The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1917-09-12
AMERICANS ARE
ENTERTAINED BY
BRITISH TROOPS
Engineers in England Attend
Harvest Home With King
George.

AMERICAN ENGINEERS TRAIN
ING CAMP IN ENGLAND, Sept. i2.-
Correspondence of The Associated
Press)-A large delegation of the
American Railway Engineers spent a
day recently as guests of the British
troops encamped at Oldershot, where
the King and Queen with other mem
bers of the royal family were present
at the largest program of field sports
that has ever been held on Salisbury
Plain.
The Americans brought with them a
tug-of-war team which provided one of
the features of the afternoon in a long
drawn contest with the championship
team of the British Engineers, the re-
suit being finally declared a draw.
The big fete was arranged by the
British garrison at Aldershot as a cele.
bration of the bringing in of it's harry.
est. Fornnonths past men of all ranks
and regiments in the garrison have
been practicing, in addition to their
military duties, the patriotism that
seeks to defeat the enemy by provid
lus5 Tie ildllOuS Will Il lOOu
Turf that had never before known the
ploughshare was ploughed and sown
and men who had never learned the
first rudiments of farming toiled siren
uously in their spare hours under the
guidance of their more skilful com
radeS.
King Must Be There.
The result exceeded ali efforts. The
IL H. I, T. r,,y
that men and officers simultaneously
agreed that a great harvest festival
was eminently the thing, and that
nothing would satisfy them short OF
the attendance of the King and Queen
The King, who knows a thing or
two about farming himself, accepted
the invitation, and committee of ar
engagements representing every unit in
the district began work forthwith on
a suitable program. The center of the
days festivities was a huge tent with
tables laden with samples of the Alder
shot harvest. There were fruits, vege.
tables, grain, shrubs, and roots of var.
ious kinds. The Royal party motored
down from Windsor, arriving early in
the afternoon and remaining for three
hours.
The arena in front of the harvest
tent was surrounded by great circu-
lar grand stand composed of a dou-
BILE line of ancient and modern trans
port wagons which afforded seats for
the soldiers and their friends. For
siXpence, the gate money all going to
local war charities. the American Wis
itors found they could have their
choice of a number of desirable posi-
tons, either in the drivers seats of
big army lorries, or on benches along
side friendly delegations of British
Tommies and Non-commissioned offic-
ers.
Many-Rinsed Show.
1t was like a many-ringed circus.
While the field sports were in pro-
gress on the ground, there was con-
tinuous performance of high-diving,
somersaulting, trapezing, and all va
rieties of aerobatics by squadron of
British airplane men up aloft. Relay
races and tugs-of-war were the most
popular items on the program, but
there were many unusual and very
spectacular types Of field sports, such
as a mounted wrestling competition, in
which both horses and men took part
in an exciting struggle, the team from
the Royal Engineers finally defeating
the Army Service Corps on points.
There was also Victoria Cross
race, illustrating the methods by
which mounted men rescue comrades
in the actual fighting of today. This
was followed by mimic exhibitions of
bayonet fighting, and blindfold drill
competition, in which blindfolded non
commissioned Offices of various units
We'd with each other In putting their
blindfolded detachments through the