The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1916-08-24
Valley City Officers
Stuck in Texas Mud

1A q lClISl " IAC SO + VI I'LL, Udt>
ed at Mercedes, Tex, Aug. IA, w. A.
Stickley tells of trip which few of
the officers of the First North Dakota
regiment took the preceding Sunday
and of native meal they enjoyed (?).
Mr.. Stickley says:
"1he regiment has a large automo.
bile truck which is in charge Of Cap
tain Angus Fraser. On Sunday Fra
ser decided to take several officers out
for joy ride down on the Rio Grande.
The party was made up of the follow
ing officers: Captain Fraser, of Far
go; Captain Ritchie of Valley City;
Major Henry, of Bismarck; Captain
Eckman, of Grand Forks; Lieutenant
Mulicli, Of Bismarck; Lieutenant Ross,
of Valley City and Lieutenant Colley, of
Fargo. The roads were muddy, but
owing to the fact that Chauffeur Oil
yer Conn, who used to drive for Maui
rice kaufman, enjoyed a reputation OF
always being able to come back, no
such thing as fear of being stuck en-
tered the minds of the party. All
went we'll till near Progreso, where
the road became very bad. Conn plow-
ed through bravely but suddenly the
bottom dropped out of the road and
the machine stood in mud and water
up to the box. 1t was fully mile to
Progreso, and the way was through
cactus and mesquite. A messenger
was secured and dispatched to camp
asking for relief.
1.-THE machine was pulled out but
was so wet it would not run and was
left beside the road to dry, while we
went to look for something to eat
Major Henry and Captain Fraser,
whose vocabulary of Spanish had been
sadly neglected since their service in
the Philippines, attempted to secure
a meal for the gang at the home of
greaser. Captain Fraser prefaced his
attempt by Offering the greaser Gig
aret and quoting the Spanish adver-
tisement on package of Bull Durhum
which he had committed to memory.
after much deaf and dumb Ian
guage and many attempts at ordering
supper we succeeded in getting the
women busy in preparing the meal. A
little table was prepared in the yard
near the bamboo and straw hut. Fancy
| flowered dishes were placed on the
table and we sat down for the feast.
| The chicken was fried in about gal
lon OF the greasiest grease l ever en-
countered. There was plate of rice
fried in garlic. Some fiat cakes made
Of (as near as we could fgure) corn
cob meal and some sole-leather cheese
which was just as strong in smell as
| it was in fibre. I watched a part of
the preparation of the meal and al
most had heart failure when the wOm-
an began baking the little fiat cakes
which were part of our meal She per-
pared a wooden bowl of dough which
she placed on the floor beside the mud
oven, and sat down beside it. Pinch
ing off a piece of dough she raised
her skirt and patted the cake to the
thickness and size she wanted it on
her leg above the knee. l almost ex-
ploded as the reality Of the joke dawn
ed upon me. l tipped it off to Lieu
tenant Dan Mulick, who kept the Sc
cret until after the boys had enjoyed
the new bread, but they came near
leaving us in the jungles for not ad-
vising them sooner. Colley condem-
ned the whole meal as not complying
with the pure food regulations.
Put to return to my story, where
we sat down to the table with fancy
flowered dishes. We asked for knives,
forks and spoons, and were informed
that they had none, hence we ate with
our fingers. The coffee was good, and
the water was fine, but the rest of it
was judged according to the delicacy
of each mans taste.
"The meal over, we began to fish
around for money and were able to
dig up 81 for the II suppers. The
greaser and family almost tainted at
the sight of so much money and bid
us many fond adieux as we left