Rock Island Argus., 1918-02-25
s,,nneat OF Doves Is Expected to Ar.
rive at Big Cantonment Within
q Few Days,
rrrY BIRDS ARE IN THE LOT
Nnl Be Employed in Work Of Signal
Corps, War Having Shown Them
10 Be Necessary.
(Special to The Argus).


an of,cer OF the signal corps.
know anything about the homer"
j.! he asked.
"They are 81 per cent efficient in |
dsltyering messages. Fanciers in the /
,,st have offered to furnish the army !
vith several thousand birds this win
,,r Breeding has been carried on
rnder adverse conditions, as the gov
srument wanted youngsters at the /
fs-l.est possible moment. 1t pays 81
apiece for the birds
"A pedigree of breeding is furnished |
With each. A record is kept, in case
,ny bird performs specially good SER
vice in delivering messages from the
font and the breeder is notified
The homer has saved many lives
In the world war A captain named
bertrand had with him three birds
"a m observation post. When all 9TH
ar means OF communication had failed
he released the pigeons. Within 20
minutes re;nforcaments arrived to
| hold the positions against the enemy.
1T has been proven that the tele
ohone, telegraph and wireless between
/
iers from five TO twenty miles in the
rear. have been absolutely worthless
under certain conditions. The homer
pigeon Is the one method that has
made good. Of the messages forward
ed by pigeons from the front over bar
nge fire. cavalry and infantry
charges, 81 per cent have come to
headquarters.
AT the outbreak OF the war the he
mer was known chiefly as good thing
10 eat. You could buy squads for So
took notice when they saw the work
in the lofts along the Atlantic coast.
They sat up q good deal straighter
when stories began TO arrive from the
ether side Of splendid results obtained
BY the British and French. who have
thousands of birds at the front"
Sends n Pigeon.
There's an 11-year-old boy in Min
napolis who wants to do his bit in
Uncle Sans fight to make the world
nfe for democracy He's too young
70 fight, but he's willing to give up
bic most priced possessions in the
hope that 1t will aid the government.
Major E. H. Plummer. commanding
the Eighty y-eighth national army divi-
son at Camp Dodge. is in receipt OF
letter from Deibert Carter, 26S Lyn
dale avenue. North Minneapolis, which
says: II am only Il years old and |
can't do much to help. I have a car
rier pigeon which would like to give
L. hn, to
use carrier pigeons to carry mes
ages.'
General Plummer turned the letter
over to Major G. l.. Eastman. division
signal officer Major Eastman says he
70 going to write a letter to Delbert
telling him he fears the pigeon is too
old, but that he will list the bird in
the reserve corps" and notify its
owner when the birds services are
needed
They're telling a good story around
division headquarters in which Lieu
tenant Michael kincaid of the intelli-
gence department plays part. Re
Gently a man charged with being an
alien enemy was brought before Cap
tain Qugley of the counter espionage
department.. The man said he did not
want TO fight because he was a con-
sc.entious objector and that it was
against his religion to fight, When
asked what his religion was, he de-
chred he was a Catholic. Just ct this
nncture Lieutenant kincaid strolled
ID. II didn't take Lieutenant Michael
f,g TO peel off his coat and roll up
MS sleeves and dare the fellow TO re-
peat his remark that a Catholic didn t
Nlieye In fighting,
It's a long journey to deaths door
ahd back gain
But there is a man at Camp Dodge
lls week who has taken that dan
tsrous trip ard apparently isn't great
the worse for it. Captain A. j.
requegnat. q member of the Fourth
Anadian infantry. nearly 'cashed in
Wnen he was under the first gas at
uck OF the war, al the second battle
fpres. But he is nearly recovered,
aow, though even the faintest sniff
W chlorine makes him cough pain
fully.
IS bad enough TO be under a gas
smck when you've mask to protect
'oa against poisonous fumes. Those
sno were under the first attack had
10 such protection. and thousands OF
English and French soldiers perished
.aen the Germans sent over that hor-
noie cloud Of poison. Captain Peque-
shat was in that attack.
The man who taught the British
"'ces how TO sing" is the description
which Captain Peg" is known
w since his discharge from the hos
Mal ne has been in special service
M the British forces. He has beer
european training camps, In prison
A1ps. T. M c. AS and hospitals
Mcaing the men TO sing and leading
m IN great song services. For th'
=" Two months he has been touring
States. - VI ~ : 10 - >
~ can't bear the thought of tbs
~, oI those men who were In the
p1al with me-" he says. ITO see
Wmrades who had been such rud
I.ear-eyed fellows, lying on theii
n. their mouths open and theil
Vues hanging out. gasping fol
Is something I can never for
~ ~ Our faces were green from thu
Hon, and many men had torn ou
nalr In their desperate struggle
~ .as offlcer had more than one mar
-. escape from death. On one oc
near Ypres. he had just lef
49, ,smnouse In which he was quar-
70 look for his horse Peggy
Asssr got to Peggy. for before HI