Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-09-17
CITY TROOPERS
ON POLICE DUTY
Holders of Proud Philadel-
phia Names Patrol Beats
and Raid Speakeasies
WAR LEVELS ALL RANKS

The story Of men bearing names of tho
most prominent Philadelphia families doing
police duty OH the provost guard in Au-
gusta Ca, is told In letters received today
from members Of the First city Troop now
at Camp Hancock.
Imagine the CITY Troop covering beat,
raiding disorderly houses, crap games and
speakeasies. Yet the impossible has come
TO pass" one of the troopers writes. More
wonderful still, am one of the twenty-siX
chosen for the provost guard. 1t certainly
Is interesting work and instructive. ] much
prefer It to the uninterrupted route OF the
usual camp life.
The men assigned to police work In
cluded Sergeants Jack Groome and Downs,
four corporals and twenty men. We expect
to be on this duty for some time. Tho
Georgia regiments also have the same duty.
We work our beats in pairs, one Georgian
and one Pennsylvanian. We police the
troops exactly as cop pollces civilians.
Last night we conducted a raid. the first
one we have had. / was fortunate enough
to be detailed with George HUM, Ben Hall
lowell and Granville Davis TO assist the
local police We raided blind tiger and
gambling den in the city. The chief OF po-
lice of Augusta and three plain-clothes men
completed the party.
THE room under suspicion was IN the
rear Of a soft-drink 'parlor. AS soon as We
entered the bartender rang bell as Il
warning Before we had reached the door
to the den Il had been securely locked and
bolted. Davis and Hallowell soon kicked 1t
down, but the delay gave the men inside
time 10 make a getaway. We could see
them scaling the wall of the back yard and
gave chase. George HUM and finally
caught one Of them. He put up stiff
fight at first. but soon discovered that We
were not runts and meant business He
gave It UP as a bad Job and we had no
more trouble with him.
'The raid was a great disappointment TO
the chief of police. The only drinkable' he
could find was sweet cider. However, as
the rest were going out, happened to look
in q dark corner. There was half-pint
flask with about a quarter of an inch OF
whisky in it, This was sufficient evidence
and so we took the two proprietors and
three other men that We had captured to
the police station.
our men assisted in raiding d!sorderly
| house. Four negro women wee taken
Sherwood Haggerty was member OF the
provost guard to be detailed for the work.
while on provost guard duty our head
| quarters are at the police station. We are
on the street patrolling q beat for six hours
! at Il time. It is uninteresting and SLOW
| during the day, but the raiding parties
liyen things up a lot. We also manage
| TO amuse ourselves by watching the pris-
oners being brought In and We have many
| amusing talks with them. A large ma
| jority are negroes.
AT times we have found this guard duty
| rather ticklish. No cartridges have been
issued to US for our pistols. Some Of our
men have found it necessary to pull theii
| guns. Fortunately. there are very few
| offenders who are anxious to find out II The
gun is loaded when they are looking into
| the business end OF it
| "The life we are leading here now Is
mighty interesting have never felt better
| in nv life The whole troop Is in the bes
| of nhysical condition There are only sever
| or eight Of the old troopers who were or
the Mexican border last year still with US
| We we're recruited UP with new men, al
| of whom were green. However. Captain
| ,rhayer has said that the personnel disci
| nl,re and attitude Of the troop is better
| now than at any time since he has been con
| rected with It. The men have all madt
avary effort to overcome their lack of ex
nsrience The result has been most amaz
,ne We appear now like troop OF vet
"Raus init Kaiser Bill We're out to ge
hin, we are working hard for It and are
,nino 20 contribute our bit This is ta'
sn,rit OF the troop. Social position counts
snr nothing Men with some Of the proua
ast names in the United States are workinf
IiLa dav laborers and do 1t gladly