The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1916-03-20
Not Over by Christmas.

stroyed by Villistas has been re
/ placed.
Not Over by Christmas.
| COLUMBUS, N. NJ, (via Ell Paso)
March 20.-With nearly two score
military ambulances concentrated
here and military field hospital
being rushed to completion. the Amer
lean punitive expedition was today
preparing for bloody fighting In the
mountainous wastes to the south.
ward. Army men expected to wage a
long campaign and were making com.
| prehensive preparations
I'VE expect to be chasing Villa
around those mountain peaks next
Christmas" said a colonel, pointing
to the rocky spires looming through
the purple mist south of the border
| Regardless OF the views of states
men, most of the officers believe we're
| In for long trip and won't stop much
this side of Panama. And all say
they're glad, too
The dress parade as part Of war is
absent from Columbus. until the raid
| only a lazy border cattle town, but
now the center Of the American army.
Gold laces and flashing swords were
missing among the khaki clad ola.
GERS. Throughout the town soldiers
rushed preparations for lighting villa.
The little telegraph office las been
yanked out of its corner in the rail
| way station. Expert key men now
crowd the limited space, Transmitting
army messages and sending such
newspaper copy AZ the censor and
wire limitations will permit The
censor, young lieutenant, SITS in a
fa rail MI r.
ingly over the work of hurried cor
respondent A bulky cavalry man
steps up and hands him message
addressed to his mother in Rochester,
I'VE cross border tonight Love to
all Don't worry"
Cant send that" says the censor
running his pencil through the word
tonight Substitute soon and 1t will
60"
Acruss the street at the postofi1ce,
the overworked postmaster is swamp.
ed In the accumulation of mail. Wash
| ington may send him an assistant
after congress has had time to null
the matter over, he says, but for the
present he's going 1t alone and slowly.
In the postofice, too. censor In
spected outgoing mails.
The old army in blue would have
been a sorry sight in Columbus. but
the khaki uniforms match the dust
and are almost invisible at dis
lance. Under the broiling rays Of the
border sun young officers still hum
ming the strains of the latest army
post fox trots sweat copiously. swear
little, dig dust from their eyes and
long for the fight All are eager fol-
the front and regard the preparations
here az an irksome but necessary
duty.
An army aeroplane rises amid It's
own share of dust clouds, points
southwark and wings after the disap
pearing line in the desert. The rail
way station where the arrival OF a
travelling salesman once was town
event, has been abandoned by Gen
eral Pershing and the army stores
arriving on every train and in every
army wagon, are stored in huge piles
on the village outskirts.
Since Villa shot up the town, the
former $50 Mexican residents have
disappeared. Columbians guarantee
q hot time to Mexican visitor
While Columbus has not forgotten it's
dead and the village is dry" as its
sands, the grape Juice and soda mar
| hSlb S1uhot SuPpiJ IhO oSaAohu u
dust caked throats. Frame huts with
boards over the windows shot out by
the raiders have blossomed forth az
restaurants with inverted IN" but
the dollar mark shows on the bill OF
fare. Deep dust Of the outpost towns
single street is plowed up by the
rumbling wheels of countless heavy
army trucks. Loaded with boxes and
piled high with baled hay, they DIS
appear over the sandy fats over the
border. Signal men fash along the
trails on motorcycles. Here and there
along the border, army engineers
were pulling down rickety old bridges
that were good enough for Me1icans
and we're replacing them with solid
structures.
South Of Casas Grandee.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas, March 90
Like spokes In a great wheel, half