New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1918-04-10

~ LIE llISIt SCHOOL III &Cne OHlCeu SCdCcS
for army chaplains will be opened at
Camp Dodge, Tuesday, under First
Lieut.. Harry B. Boyd, senior chaplain
for the Eighty-eighth division. The.
program for the course, which will
continue for one month, has been ar
ranged following conferences with di-.
vision staff officers. H. S. Holdings
worth, field secretary for the Red
Cross division relief, and formerly
head of the Associated Charities in
Des MONIES, will be the first to give
instructions to the thirteen army chap
lains now on duty at camp. Mr.. Hol-
lingsworth will deal with welfare work
among TIE soldiers.
Getting Ready for Sick and Wounded
Fort Des MONIES is being converted
into one of the largest hospital units
in the United States. Nearly 800 ply
sicians and surgeons are now in train
ing there and within a week the great
hospital will be ready to receive pa
tients. 1t is expected that wounded
men from the battle front in France
will begin to arrive within a month or
so. The hospital will open with 1900
beds and this will be increased from
time to time until 5000 to 1900 beds
will be available, and within the next
week chronic cases from Camp Grant
at Rockford, ILL.,, from Camp Dodge
and from the regulars stationed at
Omaha. It is expected that chronic
cases from Fl. Smelling will also be
brought here. Colonel Cooper is in
charge.
Carrier Pigeons Attract Attention
One of the most interesting places
at the camp is the nifty habitation
made for the carrier pigeons. Visitors
always make it point to visit this d.
vision. Behind the fine green pigeon
house which is kept as clean and light
and sanitary as any army barracks, is
a rustic arch over which are the let
tiers ''313th Field Signal Battalion, D.
S." Nobody knows that the ID. S."
stands for-not even Sergt. Christopher
Schmerfeld, who will have charge of
the pigeons. Sergeant Schmerfeld has
handled carriers for years. He was
for twelve years with the British army
and his pigeons carried many important
in the Boer war. Seven
hundred miles is deemed no distance
at all for carrier to go. In fact
Sergeant Schmerfeld tells of one carrier
pigeon which he gave to man in
Mandalay, China. The bird was taken
to point in England, some $500 miles
distant. Some time later the sergeant
received a letter from the man saying
he had arrived in England safely with
the pigeon. But before the letter ar
rived, the carrier was roosting content
edly back on his perch in Mandalay.
Trial fights will he begun with the
pigeons at once. They are sleek, beauti-
full birds of dove color and tan and have
very intelligent eyes. There is a little
pigeon hospital few feet from their
departments" where the sick and wound
ed birds are kept. Kafir corn is tie
main article of diet of the pigeons.
They are fed twice daily and bathed
every day. Sergeant Schmerfeld claims
to be half blood Indian. He has been
in the army since 1895. He sent out
pigeons at the siege Of Ladysmith during
the Boer war.
Stiff Sentence for Guard who Went
to Sleep
Private Benjamin Walker of Com
pany A, 366th Infantry, will serve five
years at Fl. Leavenworth because he
deserted his post while on guard, and
went to his barracks to sleep for an
hour. Court martial orders published
by the judge advocate specified that
the man shall serve prison sentence
and afterward be dishonorably dis
charged from the national army. Brig.
Gen. E. H. Plummer, who reviewed
the case while still in command of the
88th division, suspended the dishonor-
able feature of the discharge.
Getting Ready for Athletic Sports
Raising money with which to buy
equipment for ball games and other
sports has enlisted some Of the best
talent at the camp. Recently an en-
tertainment was given at a down town
theatre by "home talent" from Camp
Dodge. It was called minstrel show
and the proceeds were to 60 for the
athletic fund. 1t was by no means
an amateur entertainment. Acrobats
were on the program who had been head
liners with Barnum & Bailey's and
Ringing Brothers shows; vaudeville
stars who had appeared in all of the
great theaters in Europe; hypnotists