Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1916-05-25
ECHOS FROM COLUMBUS
THE ARMY BASE
And Somewhere in Mexico
Truck Trains Arriving.
WHO ARE THE SHIPPERS?
The Story of the Truckers Will Find
Vivid Portrayal Some Day
Especial to The Evening Capital. by
Jean Cabell O'Neill. Column
bus, n. NJ
Part |.

art i.
For the first time in many weeks no
truck train left the army base located
here this morning. The outgoing ami
incoming trains of twenty-seven trucks
OF many makes and great variety of
cargo have passed as systematically 10
and fro over the border down to the
supply depots as Casas Grandes Mani
quepa and the dozens of other points
too tar away front of General Perish
ing's punitive expedition base, as if the
trucks were a regular transfer com
pany instead of an emergency force
made up largely of civilian drivers.
college men and automobile and tire
men who have contracted to render
this service for a term OF months. for
various reasons, some for business and
some for springing from the love of ad-
venture strong in the heart of every
normal man.
Thousands of dollars worth of goods
have come here by train only to rest a
brief space and then be trans-ship-
ped south where they are so much
needed Why this movement has so
suddenly ceased it is not etiquette to
inquire Most of us think more di-
rect line of communication into Mexico
probably from the vicinity of PRESIDED
del Notre, near the Texas border, about
half way between San Antonio. Texas
may be chosen anti "A further entry into
Sonora from near Douglas. Arizona
Frankly, this is guess work, the base OF
rumor being that today there is not
box of hard tack when there is. usual
~, mountain of it mo ammunition, no
oil trucks, no loads of lumber and the
many other things, including surgical
supplies, can be seen anywhere
The truck drivers will welcome any
change of route, for the highway the
heavy motors have made down the long
line are heartbreaking by reason OF
ruts, stones and sand. Three years a
chauffer ON the Great White Way. now
one of the most successful of the army
civilian truck drivers over the long
trail leading from Columbus, N. NJ. far
down somewhere in Mexico" is a part
of the varied career of James Collins,
of New York. Four thousand miles
and more of motoring a White truck
up and down through the sand storms
and over rocky trails in attitudes high
III the thousands, has opened a new
vista to the one who knew more of the
glitter and the smooth sailing OF
Manhattan streets than of real battling
for the life of his machine and Incl
dentally for his own, which this eX-
perience has taught Mr.. Collins.
But with the keen observation that
made him a success in New York, Mr..
Collins gives better idea of what
motor trucking for the punitive expe-
dition really is, than any of the scores
OF men | have hail the pleasure of talk
ing to. Truck driving in Mexico for
the American Government is about as
pleasant for young man as carrying
banner in a suifragette parade. said
Dick, Evans, just back from carrying
provisions to the advance headquarters
of General Pershing's expeditions The
boys are all on the verge of quitting,
except that they have signed a contract
for four to six months service, and
that contract is pretty good law down
this part of the world.
But Collins has a different story TO
tell. 1t is story of fine and courag-
Gus endurance, of cheerful compliment
to the way Uncle Sam feels his men, of
the excitement of the trail, the tension
of not knowing when sniper is going
to pay his respects to you or your
truck. All these things discount the
rack of tired muscles. the torture OF
keeping awake in the usual altitddc
after eighteen hours at the steering
wheel strain on mind and body
added to big responsibilities greater
than any engineer of the New York
Central pushing full head through the
early fogs. Some day, when the chron-
icles of this expedition are embalmed
in history, the story of the truckers
will find vivid portrayal. The work OF
the soldier is nothing compared to It,
Daily now the trains leave in the
early morning. the driver and a com
rafe on the box and now five guards
mounted on an uncomfortable heap OF
all sorts of cargo. There is a great
gathering of Yankee blood among the
drivers. many of them representing
motor car companies, but some are
free lances. ready for adventure, who
gaily gather at the first hint of fun
in Mexico. Now the chief grievance is
that the fun is so slow in developing
Early mornings this base camp huns
with activity as the train of twenty
| seven trucks prepared to assemble for
the road The trucks are loaded the
night before, and the system is so good
| there is no confusion, and a tremend-
Gus amount of work is accomplished
1t may not seem heroic to run groce-
ries and medical supplies three hun
dred miles in a truck, but the life OF
the army and the work of the expedi-
ton on hostile soil depends entirely on
these heroic ,wih-eyed truck-men. An
| epic may be written of them some day
They have already.in the eight weeks
of strenuous work, deserved to be en-
balmed in song and story.
A soldier early makes the rounds OF
the drivers, who are listed to go out
| Very likely they are only twenty-fouI
hours off the long trail. but they must
return again. When part of the sleeI