The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-11-07


season at the public park, and on the
night of the closing concert the citi-
zens of Douglas presented Mr.. Ham
mond a beautiful diamond studded
medal as token of their appreciation
of the pleasure the concerts had given
them, We found Mr.. Hammond a
man with advanced ideas an da work
er as we'll as a student. He is a de-
lightful conversationalist and is do
ing his share toward the solution of
a vexatious problem. He has certain
ly raised the tone of army bands and
has won the respect of his superior
officers and of the people of Doug
las. 1t will doubtless be of some in
terest to the many readers of the Sun
to know that the son of one of Kan
sas City's leading educators is the
leading violinist in the orchestra of
this band, and that Leon Herriford
is making good as musician. It
was very pleasing to me personally
to find Leon popular with his .asso-
ciates and a general favorite about
the camp. Many of the old men of
the famous Ninth cavalry are refus-
ing to reinlist because of the fact that
prejudice Is so acute as to make life
unpleasant. Since their coming, how
ever, conditions along this line have
undergone remarkable Improvement.
Improvement always follows in the
wake of the Ninth cavalry.
While we were in Douglass hostili-
ties broke out at Naco, about twenty
nine miles up the line. Our friend
George w. K. Love was always regal
ing us with stories of his prowess as
a member of the Twenty-third Kansas,
which saw service in Cuba. When
he heard the mutterings of the can
non up at Naco his impatience to get
into the fray was pathetic.
Our work being done, the time ar
rived for US to resume our pilgrimage,
and as good fortune would have it,
the line which we took out of Doug
las went right by Naco. Our friends
came down to the station to bid us
adieu and we were away. When we
reached Naco the train stopped to un-
load 250,000 rounds of ammunition for
the Hill forces, which were holding
the town against the forces of Myto-
rena. The platform of the station was
crowded with troopers vino had been
concentrated at this point to protect
American interests, and the martial
air of the surroundings was more than
the soldierly soul of George w X Love
could stand and followed by the Grand
Master he hastened to join the sol
diers He had been there only few
minutes when the machine gun in the
Mytorena camp on the hillside began
to pop and the balls began to strike
the station Mr.. Baker and | were
sitting in the car and we heard a ter
rible commotion on the outside, and
before we we're able to ascertain the
cause George w. X. Love, the soldier,
statesman and patriot. came tearing
into the car and crawled under a seat.
He was ghost-like in hrs appearance
Nand with chattering teeth he told us,
when we tried to reassure him, that
he was a follower Of the doctrine,
Safety First" The Grand Master,
in his mastery retreat, set at naught
the well established law of physics,
that large bodies move slowly, and ex-
planned his haste by telling us that 1t
was his duty as Grand Master to look
after the craft, and he came in to
see that Baker and l were out OF
harms way. 1t was at Naco that
Trooper Wilson was shot While on
guard duty, and he was placed upon
our train and carried to the hospital
Huachua, Ariz. He was in charge OF
sergeant Major Edward W. Spearman,
Sergeant Spearman is bright young
man whose home was formerly in New
York and he proves our statement
that he is bright in that he came to
Missouri to select his wife, having
married Miss Fannie ]. Jones OF In
dependence. We read with some re-
gret, later on, that Trooper Wilson
died of the wound inflicted. When we
read of this death we could not help
rejecting on the injustice Of the treat
ment of the American Negro on ac-
count of senseless caste prejudice.
We saw our men patroling this from
tier, exposed to all kinds of weather,
and other dangers incident to war,
that the white people might rest Sc
cure in the enjoyment of life, liberty
and property, and at the same time
the children of these very men were
being denied equal educational ad-
yantages and their wives and daugh-
ters were being denied the courtesies
which are accorded American woman
hood. They are subjected to the dam
nabIe jim-crow cars. separate waiting
roomA and other humiliating inhu-