Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-09-21
SECOND FATALITY
AT CAMP HANCOCK
w. ]. Hunter, of Llanerch,
Dies After Being Thrown
by Officers Horse
TRENCH WORK IS STARTED
Details From Engineers Begin
Ditch Digging Preliminary to
Further War Accessories
Ru q Stnn Correspondent

CAMP HANCOCK. Augusta, Ca, Sept 2l.
walter j. Hunter. a private in Company
sixth Infantry, died this morning In the
University Hospital Augusta, of peritonitis.
This is the second death in Camp Hancock.
The first was that Of Bernard Maginnis, Of
Engineer Regiment of Pottsville, who was
crushed TO death by a motortruck.
T,iesday morning Hunter, whose home is
NJ Llanerch, took a horse out for exercise.
II was a chilly morning and the animal
1vas frsky. An hour after Hunter left
camp the horse returned without his rider.
A detail Of men were ordered to search for
Hunter. They found him unconscious along
the roadway about a mile from camp He
had been thrown by his mount and received
several broken ribs and other injuries. lie
was taken Immediately to the hospital. lis
condition at first was not considered serious.
hut unexpected complications set in. Hunter
was a horse trainer by trade and had fol-
lowed that business before he enlisted two
years ago. He was twenty years old and
unmarried. The horse he was exercising
belongs to Major Baird.
officers here will receive the same train
ing with bayonets and in trench warfare
as will the enlisted men. Details from the
engineers regiments started this morning
10 dig a series of trenches near headquar-
ters in which officers will work. The
trenches will be surrounded by barbed-wire
entangements and prone, standing and
Meanwhile other members of the engineer
regiment are learning to dig themselves into
the hot burning sand Of the field. Under
the direction of officers individuals choose
a spot at the end OF company streets and
fall prone as though wounded. Then, with
trench tools, they excavate to a depth suf-
hcient to cover them while in PROSTATE
posture. Succeeding in this, the men then
continue digging until they can kneel in
the trench. Then they continue to dig until
they are completely hidden from view while
standing. After n sufficient nulbeT of such
individual dugouts have been constructed
they will be connected up by communicating
passages and thus the trenches which in
fantry regiments will use here will be dug.
Just four weeks ago this camp was far
from completion. Within that time the en-
tire division has been moved here from
the North and completing touches have
been put to almost all buildings with the
exception of the base hospital and the re-
mount station buildings, which, it is under
stood, are to be maintained here long after
the boys from the Keystone State have de-
parted for France. And within a great
deal less time than that the troops have
settled down to the intensive training
schedule.
In the opinion Of officers this is a proud
record for Pennsylvania. 1t has excited the
admiration of the people of the South who
marvel at the ingenuity and resourceful-
ness Of their cousins from the North.
A COMPLETE DIVISION
But a greater work than all this has
been accomplished within the last week
For the first time in its history the COM
plete division of the States forces is mob
ilized in the field under a discipline which
no one would compare to that which
marked the usual summer encampments al
Gettysburg or Mt. Gretna in the old days
when the week or six days training was
regarded a lark and an outing,
If any soldier came here expecting such
experiences as he knew at Mount Gretre
or Gettysburg, such as comparatively easy
drilling, with fun on the side, he has beer
keenly disappointed. There is a sign hang.
ing in the administration building warning
every one who enters that work is being
performed there and not play.
Remarkable progress is being made in the
training schedule. Artillery regiments have
already started to build protected anC
sheltered posts for the big guns, Infantry
regiments are drilling many hours a day
on foot, the majority of the men stripped tC
undershirts and some of them even stripped
TO the waist.
HEALTH REMARKABLE
The health of the camp is remarkable
Medical officers say it is remarkable tha
30 few patients have been treated in hos
pitals in the field and also in Augusta.
There is only one thing hanging fire which
worries all men in the field. 1t is re
organization. 1t is understood efforts were
made to have the division preserved in
tact, but rumors had it yesterday that thi
would not be done and that it would b,
necessary to bow to the inevitable. IL
view of this contemplated reorganization, 1
may be necessary to send 1000 drafted mer
here to pad out companies