The twice-a-week Twin Falls times. (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1916-1918, 1917-09-20

international News Seryice)
NEW YORK, Sept 18-Trials of an
American soldier on board a trans
port en- route to France are detailed
in a letter just received here from
Fl. w. Ross, a Californian, and pri-
vate in the Eighteenth Engineers, u.
S. A. Private Ross explained 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 her
crew, most of the members of which
have been through several submarine
sinkings:
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 fiji
teenth day. L am wearing a bulky
life preserver, which works more for
mental than physical ease, sitting on
bulk in a fOUr-berth staterOom
with a typewriter in my lap. The
stateroom is a luxury permitted for
letter writing purposes by a kind lieu
tenant. There is hardly room for my
typewriter, one OF the portable type,
III luc LlODD QudIltEb which are tween
decks. There are (deleted by CEN
sor) troops abroad nearly all quar-
tered on the first deck below the
main deck in space which once &C
commOdated probably 1000 steerage
passengers.
In the days when the ship, a Brit
isher (name deleted by CENSOR if the
censor let's it stand, carried immi-
grants, they never understood the
conservation OF space. They have
packed US in wooden hunks, which at
first sight are more remindful Of a
coffin They are two feet wide, six
feet long and two tiers high. Mine
is a lower. I can't sit on the end
without humping my head on the one
above. The only thing to do is to
crawl, in, double up, pull off your
shoes; place them under your pillow
and let 1t go at that The vessel has
list to port, which is the side hap
pen to inhabit. The first night out
we shipped a few seas. They came
down through the hatchways and
lodged under my bunk. AS / had
placed all Of my belongings on the
floor, it was disconcerting. My gun
and everything else was two feet I'M
der water. Some things washed away
and haven't recovered them yet. My
hat, for example.
eve came across the United States
from American Lake on three special
trains somewhere in Minnesota. We
landed at Weehawken one morning at
daylight, were marched onto a ferry
boat, transported across a well known
river to a large and famous city, put
aboard this craft and we never got
Off
I'VE did not have long on board the
ship before we were on the move. We
sailed at that evening and the only
glimpse I got of the big town was
so well known buildings, then a sta
tue, then nothing more until we put
in at a Canadian port for few hours
to join the convoy train of which
this ship is a member.
At night we run totally dark. A
cigarette lighted on the deck and the
man at the other end is under ar
rest if it's after nightfall. 1 retain
my freedom because 1 threw away
all my matches the first night out
Whenever there is a signal from
the flagship, something happens. We
either change our course or speed up
or reduce. One we put entirely
about and back-tracked for a while.
Truly, it viii be a notable feat if the
whole train is landed safely.
"The eats have been terrible. First,
tht9 are tue EnBlldu lued ana lueIe-
fore not agreeable to Americans
stomachs. Fish for breakfast isn't
popular, nor IS tea. Then the food,
which probably is good enough to
begin with, is all steam cooked and
from the popular viewpoint, ruined.
The mess hall is on the after end be-
low deck 1t seats about 700, and we
eat at three sittings Mine is the
third. The dining room, couple of
days ago, got so Odoriferous that the
American doctors ordered a renova-
ton But at that, one can't but adj
mire the crew. The skipper has been
running through the submarine zone
since the war and never has been hit
Most of the crew have been tOrpedoed
or mined on various vessels, some two
or three times. There is a scarcity
Of seamen and boys are numerous in
the crew. But England, one of the
officers was telling me, has an ef-
fective way of keeping her sailors
sailing. Three weeks is all a man is
allowed ashore. If he hasn't another
job by that time he is drafted for
the army. He can be the only sur
vivor of the most notable wreck of
the war, but he has only twenty-one
days to tell his friends about it.
Il probably viii have more time
to write later. Give my regards to
everyone. Yours,
II. W. ROSS"