The Republican journal., 1916-05-11
Douglass, Arizona, April "a. 1916.


FIELD HEADQUARTERS, Punitive Elk.
petition. U. S. Army, near Namiquipa,
Mex, April 6.-(By truck train to Col
umbus, N. M, April %. )-Old time play
goers would be reminded of Thomas
Keene production of Richard the Third
could they pass night in this camp.
The myriad of campfres, the murmur of
hundreds, not to say thousands, of voices,
the occasional ringing out of a word of
command, the wheeling into line of
troops of cavalry as they ride out into
the night on some mission regarding
which only the commanding officer and
their own leader know, the rumble of
trucks laden with supplies and of artl-
Iery wagons, the clang of hammers on
anvils as the hard worked blacksmiths
fit and nail shoes on the horses brought
in at all Zines of day and night by tired
and dusty troopers who have been scout
ing the rocky canyons of the adjacent
Sierra mountains for traces of Villa or
any of his followers-al of this goes to
make scene so theatrical and on so
grand a scale thar lovers of the dramatic
would be thrown into ecstacies of de-
light. It serves to make one forget the
sleeping on the hard, unyielding bosom
of Mother Earth.
Is Lure TO the Life
With all of it's hardships there is lure
to the life led by the soldier, and the
civilian most obstinately inclined toward
pacitism would fall into the snare Of it if
he would but follow it for thirty days.
Civilians who attached themselves to the
expedition when the border was crossed
on March 18th, and who were at first in
cllned to grumble at the food and the in
conveniences they were forced to endure,
are now so enamored of the life that if
they were ordered to go home they would
be found appealing to the commander of
the expedition to be permitted to remain.
Many of them have long since learned to
eat their "chow" just as it is given them
from the camp kettles and to forget to
try to blow or skim the dust from their
coffee before they drink it. They have
ceased, also, to clamor for cots on which
to spread their blankets, or for tents un-
der which to spread them, even when the
wind blows gale and the thermometer
goes down toward the zero mark, as it
frequently does at this altitude. They
have reached that point where they do
not rebel at sloshing their mess kits in
the pail of greasy hot water which the
cook sets out for the accommodation OF
those who are not so hardened as to care
whether or not their dishes are ever
cleaned. If the wives of some of the
married men connected with the outfit
knew what good dish washers their hus-
bands can be when they have to be,
there would be a revision of household
duties when Johnnie comes marching
home" at the close of this campaign.
Soldiers Build Wind Breaks.
quarter camp at Colonia Dublan, the SOL
of providing themselves with shelters
against the ever blowing winds which do
so much to make life miserable on this
bare and high plateau. There are no
groves of great trees here as there were
at Dublan, nor are there acres of arrow
weed to be used, with little labor, in the
making of wind breaks. The growth of
evergreen live oak, the small branches
of wagon loads and with bailing wire
woven into bowers around kitchens, off
GERS quarters, company camp fires,
pioehSiliiIHo loISeS, anu tue nu1uIe GUS VI
latrines which have been dug at the in
stance of the sanitary department, till
the several thousands of acres occupied
by the camp have the appearance. from
distance, of being heavily wooded.
Surprises the Natives.
The natives continue to marvel at the
pains and expense to which the Ameri-
can soldier will go in order to be COM
Portable and clean. A Mexican army in
stead OF camping on an exposed, vino
swept plain would have sought shelter in
a canyon, where tents and shelters woulc
have been unnecessary; there would have