El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-05-29
Of
THE BIC BEND
Army Sergeant Tells Of Its
Loneliness and the Dis
covery of a Cave.
Rr KENT A. Hunter.


Marathon. Texas. May 2e-The BIG
Bend" country. according to border lore
is the ~bad lands" Of Texas and to
the army that means the bad lands
Of the world. For the army has been
on the Texas border for five years
most Of the time in pup" tents and II
is a bit soured on the world because
OF it,
Down the river tran, toward 30
quiIlas. and Glen Springs, and Deem
er's crossing. great appearing peas
seem but waiting q chance to sno 9te
the scraggly little wagon roa1 a. a1o 80
little stream that runs, snow leo' a-Ol.S
the distant bottom OF the c1ny -
Truck drivers. taking supplies from tl.S
Marathon base to the patrolihs -
airy outposts along the oolS .f,Lbte~
sensed the feeling and Srlppeu ISi 49,.
the steering wheels Of thelr ruIIUil-i5
vehicles Even Mexican teanste+s' "
loting through the passes their -
the border mines, shiver as they oriHe
through the more lonesome SUI eloiiss-
The Hideous Night
Echoes. and the hooting Of Owls ana
an occasional bat, the lone Won : No. 49,
and the yapping OF scaVenger coy O.eS
make night htdeous IN ne ,s.4 +r,,I7-
make night in the bad lanos IuI4
period OF weird and eerle sleepiesS-
ness ~
Border legend. Indian. tradition and
the first hand stories OF cowboys pic
ture the big bend as the final refuge
OF bandits and train robbers. and OF
stgrav cats OF the road whom society
has summed because OF their intrae-
IN Tbroueb the heart Of the bad land
country TODAY there runs a slender
copper wire. upheld on lances drlVen
into the stony earth with painful per
men
the signal corps OF the army. Teennl-
cally IL is the Zine OF Information De
tween the Marathon base and the river
patrols. Familiarly, il Is the -ouzzer
line" In reality il is the one connect
ing link between the patrols ana CIV
The sergeants story.
Sergeant John Warren, OF the signal
corps, came IN today from me u, "a "a. -
most concentration camp, just this SIDE
Of BoQuillas. and with him came a
story Of the desOlate sand land that is
typical OF the influence II eXerts on
men ordinarily prosaic and unimagl-
we were working northward
through the canyons" said warren, 10
get the line open. so that a quick mes
sage could get through should there
be a repetition Of the Glen Springs
raid
ut was nv particular Job to drive
pegs TO carry insulators into cracks
and crevices in the rock so that the
wire could be taken from the ground
and the chances lessened Of its being
cut by wagon and truck wheels The
work often took me fifty or hundred
feet from the regular trail
About eight miles above Boquillas- I
the trail runs through o narrow pass
At one point two jutting lodges OF
rock almost seem to meet ana from
them is an ideal view over the plains
in several directions for miles.
Finds q Cave
4 took the line up. 100 feet above
the wagon route. TO clear some trees
And then concealed by carefully piled
rocks which might serve TOT conceal :
ment or defence, / came on cave
Something about the place seemed
to hold me with q feeling that L was
being watched Dead ashes on the
floor might have caused II, but ny
hand showed me the ashes were cold I
and iron an old fire. \ bunk OF 1ir q
branches may have caused the feeling, :
touched them. and the needles fell I
away.
But the feeling remained, and I !
iousened my p-suol in its holster as 1 I
looked around Something bright in !
the ashes attracted my attention. First [
IL seemed TO be the ornaments OF a /
bride and then 1 thought It was gold !
piece
strong Box Robbed.
Examination showed Il TO be an
American silver dollar. almost bronze !
in color from contact with fire. Further !
rummaging IN the ashes brought out I
little screws. and a lock and some brass
binding IL was as plain as day \ 1
strong box. perhaps full Of money, had &
been burned iu the cave 10 get valuable /
contents Bandits. 1 thought, may be {
traiurObbers. had made the cave a rem I
devious and divided their loot
Romance and adventure seemed to /
unfold before my very eyes and thai !
feeling that / was being watched chung
TO me-
Even when I had left the cave and /
worked ON down again to the trail |
couldn't shake off the feeling It's |
country that gets a man II il wasn't !
for the fire blackened dollar 7 might I
think il all a dream"