Elko independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1915-current, 1917-09-17
U. S. SOLDIER WRITES
OF TRANSPORT TROUBLES

OF TRANSPORT TROUBLES
NEW YORK, Sept. 17.-Trials OF an
American soldier on board a trans
port en- route to France are detailed
in letter just received here from
II. w. Ross. a Californian and pri.
vate in the Eighteenth Engineers, u.
S. A. Private Ross explains that he
is somewhere in the Atlantic" at the
time of writing and nearing the end
OF a voyage which. up to that time,
had consumed fifteen days on the
water. An English vessel was USED
TO transport the men to France, and
Ross expresses admiration for the
crew, most OF the members of which
have been through several submarine
sinkings:
Dear
IL am writing this under difficult
ties on a ship presumed to be some.
where in the Atlantic, near the end
OF voyage which now is on its If.
teenth day. ! am wearing a bulky
life preserver. which works more for
mental than physical ease. sitting on
bunk in a four-berth stateroom
with a typewriter in my lap. The
stateroom is a luxury permitted for
letter writing purposes by kind lieu.
tenant. There is hardly room for my
typewriter, one of the portable type,
in the troop quarters which are tween
decks. There are (deleted by cen
| sor) troops aboard, nearly all quar-
tered on the first deck below the
main deck in space which once &C
commodated probably LEGO steerag,
passengers.
"In the days when this ship, Brit
Usher (name deleted by censor) II TIT
censor let's 1t stand, carried immi
grants, they never understood tn,
conservation OF space. They HAY,
| packed us in wooden hunks. which a
first sight are more Temindful of {
coffin. They are two feet wide, 81,
feet long and two tiers high. Min
is lower. can't sit on the en-,
without humping my head on the on
above. The only thing TO do is {
) crawl in, double up, pull of you
shoes, place them under your pilloN
and let II go at that. The vessel ha
list to port, which is the side hal
pen to inhabit. The first night OF
we shipped few seas. They cam
down through the batchways an
lodged under my bunk. As | ha
placed all OF my belongings on tn
floor, II was disconcerting. My gu
and everything else was two feet III
der water Some things washed ava
and haven't recovered them yet NJ
hat, for example.
I'VE came across the United State
from American Lake on three specit
trains in seven days, with n shoi
pause somewhere in Minnesota. W
landed at Weekhawken one mornin
at daylight, were marched onto
ferryboat, transported across a we
known river to large and famou
city, put aboard this craft and "
never got of.
I'VE did not have long on board th
ship before we were on the move. "
sailed at S that evening and the onl
glimpse got OF the big town wa
{ from side port. saw dozen {
so well known buildings, then a ST.
! tue, then nothing more until we pt
! In at n Canadian port for a few houI
to iuin the convoy train OF whic
{ this ship Is n member.
"Nt night we run totally dark.
cigar, tie lighted on the deck and u
& man at the other end Is under n
{ rest II It's after nightfall. retail
\ my freedom because threw ava
3 all my matches the FIRST night out.
! whenever there Is n signal fro
8 the flagship, something happens "
\ either change our course or speed
= or reduce. once we put entire