New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-02
Motor Trucks, Hub Deep
in Mud, Await Rescue
by the Sun.
MAY HAVE TO MOVE
CAMP SCORPION
Sixteen Showers to One Day at
McAllen, but No Silver
Lining to Clouds.
BY ROBERT II. ROHDE.


United States Army, McAllen. Tex.
Aug. I.-Fred Cole. who plays Simon
Legree in the Western Union Office
here while a half dozen perspirins
Uncle Toms at the telegraph keys chase
dots and dashes over the $500 mile wire
10 New York. probably will see that
McAllen and Texas are mentioned II
III, date line above this story.
But the story. nevertheless, is coming
straight out Of Mudville, Mud County
State Of Morass.
The fact that it has rained nearly
every day since the militia advance
guard struck the border-and that
after more than year of drouth and
In a season which is usually the dry
est Of the dry-has been duly chroni-
cled. and repeatedly. But these little
eloudbursts are as nothing compared
70 what has been happening IN the last
twenty-four hours.
Mud Is Vehicle-Dotted.
Since last evening it has rained eX-
aetlv sixteen times and rsined hard
and lonr-Seventeen! II is raining
again. Or perhaps it would be better 10
saw it has stopped raining sixteen
times. for it is much longer between
stops than between showers. The roads
rediating out Of McAllen, Pharr and
Mission were never much TO brag about
Early rains had made them soggy and
well night impossible. Now they have
becomes sargassos of mud, and for miles
around the country is dotted with all
manner Of self-propelled-other things
being equal-vehicles from feather
weight Fords 10 5-ton motor trucks
They stand hub deep in the muck, and
where they stand they will stay until
the sun comes to the rescue.
On most Of the trucks are foodstuhs
and other supplies for the New York
camps. and the Guardsmen. who must
End some other way 70 transport them
or &c hungry, bitterly lament the pass
ing of the old-fashioned, reliable, land
mud and sea going army mule.
Camp Scorpion Now a Lake.
But the big inconvenience TO the
troops is not represented by the stalled
trucks.
What was Camp Scorpion, here at
McAnen. has become Lake Scorpion.
Despite all the provisions that have
been made TO keep big rain from
drowning out the men, despite all the
pretty high-crowned roads that have
been built through camp. all the gut
tiers and all the drains, the downpour
has simply been to heavy TO De car
ried away.
Fisk Boulevard and Bates Avenue
running through the camps Of the 18th
Infantrv and the list, for whose COM
nanders they were named. have over
flowed; likewise the dug-out company
streets. The hard-packed dirt floors
of the tents have become beds of ooze.
In the camp Of the 18th Infantry,
which lies in a depression between the
7th and list, conditions are so bad
that it is probable the site will be
abandoned. Certainly the regiment
will have to move if the great drain
which Colonel Gordon Johnston is hav-
ing dug proved inadequate.
Guardsmen Sleep on Mud
If there isn't great jump in the per
centage Of men on sick report to-mor-
row the folks back home may rest con
tent that their military representatives
on the border can stand almost any
thing in the hardship line.
For il is on the oozy floors the men
will have to sleep. None but officers
have cots. Only a poncho and an army
blanket will lie between the backs o!
the rank and file and the muck.
When the Guardsmen crawl out al
reveille what they have to say to one
another may start a hurry up move
ment TO bring cots into camp. Morale
and rheumatism do not mix well, ana
at any rate, militiamen from otheI
states are known to enjoy the luxury
of sleeping off the ground.
Twenty-Five cars OF provisions are
in. But for lack Of mobile trucks 10
carry them 70 the place where the ap-
petites are, the supplies are being piled
along the right Of way and covered
with tsrpaulins.
IL the rations are transferred tc
camp before the roads have dried II
will be after the fashion of the little
Arabian Nights bird that undertook te
empty the granary.
Mud Prevents Practice Hike.
Company II, of the 22d Engineers
has been waiting for days TO start OF
a practice hike TO Sam Fordyce. The
company has tried TO get under way
more than once, but each time its sup
ply trucks have been halted by The
mud.
Robert McCoskry Butt, son Of Gen
eral McCoskry Butt, is at Brownsville
He was sent to the base hospital there
suffering from hardening of the ar
teries. which units him for military
duty. Up to tonight Butt, it was re-
ported. had been unable to get his
transportation arranged for. In IN:
case the delay makes little difference
but officers here are wondering where
the blame would lie if it were impera'
tive that he be removed.
The trouble at the base hospital
probably will be revealed when Lieu
tenant Colonel Vanderbilt. who investi
gated conditions there. complies his re-
port.