Deming graphic., 1917-11-23
Letter Right From the Trenches

Through the kindness of John ,
O'LrarN. the Graphic j. permitted
use the following very inter I'll
letter from F.. 7. Dudley. torae,,,
a Santa f. tram dispatcher. Il
came from the actual fighting I'm,
m France. and every word VII D.,
read with deep interest:
II never am quite d. happy IT,
when receive letter from som
Of the bunch therc and unusually -r
when your letter found ne Ger
daN morning. Also nay graiitud, for
the cigarette which will probably
receive in the next ten day. rarl To-
ages are alway, ten days to two
weeks behind the letters. Ii you
only knew how we apprccn'" lohac.
cu here, W. have ~ American to-
bacco whatever and French smoke,
are strong and black caunot be
GIN Ia thank You. ] bought 81 .ah i
OF Bull Durham the other dau for
,iN francs, about 1l.I0 IN American
money Could have sid It ioy So.
Can Nuu now know what Amcrc %
tobarc" means! 1t seems like We
crave It worse IN the army than e.
er The Red Cross sent lis some one
time but II was soon gone.
"Nuur letter found me on De
Western froni-the only regiment
IN the t'nited States amy 20 b, IN
active service. We took complete
operating control Yesterday mol.ing
at Il o'clock and now the Thirteenth
Engineers operate the most IMPORT
AMI military road on the front. 70.
has rained ~ one continual, ros-
stant dclngc Tor ten day- and the
country l. winning n a vcritahla
bog of mud and mire. car army
trucks sink hub deep in front of the
barrack door regardless of the 10, d.
and tons ot rock we have placed
there. ! have read abou, the Fran
dcr~ mud" but could never d,,aiu
oi such thing. Nothing J., water
proof Our barrack, are ruanin.
away Most OF Ms have hardl, hrd
our rain shield off either night ur.
day. The water 8, running in ha
streams on the ground inside fAc
barrack- We only take off oar
Logging, and shoes to- sleep aud Gov
er over with tent half and ran
pnrrhes and the water drop- down
and rolls off while You ,iaep. We
hang our shoe up ou the wall. j.
gets dark al / 30 p. III.
Il am chief dispatcher We ha,r
three chief on trick. was -,
ranking non commIs- stoned off ,er ia
the regiment aud had my choice Of
irlck> and think | shall take ,ecord
-, there Is No way oi killing the lon,
winter evenings. IS" would Iathor
work then We burn no lights w',a,-
ever except IN the office and We hay,
mats which 60 over ull the window.
Could Non imagine = railroad witt.
oul lights! Not even the ~wilcim %
carry thom. or the road men either ,
war measures which We ar, MI
glad Ia follow out without question. ,
some of the more heroic American
braves decided when We first reached
lree that the question of lights wa-
all foolishnc~- and they burned ca.- !:
lies IN the barracks But We learned
lesson about two weeks ago aud If i
I had not been for kind provl- +
lence We would all have paid Nov
'on could nor get me to light u iight :,
or n months salary. Heinc VIII Il
ever come 50 close again.
Our railroad is u dream, win 4S =
nasdsd trains each day. Nothing bni :,
ammunition and tr1ol E.. u
nd the hinge army depends every a
ay on the Thirteenth American for =, :,
heir feed. Our road Is under shell :.
ire in dozen places but buil. lr -
alleys and through woods and for :.
SIS wherever possible. We have =
ans Of large guns permanently
ounted on ears like the photograph II
A the Santa Fe Magazine These
e keep on road built deep in tie
ood. They have their own engines
ways ready TO move on seeond'.