The Sauk Centre herald., 1917-09-27
BOYS GRADUALLY
FINDING PLACES
WESTERN STEARNS CONTING-
ENT OF POTENTIAL SOLDIERS
REACH. CAMP DODGE.
YELLOW DOGS" In EVIDENCE

LOUIS LARSON is OFFICIAL
SHAVER - OTHERS ARE
WELL PLACED.
(By Private Grove Wills, Herald's
Special Field Correspondent at the
Front.) .,-,
= Somewhere in the Middle of the
Gigantic Camp Dodge Cantanment
Camp, Sunday, Sept. 23-With a
tooth brush and a smile, each mem
Der of the Western Steans conting-
ent arrived. here this morning al
$3.50. Everyone who saw them depart
from Melrose last Saturday, will re-
member them as starting away with
a kick" that was the envy of every
car in the special train and they
maintained the reputation of said
''kick" until about a. M, this morn
ing, but when they unloaded here at
9:30sthis Sunday morning, they were
an exceedingly docile bunch. Reasons
(plain enough:) They had to pass
the night sitting up, not. only to look
after each others welfare, but forced
to by the stiff backs of the day coach
seats; then, they had their coach SO
full of "Yellow Dog" candidates all
the time that nobody could sleep and
ae water supply gave out; and lastly
they did not have anything to eat
from 600 o'clock Saturday evening
until Sunday at 100 o'clock. Outside
of this, they are gradually coming
into their own and finding their re-
spective places.
The start, the send off, the glorious
tribute of patriotism that the boys
were given at Melrose Saturday,
marks a time in their respective lives
that history of their achievements
will date from. It surely made deep
effect on them; was the chief topic
of conversation when they got by
themselves and it is safe to say that
they will never forget it.
Leaving Melrose at 2:30 p. m. the
special train, bearing not only the
Stearns county boys, but contingents
from Pope, Todd and Becker counties,
arrived in Minneapolis at 5:15, where
they unloaded and marched up
Hennepin to Fifth street where sup
per was served. Our boys, continual
ly starting something original, formed
into a a lockstep then swung and
sung their way to mess to the fol-
lowing:
Cheer! Cheer! The gangs all here!
We're going to get the Kaiser;
We're going to get the Kaiser; r.
Cheer! Cheer! The gangs all here;
We're going to- get the Kaiser soon.
Directly after supper they procured
some white crayon and after they
had marched back to the depot, they
proceeded to emblazon the side OF
their coach with three-foot letters as
follows: "Nach Berlin-Stearns
County Division. No. 2, and at each
end "Yellow Dog Special" They left
Minneapolis with the crowds fairly
screaming their patriotism.
Singlel columns of soldiers now
continually marched through the
length of the training singing, and
Captains Bradley of Sauk Centre, and
John Myers OF Melrose never realized
their nerve racking responsibilities in
keeping their charges in due bounds
until this time. Excitement kept up
Until everybody dropped from sheer
exhaustion. No provisions had
evidently been made for breakfast
and when they arrived and the au-
thorities found out the situation, they
were rushed to mess, rest and refresh
ment. Some of the members were
not suffering from hunger however,
as one $or, two expressed it: ~ can't
keep anything On my stomach but
my hand anyway" These were ex-
ceptions however, as liquor on the
train the night before was conspicu--
ous BY its. absence.
Eighteen thousand men are already
here on the ground; 1900 more 1T is
said viii arrive this week and $500
of them arrived today. s The captan-
ment,s capacity is about 0,O00 men.
A large number Of the commissioned
officers here are those who recently
won their shoulder straps at Ft.
Smelling and other officers reserve
training camps.
A description of this immense camp
at so few hours acquaintance, woulr
be fool hardy. One can hardly ger
their hearing in even 2 large barrack als.'
building, to say nothing of the eount-
less number Of them here. A de-
tailed word picture will be attempted
in the next letter. Right now we are
being SO questioned, cross-questioned,
marched around for instructions and
equipment, hooted at by the "rear
soldiers that we really could not tell