Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-05-01
FORMER MOLINE
BOY WITNESSES
TRANSPORT SINK

III IStleT TO AlOIlne 1FlenQS, JOnn
NJ. Morey. now with the Royal field
artillery of the British army, in the
signal corps branch, says he has
no time for "a moon and a girl" al
though he knows he would have a
wonderful time ii he had both. He
recounts seeing the Tuscania sunk
il January, having been on a trans
port close TO the i'll fated ship. He
says:
When We. reached the north
channel where the Huns keep their
little tin sharks we were fortunate
indeed, but one of our convey, the
TusCania, was not so fortunate.
You probably read all about that,
but I can assure you that seeing
it from a boat likely to meet the
same fate without warning and
reading about it in your library
safe on dry land are two entirely
different things. The Tuscania was
but q little way off our port side
when she was hit and one of the
sailors on our boat said that the
torpedo which hit her went by our
stern, missing us by about five
Yards. We were much relieved
when we arrived safely in Liver
pool next morning"
While on his vacation Of ten day =
in London, MOrey stayed at the
American Y. NJ. c. A, where he met
a number of sailors and soldiers
from the states.
Il remember one morning /
awoke and the chap in the next bed
was an American sailor" says
Morey. 81 asked him what part of
the states he was from and he said
Arkansas. When I told him l had
toured through Arkansas in an auto
just before joining the army and
mentioned a few of the cities we
had gone through he warmed up
and frankly admitted that Arkansas
was Gods own country. AS
thought of the terrible time we had
experienced with the mud and roads
in Arkansas I thought he should
have hesitated to put the RESPONSE
bility on the shoulders of the Di-
vinity but I didn't feel like having
my nose punched, so l held my
peace.
Il was picked for the signal corps
of the artillery, so have a lot to
learn in flag waving, buZzer codes,
etc.
Every morning before breakfast
an hour is devoted to signallers'
ride. This hour is like a three
ring circus, as a number of the
Chaps have seen horses only from
a distance and I find that these are
the ones who generally take advan-
tage of a very short acquaintance
with their horses to throw their
arms arounds their necks like an
ardent lover and hang on the mo-
ment the horse begins to trot."
Riding doesn't bother MOrey
much. as he has had considerable
experience with horses while in the
south. The first time he was put
over the jumps. however. he fell.
Il was the leading file that morn
ing" says Morey, and when the
Jump was in place l was told to
ride out and make the horse take
the jump. Well! The horse took
the Jump and so did l but we didn't
take it together. l approached it
filled with pride and ready to show
the class how well l could man
age a gee-gee. Suddenly the horse
tookza lunge and the first thing l
knew I was picking myself up, NIL
ed with tanbark.
"One thing nice about the sig
Mailing class is the fact that so
much of our time is taken up with
the signalling that we don't have to
90 very much stable work The
horses have to be groomed, fed and
watered three times a day and be-
fEg chambermaid to a horse or mule
is a duty l thoroughly detest.
Speaking of guard duty, he says:
Every time there is moon, Fritz
comes over and drops few bombs
on the heads of innocent bystand-
ers. Given a moon and a girl l
could have a wonderful time, but
now as 1 crawl out of warm bed
and go shivering TO my post, have
no sentiment TO waste on the moon,
the cause of all my troubles
MOrey asks all his friends TO
write to him. "A letter from the
states is like a message from the
gods, he says.
His address is No. 2532S0 Gunner,
John NJ. Morey, r. F. A, Twenty
first reserve battery. Woolwich S.
T., No. IS, London. England.
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