tSbrd In them that proved It.
;,But the 800 still wanted to fight
1850 presently Il happened that young
men with accents ranging all the way
from the super English Bostonese TO
rich Southern draw! made their ap-
rjeasfs risSef at tire War Office and ad :;
vised lun inspecting -staff Officers that
thes-:were Individuals willing. to ac-