St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1916-10-11
PREPAREDNESS TOUR
Two Dodge Cars Representing Bay
State Arrive i'm Town After a
Nerve hacking Trip.

Two Dodge cars marked NJ. ". NJ.
and representing the Massachusetts,
preparedness tour" arrived in town
early Tuesday morning after a nerve
racking trip from Rutland via the
Canadian border. The cars left Rut-
land at $50 a. m, Monday and came
up. the west side of the state to st,
Adams. which they reached at 2
o'clock and where they delivered a
letter to Adjutant General Lee S.
Tillotson from the adjutant general
of the state of Massachusetts,. Their
next stop was at Franklin with a let
ter from Gov. Mccall of Massachu.
sets to Gov. Gates of Vermont
Leaving Enosburg Falls they were
warned against taking a particular
road on account of the mud. The
men assured those who warned them
that unless the mud was over the
axles it would not trouble them, but
took the advice, much to their regret
later on. The road gradually became
little more than trail and at last
stopped altogether in deep woods.
Darkness was coming on and they
wandered across the Canadian line
while trying to get back onto the
road. Suddenly they struck some
thing buried in the leaves which grip
ped their left front tire like a wise,
the tire exploded and the something"
proved to be a bear trap. After put
ting on a new tire they started of
again bringing the bear trap along
with them as a souvenir of the en-.
counter.
They had left Rutland in good
weather but ran into rain and 20
miles this side of Newport, late In
the evening, encountered a binding
snow storm. st. Johnsbury was
reached at 1 a. M They were a tired
lot, for they did not reach Rutland
until midnight Sunday after riding
1862 miles from Greenfield over the
Mohawk Trail, and left at $50 for
their trip through northern Vermont
Two of the party made the Caledon.
ian a call Tuesday morning before
starting off for another long ride
through Dixville Notch into northern
Maine. The car which carries the
men has history of it's own. In less
than a years service it has travelled
over 10000 miles, and this summer
has been used by Adjutant General
Cole of Massachusetts, for all his work
in visiting the militia camps and get
ting his men ready to send to the |
border. Before coming here the men
had visited the states of Maine Rhode |
Island and Connecticut with letters
for the governors and chief military |
officers, and they still have letters &c |
deliver to the executive of New |
Hampshire.
This preparedness tour is an un-
usual experiment in military prepare |
ton in that the motor scouts who ar-rI
sent out by the governor and adjutant |
general of Massachusetts, are expect |
ed to return with detailed and &c
curate data and maps of roads and
routes. They also gather in concret |
form information as to the possihil !
tiles of hauling troops and supplies in
the most expeditions manner from
the centers of population in New Eng
land to points not easily accessible
but that might be most vital in a mill.
tary emergency. They hope too, 70
arouse an interest in the preparedness
of New England. The information
which they collect is based on the as
sumption that in the case of a threat
ened invasion motor cars would be
Communicated to augment railroad
transportation facilities or to act IN
dependently of them. If ii should be
necessary to commander cars II Is
said that about $4,000 could be taken
the principal coast positions offering
landing places for possible invading
forces are examined and maps made