Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1916-04-11
FL PASO NOT GRATEFUL
FOR PROMINENCE
Fort Bliss Apparently Quietest Place
Pushing Work On Barracks.
TAKE LIFE AS 1T COMES.
Flying Machine Men Having Sad Time
Of it---Soldiers Fine Set of
Fellows.
Part |.

II Paso. Texas. April 6.-ThIS hurge
Is not grateful for the prominence
which has been thrust upon it. Every
native a correspondent meets begs
that the northeast papers be informed
how orderly MI is here. In grieved
tones they viii call attention TO the
fact that the streets are very quiet am
that maN and matron does not pack
guns" when they go 10 the butcher or
to the baker
If tho troubled people would only
realize it, the town is on the map as it
has never been before. and that this
date line appears on probably every
first page paper in the United States
would be q safe bet The money now
i'm circulation here must be consider
able. If only what the many CORES
pondcnts are leaving ct the hotels and
tor typewriting supplies and the thous-
and and one small expenses that bulk
large in war time writing The postal
receipts are showing q heavy increase
and the photographers as sellers
drugs for the development OF films are
reapiug q harvest over the present con
ditioE OF affairs
Even Fort Bliss which is apparently
the quietest place about here. is rush
ing work on the barracks which are
being remOlellcl into hospitals, for
which the Appropriation of $4,000 is i'm
mcdiately available, every carpenter at
the post is on the job and their ranks
have been supplemented by workers
from the union men of the city. Two
hundred soldiers have aires dy been re
turned from Mexico, needing treat
ment so destructive is the present
"stearn chale" which naval officers al
ways consider the hardest and the
longest chase
While there is little hot news to be
had here.there is a tremendous amount
of picturesque material awaiting trans
lation into print. much that is really
entertaining can be culled by listening
20 the sotlier boys who have been
brought back very much the worse FOR
wear but quite undaunted in their de-
termination to get back into action ass
soon as possible. There are great
many boys from Pennsylvania and New
from the cities OF these great states are
first class material for the purpose for
which they arc enlisted.
Country boys know many things tha
city boys have to be taught in the cav
airy and artillery the care of horses.
for example. but the city boy is very
adaptable, and he has grim sort Of
v,lt foIy -
with him that is admirable when the
trail is as heartbreaking spirit rack
ing as the present campaign has devel-
oped into They feel that every bush
may conceal a sharpshooter, that every
crevice in the towering hills above may
be occupied by an enemy with a gun
ready TO send a bullet tc ones heart. is
disquieting to a la,l who has been
sheltered on farm, but the city chap
is ready for anything that may come
One soldier was shot six time in the
recent skirmish in the Guerrero Valley
the peculiar thing being that he was
we'll in the rear of the attacking party.
Not a single ball touched a vital spot,
but he never saw his assailant during
4
met today with hands or arms injured
confirmed the report that the attacks
are often from cover the men are pick
ed off. with no chance to reply.
Notwithstanding the boasted peace OF
Ei Paso. from where I sit at the ma
chine. / overlooked the arrest of about
eighteen Mexicans who were lounging
in front Of one of the big hotels here.
This place is correspondents head
quarters. so it was kind of the Mex
leans to choose such a conspicuous
place They are said TO be implicated
in the scheme to capture Juarez which
is within easy walking distance of the
hotel, and SIX men are under sentence
Of death for the plot These eighteen
or more had been under surveillance
for the last three days They are SUP
posed to be agents of villa and at the
time Of arrest were in small groups
scattered about a plaza which is a ia
voritc lounging place for the town
folk. but only one man was found 10
be armed. and they all, in great excite
ment. plead ignorance OF any offense
One could not help plying them, for
tension is so great here that circum-
stantial evidence weighs heavily.
There were forty people up in the
general sessions yesretday for offenses
alleged against the government customs
case. MANY we're women. who had
been deported and who returned only
to find 1t was not so easy to slip by the
customs officers as it looks. At triv-
ial bridge that spans the Rio Grande
which shakes and sways as the car
drives over it, there is the shack which
represents Uncle Sam on the Texas
side-the distance one can throw a ten
mis- ball over the swollen stream is an
other little shack that is the Mexican
post or guard house. AS one reaches
the bridge on the American side.
ticket, costing a nickle. is given each
adult and he is supposed to show it and
surrender if on his return trip. The
customs takes a look at everything car
ried and bags are retained until the
tourist comes back once moro.
The Mexieans hardly look at one. al
though once over the bridge and one
was really in Puarez. there were Mex
ican soldiers on guard everywhere. and
OF Mexican men ar,i womer
crowd the streets all the way to a little
park whore a bandstand was brilliantly
f4~rfa fsnsa f..v. a.,