The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-09-05
EDWARDS-SOLDIE AND MAN.
Some of the Traits Of the officer in
Command Of New England Troops.

Few VI IHC SOluieTS WIN diC ~ w
his charges and fewer of the mothers
whose sons those soldiers are, probably
know Major General Clarence R. Ed
wards personally. General Edwards,
while he is the commander of great |
division and a soldier tried and not
found wanting, is man and father
with all the human emotions of both.
He is man in whom burns strong the
flame of love of country and of kindred
and of his fellow man, and withal a |
man with an unmistakable will of iron.
During the weeks that General Ed
wards, as commander of the Department
of the Northeast, has been in Boston,
those who have been with him most
and known him best have more than
once seen his emotions of sympathy as
the sad story of some perplexed wife or
mother was unfolded for his ears. He
has been inconceivably busy, but never
busy enough to deny hearing to these
worrying ones, and it has been a com
mon sight during these weeks to see
" Authority resplendent in gold braid
land brass buttons, cooling its impatient
heels at the door of his department office
while he explained at length the things
that an anxious mother had not been
made clearly to understand. And the
same ones who have seen the ready
tears of sympathy in his eyes have, an
instant later, seen the same eyes as cold
as steel and lips closed with a firmness
that bespoke power.
General Edwards is a man of light
ninglike perception and action. He
seldom makes an error in his deduction
of character. He calls a spade a spade
and wastes no time in doing it. He
inspires a confidence in his associates
4 whatever their rank, equalled by that
of but few men.
Perhaps no incident among the many
|, similar ones which have characterized
this man s career as a leader of men
: better serves to illustrate his decisive
] nature and unerring instinct, as well as
his innate hatred of injustice and op
preston, than that attendant upon his
clearing up of the affairs of the guard
house of the 101st Regiment at Framing
ham few days since.
During the course of regular depart
mental routine it came to General Ed
{ wards s notice that an unusual humble
/ of men were confined in the quarters re
U ferred to, and to his mind, trained t,
!. be ever alert to danger, was at one
flashed the question "Why?' The re
: port from which he incidentally gleane
. his knowledge was not laid aside 70
Il subsequent inquiry. This man with so
II 600 trained men waiting to carry on
II his orders did not refer the matter t
II a subordinate for investigation and re
II port; neither did he dispatch an orderl
II for additional information concernin
II the state of affairs. What he did
II was to reach for his hat and with til
H terse order . birmingham to h
! driver, drove over the road to that tow
at four o'clock in the afternoon
: straight to the Army encampment an
; thence to the guardhouse of the lois
:, Regiment. Having reached it the Il
or more men therein were brought OF
and one after another questioned {
:. to the nature of the offense he had con
u a4i+te4 and the duration of His itanisi
:. ment.
:. With word of advice to this on
= reprimand to another and a slap G
the shoulder and word of encourag
! ment to third the end of the Ion
: line was soon reached-a week of t.
a long delayed court martial work in 9
or hundred undisciplined careless DO,
NJ made into soldiers who will hereaft
70 do their duty and do it faithfully, n
so much because it is their duty as b
- cause it is . for the General. -
One of the number of offenders {
dered discharged was youth impri
N oned for ''breaking arrest rath
serious offense from a military poi
iat Il ~
81 evaded guard in his effort to lea
the camp without permission.
Got by the guard, did you?' W
ed the sharp inquiry.
of Eyes, sir, sullenlv.
Arrest the guard that he got by
ordered the general, turning to the a
Jutant in respectful attendance, "a
at put him in the guardhouse in place
this boy. He is more at fault than IL
ed prisoner who has been punish
enough
nd Little would have been known of Il
on occurrence but for the soldiers the
of selves and an order that was issued til
evening from headquarters that no m
rs hereafter to be confined in re
mental guardhouse over 81 hours wit
out a hearing. It is a perfectly SO
- wager that this order will be obeyed a
=. that if it is not the soldiers of the ra
- and file are not the only ones who W
- grace the guardhouse. And it is
- other safe surmise that when, Will
~ few days, these soldiers of New Fl
s land are on shipboard, the Army recc
IN of misdemeanors, so far as the Doth di
~ sion is concerned, will be swept cles
u that the men will be talked to as by
,an father to his sons by their command
III and that, impressed with the utter
10 robustness of the work il hand and
~, upon their honor, each 70 do his allott
ON. duty, there will be a LEX of neccss
ou for guard houses cover there -
ro Such in brief are some of the ch
~ acteristics of the man in whose hal