The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1916-07-11
Boys of Company | Send
Letters to Friends in
BrattlebOrO
ALL TELL ABOUT
EVENING SANDSTORMS

that Cost SS-Too Hot for Exercise
During Day Little Vegetation -.
Everybody Well.
Numerous letters have begun to ar
rive from the boys of Company | in
camp at Eag!a Pass, Texas, TO relatives
and friends in town, and all contain
matters of public interest All empha-
size the sand storms which occur each
evening. Following are extracts from
some of them, and others will be pub
lished from time to time.
Arnold Pellet, in a letter to his
father, John G. Pellett, writes from
Eagle Pass under date of July 4: "The
town is more of a place than | ex-
pected. l should say it is about as
large as Brattleboro There were
some regular batteries and couple of
regiments here, but we were the first
militia to get here. Since we came
about three more regiments of militia
have arrived.
1.-THE river is not far from camp
and there are about 10000 Mexiaan
soldiers on the other side, they say.
We can see some of them 1t is hot
enough, and there are no shade trees.
Every evening about or Z O'Clock
the wind begins blowing hard and YOU
can t see thing for half an hour on
account of the sand. 1t gets into ev-
Ierything and you have to hold down
the tents on the inside to keep them
from blowing away.
81 guess it is healthy enough as no
one is sick, which is wonder after
all we had to eat on the train.
We don t have to do much in the
middle of the day, but get up at 4.45
and work while and again after sup
per.
''We haven t any idea how long we
will be here, but we are fixed up pret-
Ity comfortably and probably will stay
for some time
/ Letters received here from Lieut..
Herbert w. Taylor, assistant surgeon
of the First Vermont regiment, now
at Eagle Pass, Texas, give a little in
sight into conditions there that have
not been noted by others in their let
ters home.
He says he has talked with medi-
cal missionary from Mexico, who re-
Gently left that country, and learned
that the Mexican forces have absolute
| ly no commissary department, liv-
ing on what they can steal and such
food as they have being cooked by
I Mexican women who follow the army.
! The men are ragged and in miser-
! able condition This missionary said
/ that there was some smallpox and some
i tvphus IN Mexico, but that the re-
/ markable fact remains that the Mexi-
4 cans IN the army have very little of
i the usual camp diseases.
Only a very few men of the reei-
ment are i'll and none of them serious
ly and not q member of Company | is
on the sick list. He makes the usual
references to the sand storms which
appear at sundown regularly every
night Writing under date of July A
; he wrote that the Kansas regiment ar
rived July B and went into camp about
|. 800 strong a short distance above
the Vermont regiment. This regiment
has machine gun company which
the Vermonters will look to for assis-
tanee in the event of trouble. A bat.
/ terry of the United States light field
81 artillery is encamped Just south of the
q Vermont regiment and the 3tlth infan
try is about two miles to the south.
Il On the night of July when the
m third battalion was sent out on out
\ post duty, there was considerable ex
: eitement in camp for it had been re
i ported that the Mexicans across th,
81 river We're getting uneasy. Search
d lights from the infantry camp below
s the Vermont camp PLAYED all night u
( the batteries of the Mexieans.
i Any impression that the Rio Grand,
rIis wide at the point guarded by I'll,
e Vermont regiment is dispelled by til,
following statement III the letter
VI This morning (.Iuly Al Mexieai
i. forces came down to the opposite sid
il OF tho river which at this point is lit
i tie more than brook. Lieut.. Tay
lor ia on duty with the first battalion
e commanded by Maj Walter o. Coole
i of Brattleboro and gets all-night dut
o levery third night.
It Describing the condition Of the Mex
81 leans, he writes that the Mexica
l. children at mess times flock into tn
m camp like lroves of animals aud ca
III Ecamp refuse that would not be give
es to the hogs in Vermont.
- The physician, as he wrote the LEI
ter, had Just received word that hi
20 orderly, Stanley Wilson of Brattl,
il boro, was the proud possessor of
l,pl Mexican bnrro, which had cost So
err actual money Further inquiry ha
ID developed the information that youn
Mt animals of that breed could be bougf
for from 30 to so cents each The
are very hardy and feed principal
upon the mesquite bushes.
~ The Mexican dogs he describes {
nc nc "more than funny, being about dc
I, and half in length and half dc
ae high with long hair and no particul;
10 color appearing to dominate.