Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1916-04-27

Y ~
april ~. 1916.
la the teeth of a sandstone which
+ was blotting out the boundary line be-
+ tween the United States ami Mexico.
the motor truck train got awayto the
I 'front.' yesterday in good order. The
spirit of every man at this base is
splendid, and the civilians who blow
] in as truck drivers and in various ca
| pacitites of helping on the work of
sending supplies to the boys over the
/ Border. soon catch the same spirit.
| This Border town is surely the real
/ thing as far as picturesque setting OF
the American war zone is concerned.
Every condition Of life on the part OF
everyone revolyes about and around
the Mexican situation. The entire re-
| gion is full OF picturesque detail the
| harvest of gooi material is plentiful.
but the laborers are few. for outside
| of the representatives Of the news
services. there are only a couple of in
diVidual papers having personal rep
resentation here
This seems rather a pity, for q SYM
| pathetic understanding of the situa-
ton on the part of the public which
only comes through the right sort OF
news publicity would be q help and a
stimulus to the army which is doing
so bravely and so cheerfully more
than its duty i'm a service of great
haiNship and personal discomfort. II
Is hard for the reader at a distance to
form much conception Of the real trag-
edy OF the villa raid here six weeks
ago. but two minutes distant from the
little station of the Southwestern road
one comes across wreckage of homes
no less complete than those Of Bel
GUM, of which thousands of words
have been written. and sympathetic
interest on the part of hundreds have
been enlisted
The traces Of the funeral Dvre of the
MeXicans shot in the invasion ofMarch
3 are still TO be seen hardly a home
but bears marks Of bullets and not
citizen but who bears traces Of nerve
strain.
The sand storm RACES. so the BOYS
on the trucks tied their hamlkerchief4
over their faces. One boy had q lurid
affair with elephants and flags all
about the border. He folded it so the
flag came over his nose. so that its
decoration, a small American flag GOV
cred his nose and between his breath
Ing and the gale, it fiuttered gaiiy to
the breeze, the only bit of color of
national significance except the little
flag that floats through all the gales
over the box car from whence all the
wire news of the Mexican enterprise
reaching Columbus is sent forth again
This argosy of the trail was loaded
with everything that could he thought
OF for the use of man and beast ann
machine way down south i'm Mexico
and the thirty-one trucks carried
thousands of dollars worth of valuable
food stulls, oil, gasoline and medical
supplies. One of the escorts was
Ralph Sample. son of Major W. r.
Sample, Major of the Twentieth In
fantry. who is now in charge OF this
Army base This son is designed for
| the Army as soon as the Cornell days
are over and the older son of Major
Sample is now at the Naval Academy.
| a second-year classman. There will
be all sorts of danger before this train
which has Just disappeared over fhe
dim reaches of the desert stretching
to the south of us, but as the mother Of
the young Sample, being a true SOL
iders wife. did not object to her son
going with the train. and Major Sam
pie said he could not say NO"
4 I oh l, 4
q point of vantage on a gun carriage
when the always cheerful and court
eous Major hailed me, saying: Get
ting little atmosphere for your peo-
pie over in the East?" | was getting
| atmosphere in chunks, but l did not
| tell him so, but answered as | felt: 4
am sending up little prayer that the
| boys get through with their precious
cargo His eyes softened and he lift
ed his hat in hardly conscious gest-
| ure of reverence. MY boy is going.
l thank YOU
This has been a busy day here, for
| among the arrivals are some thirty
! one battered Americans who are now
| being comforted in the hospital. One
| shot himself in the leg by carelessly
| putting his gun in his holster, which
now worn very low on the nip and
| strapped about the leg. Often the guns
| go off pointing right down. and if the
| foot is in the way, well. it is not pleas
| ant One of the returned soldiers had
bad boil and a bruised spirit from be
| ing ordered back for that reason. All
| the troubles were minor, as wartime
| physical troubles go. A new sterilizer
was brought out from the north today
| but the sanistorm got into the air even
in the hospital. so the new apparatus
| would not work. Tomorrow a second
| trial viii be made.
The most notable arrival of the day
/ was Sandy Sanford the alleged Mex
| lean. who is supposed to have led villa
/ into Columbus on the night of the his
| toric raid. He helped himself to a
horse and trappings belonging to the
| Thirteenth Cavalry during the raid. and
| this has proved his undoing. for the
| horse was recognized and he was Ia
ken up. He confesses his part in the
( raid with calm indifference to the fact
/ he is discriminating himself. saying
with toss OF his towseled head, They
| can do nothing with me" He is TO be
! tried by the civil authorities OF Column