Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1916-04-22

4 fdft /.
| This border town is surely the real
\ thing as a thertre of war. all the trap
pings of modern warfare. except big
| guns are TO be found scattered about
| in orderly disorder All the soldiers
are in working rig. strong on the use
ful ami very weak on the ornamental
except their alert movements and their
bright faces show they are in the best
of trim mentally and physically.
Thet own still shows the tension
| and apprehension of possible attack
| from unknown aItI unnumbered forces
and every one is ready TO tell in full
| detail the tragic story OF the villa raid
of recent and awful memory. 1t is
rather difficult for the eastern cities
to understand the reality of the stu
alton here, but a few minutes walk
from the station. one is met with the
ruins of the fatal fires, the beds twist
ed out of shape by the flames, where
their owners labl down in quiet conf
dence to wake up to dreadful death
There is so little rain here that the
marks of the many tragedies have, in
no sense, been efaced. and the charred
remnants of the funeral pyre where
the Mexicans were burned when it was
found impossible TO otherwise dispose
of The bodies of the dead foes. is very
much in evidence. The little newspa-
per office was presided over by a small
maid of fifteen months of age, who sat
quietly in a high chair by a typewriter
evidently silently keeping office for
her parents who get out jointly the
weekly paper of the town. This beau
tiful baby was one OF the victims of the,
villa brutality. Her face was filled
with splinters from the glass broken
by bullets which flew about her and
her mother was in charge of the
switchboard at Columbus and who en-
tirely alone except for the babe in
her arms. alarmed the neighbors and
called for help.
Just above the bed in the home of
the Andersons. fine Obj family of
Eastern folk. who are taking care OF
me, the walls are SCARED with holes,
marking the flight of the bullets, and
the old couple who have as much hui
NOR as they have courage, tell of how
they sat on the bed in a dark corner
while the guns spattered their bullets
through the windows and the walls,
and the bed shook so under the tremb-
ling that each of the couple, who are
over IS years of age,accused the other
OF trembling with fright. to be assured
with nervous whispers that such was
not the case, only he or she was just
little cold
The physical formation Of this pla-
teau makes it very easy to keep a
sharp lookout for the elevation is great
here. being about 1000 feet the plateau
is wide reaching ami level so, from a
long distance friend or foe can be seen.
The border patrol seems to have n
very long beat" however, more than
hundred miles, and before the Villa
visit, | understand, the patrol number
ed but four men, riding together over
q long sweep of country, a force easily
overpowered if the enemy cared TO at
tack them in any number.
Their is not a single paper repre-
sented here by individual correspond
ent except this The service men are
very efficient, which probably accounts
for the dearth of journalists" repre-
senting special metropolitan dailies,
also the fact that many of the scribes
pushed over the border in the wake OF
the army. and now find themselves
tied up a long way from any'hase, with
great difficulty in getting ut the feat
ura stuff they have SO carefully gaher-
ed. There is plenty of the latter here,
the fields are ripe for the harvest and
the laborers being few. those few are
having a glorious time OF it.
At II p IN. the train from FL Paso
found the camp ami the town so peace
ful by the latest arrival, your CORES
pendent thought it unholy TO wake the
hotel people who probably would have
begun to shoot before asking questions
so the wire operators in the station
built up the fire in the station and sat
up the entire night 10 swap yarns and
listen to gossip from Gods country.
which includes all the region outside
! the American war zone. / had tiny
tea kit and my popularity was assured
when tea time came. This walIeful-
ness had great reward in having us
all up to see the record breaking fight
of Lieut.. II. NJ. Dargus and Lieut. +.
| :. GorreEl. both officers of the First
| Tero Squadron. who yesterday estab-
| lshed new record for non-stopping
| cross country flight with passenger,
| breaking the recent record of stephen
| MacGorion. OF New York, who few
from Newport News. Va. TO Washing
| ton. d. C. a distance of about three
hundred miles, in four hours and a
half. This fight from Columbus was
under the worse possible conditions.
and / verify believed nothing but dis
| aster could come of the brave venture.
| / could not rest until / was able TO
| shake hands with both birdmen four
| hours and five minutes later. and wei
| come them most heartily TO earth
/ again. They were of again this morn
ing and only God knows what viii be
| their fate for though being loyal Off
| GERS and patriotic Americans. as well
| they express no opinion. but ! have
| seen much of aeroplanes and OF the
| work of the birdnen in the Western
| war zone. and I realize without being
told that the machines in use here are
almost everything they should not be.