The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1918-06-12
GREAT EXODUS0F
C0LORED TROOPS
Several .Thousand Negro Troops Leave
Camp Dodge for East After Six
Months OF Training.
PAT GROVE VISITS THE CAMP
8oldsero Give Clothing to 6eioians-
More than 5000 Suits Having
:. Been Griven From Camp Dodge


: Been criven From Camp Dodge
DIVISION HEADQUARTERS, Camp
Dodge, June 1O-A call has gone out
for: the assembling Of another incre.
ment at Camp Dodge. Something like
10000 men will be included in this
call. OF this number 5000 are from
Iowa and 1900 from North Dakota.
Minnesota and Illinois will furnish a
considerable number and Missouri and
Nebraska will contribute as many as
were rejected In previous call be-
cause of physical disability.
1t is noticeable that men are not dis
charged for defects that disqualify
them from active participation on the
battlefield as was the case in the be-
ginning. Now, If q man is physically
unfit he is assigned other duties and in
this way many able bodied men are
released for active service because
these rejected men can perform the
duties previously assigned to them.
Unusual activity is noticeable In the
training of the recruits. Down town
privileges have been practically sus-
pended except on Sundays and the
men are given strenuous drilling from
morning to night with an hour off for
meals and the usual play spell from
4 to S o'clock in the evening. At this
time all kinds of games and sports are
featured and the men have lively
times. A hundred games of baseball
will be on at one time and other sports
give further opportunity for relaxa-
ton and merriment. In the meantime
the men at the remount station are
having their fun trying to break In
some 4obstreperous horse or mule or
several Of them and this always draws
q crowd. This phase of the recrea-
tion hour delights the Indians and
they are always on hand to participate
in the sport.
The past week witnessed great
exodus of the colored troops. Sever.
al thousand of them we're sent east
ward but their destination is not
known but presumably they are head
ed for, France as their six months OF
training here has been strenuous and
effective. Upon their departure 5000
other negroesz were ordered to report
7h6ie. Most 81 these men are from
Alabama, but some are from the states
d the nofthland represented at this
cantonment. Negroes are already In
France in large numbers. 1t is given
out officially that about 157 900 negro
soldiers are now in the national
army. OF these 1000 are line officers
holding commissions OF captain and
first and second lieutenants. There
are approximately $50 negro medical
officers In the medical and dental re-
serve corps. The army now includes
two divisions of negro troops. COM
inanded by Mai. Gen. c. c. Ballou and
Brig. Gen. Roy c. Hoffman. These d.
visions when fully constituted, will
embrace practically all branches OF
military service, including infantry,
engineers, artillery, signal corps, med
ical corps and service battaliOns with
men technically trained in all branch
eS of scientific work.
There are now openings In the vet
Urinary corps Of the national army for
negroes skilled in veterinary and ag-
ricultural work. Two thousand volun.
teers between the ages OF IL and 40,
not subject to the selective draft, are
wanted in the veterinary; corps.
Convicted Soldiers Jump From Train.
Sergeant Russell B. Clark and Pri-
vate Frank p. Gruber, military pris-
Oners enroute from Camp Dodge to
Leavenworth penitentiary, jumped
through the car window at knOwltOn,
Iowa. and for several days eluded
their pursuers. They were chained
together and this prevented them from
escaping. A farmer espied them
emerging from his hay NOW early one
morning and he Immediately rushed
to the house, procured his shot gun
and soon had the men under his con-
troll. He telephoned the sheriff at
Creston and the men were brought
back to Camp Dodge and were given
another escort to Leavenworth. The
military police from whom they es-
caped by jumping from the window in
the, water closet in the smoking car
must now face a court martial or
the two prisoners Clark came to Camp
Dodge from Rockville, Ore, and was
sentenced to twenty-five years at hard
labor for holding up taxicab driver.
Gruber was from Garrison, N. D., and
was sentenced to five years imprison-
ment when found guilty of opening a
soldiers mail and taking draft from
q mail orderly.
Pat Grove Visits Camp.
Pat Grove, Of Omaha, the confessed
kidnapper of Eddy Cudai,y some years
ago, has been a four minute speaker
at the theater the past ten days and
he also addressed the men in some Of
the Y. M. C. A. huts at the camp.
While here he appeared before the
state board of control Thursday and
presented his plan for enlisting the
exconvicts of the United States into
an army to fight the kaiser.