New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-06-18
Second and Third Bat
talions Walk Into Trap
During Sham Battle.
TOO WET TO DIG
FIELD INFRINGEMENT
sa Engagement Is Declared a
Draw and Troops Return to
Fight Against Typhoid.
r,- , s,- oOr,.pcoa.n. 9, m. rrisun. J

rrr- ssar ccrrcspcudens q The Tribunal
plsttsburg, n. Y, June 17.-There
"a. a sound Of snoring by morning.
WIS, little dawn light was able TO
,,rvele through the steady downpour
:, rain found the rockies asleep in
3h.ir tents. Then q bugle blew, and
Ihs frs. battalion arose as one. A great
tragedy was impending. They ate a
3.urried breakfast shouldered their
rms and disappeared into the gray cur
AIMS Of the rain, slushing in rhythmic
rsslth through the mud.
The tragedy is still impending as
hey turn sharply to the left into the
Peru road and 90 stopping along ii for
.hree more inhuman miles Of dismal
vesther. At the point where the high
vsy crosses the Chsteaugay branch of
n. Delaware & Hudson Railroad they
halted and threw their line across the
rack.
The troops waited silently IN the
rain. The weather had thwarted their
v.yplsn. They had expected TO be al
owed TO dig, and dig, and dig, until
they looked like q sector Of the west
.rn front. But war council decided
70 abandon the original intrenching
plsn for fear they would look more like
8 "erick" full Of decoy ducks. There
seemed 70 be enough water in the air
70 protect them from almost any en-
emy except General La Grippe. All
that was dug was shallow shelter
trenches.
Wait by Lone Fleldpieca
The left of the line rested on the
saranac River. The right was support
Cd by a single feldpiece, not needed
for the moment in Mexico, and manned
By second-year Plattsburg men taxing
the artillery course as their elective.
For an hour they waited. Their off,
GERS moved back and forth behind the
line, speaking words Of encouragement
here or throwing a life preserver there.
For an hour they waited. Then
through the misty, mostly morning
came the sound Of tired feet. The men
in shelter trenches grew tense and
waited. Out of the mist form began
10 take shape, and through the silence
came a care-free whistle. Another mo-
ment. and Clayton Hamilton, the nov
elist, was recognized by all present.
you're captured" Missed an officer
through his teeth, with hands clenched,
smiling triumphantly and so forth.
From then on the engagement be-
came general as the second and third
battalion came up, walking into trap,
since the capture of their patrol had
left them practically without eyes.
They saw line of troops behind a
furrow Of grass and thought there was
only a squad or two as an outpost, and
charged cheering, expecting TO swallow
them alive.
But they had advanced only few
PAGES when they were staggered by a
roar Of rifles, for instead Of squads
they had charged a whole company.
They we're enfladed-in fact, they were
snnihilated and if there is anything
worse that can happen to soldiers, with
honor. happened for two hours. Then
some officer or other declared the
battle Of Boyd's boarding house draw
and the rockies went back to camp for
lunch.
More Typhoid Inocuiated.
They spent the rest Of the day get
ting their second incubation of typhoid
prOphylaxis and booming" their cleo
tive courses
Rain that poured last night and
to-day was the heaviest and most con-
tinuous of the two weeks weather the
rockies have had-in fact, it broke all
records for this time of year in Clinton
County. Although the rockies were
disguised enough with the weather to
break into the following song by Theo-
dore Rousseau, to the tune of "Goodby,
Girls:
"Goodby, boys, I'm through.
I'm soaked clear through with que.
This camps an awful stew,
And we're all black and blue.
I'm through with INFLAMMATION.
! long for civilization.
III jump this reservation.
Goodby, boys, I'm off TO Kalamazoo"
none Of them, including Mr.. Rous-
seau, was sore enough to suit the words
with action.