The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-05-03
With The Colors
By Gus Durdan, Des Moines, Iowa
Sons Diary.

There are IlLlcS LA tAO liz vi csSAS
,a,son when the dark clouds brew and
seem to eclipse the joys Of living. So
in the life Of an army, comes the per-
iods Of unrest, dissention and forebod-
;nos Of ill. Everything seems to be
growing worse. In the words OF the
hoys. sThe bottom is dropping out OF
+b;nps.,, Why this is, no one knows,
hut every one feels the sting Of the con.
1;tions. Everyone is more or less de.
spondent.
The company to which have been
assigned has moved up into barracks.
Here we are surrounded on all sides by
white comrades in arms. OF these,
some come from the far northwest,
some from the east, and too many from
+ha very bowels Of the south. These
latter bring with them all the pent up
hatred Of their grandsires. At the least
nrovocation, this is belched forth to the
a;scomfors OF the black soldiers. Every.
occasion for widening the breach be-
+xyeen the two races Of soldiers seems to
he; welcomed, whether it is scuftie at
the eanteen or the reluctant yielding Of
half the road when in line. OF march
,rbe white sentries on post seem too
eager to pass uncomplimentary remarks
about the colored soldiers as they pass
On last Saturday evening very un
fortunate occurrence took place. but
& was not Of the magnitude that the
writer's for a few papers reported II to
be. nor did it deserve the pnbhclty
which has been given it. It was purely
local brawl, no more than happens
every Saturday evening around the SO.
looms or pool halls of any large city
Il il not the incident itself that causes
the boys Of Camp Hill few extra
hours Of worry, nor is it the fact that
the occurrence has been heralded
throughout the United States. But we
are chagrined by the tone OF the re-.
ports. We stevedores must bear tne
brunt Of the criticism. We alone are
blamed. We may be partly at fault be-.
@aause we are Negroes and are in the the
south. But other than those facts we
are innocent. For three days I have
laid on q hospital cot just next to a
boy who was shot in the fray, and who
probably will lose the use Of one leg !
have listened to his meanings. l have
heard his unconscious rawlings, and l
have talked with him during his con-
scious spell. From him and from an
other boy who was shot and has since
died. / have obtained the following re-
port.
Within stone throw Of Camp Hill
are number Of get-rich-qulck
stores. where the boys are Literally
robbed. They are overcharged Tor
everything and are often short changed.
Occasionally some Of the boys object TO
these. On last Saturday some soldiers
witnessed one of their comrades belns
overcharged, short changed, and then
alrised. They resented it and demand
ed that. the man be given his exact
change.
The store keeper refused to do this.
During the course of the argument
which ensued, some one called the Cor
poral Of the guard. The boys knew
that they would be confined in the
guard house and two-thirds of their pay
taken away for. being out without per
mission and disturbing the peace, 80
they ran. The guards commanded them
+ y -
to halt, but in their fright, the boys
failed to obey. In the midst Of the
shots that followed, one man was killed