The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1918-06-26
He Saw Camp Custer.

Earl Wright, one of the ownera
of the Empress theater, went over
to Iona Saturday and on Sunday
morning, he, together with his wife,
son, Jack, and daughter. Ruth, an
other fellows wife and the other fell
low, Clifford Smell, his brother-in-law,
the county seat, started for Camp
Custer TO see the place. Everything
ran along lovely until about the time
when the party desired to turn the
fiivver's nose homeward, when some
thing was bound to occur, occurred
and the result was that the machine
was still balky and on the camp
grounds when darkness spread its
mantel over the earth and the sol
diers in the camp went to sleep and
left none but an occasional sentry to
be seen or heard. Well, Battle Creek
garage men are Just as accommodate
ing as they are anywhere else and
the stalled automobile party could
not get accommodations enough to
talk about, couldn'et even get lowed
out of the camp grounds, by heck and
so all but Mr.. Wright decided to go
down town and go to bed, while our
hero of the local movie, who by the
way is also linotype operator on the
Banner-News force, was elected. scorif2
missioned and duly installed by the
retreating party, to stand guard over
the automobile until the next morning
when the garages would open up and
provided that they wanted business,
might be induced through the she'll
ing out of many shekels, to help the
party out of their troubles. Well,
after the other folks had left for
Battle Creek and bed, Wright thought
that he would stretch himself out in
the big back seat and do little sleep
ing himself. Hardly had he dozed
off when a sentry spotting the car
and the sleeping occupant, took shot
if Wright would have had a little
more fat on his body, someone would
have shed some blood. Wright had a
deuce of a time after that trying TO
get some sleep, because he would no
sooner than get to DOING than SEN
tries would be changed and the new
fellow always took shot at the
sleeping figure in the car, thinging
that he might be spy or something
else and that it would be all well and
good to kill the fellow first and inves-
tigate afterward. If the fellow didn't
shoot, he would walk over and jab
his bayonet into Mr.. Wright by way
of introduction and then Wright
would have to do lot of explaining
about how he came to be there and
he went through this rigamarole so
many times that finally it sounded so
much like a cut-and-dried story that
he came very near getting into trou-
BILE on that score. Well, when morn
ing came Wright was right on the
grounds and he says that the way
those various companies of artillery,
infantry. machine gunners and other
companies cut loose on him and his
stalled machine was wonderful. He
says that it was lucky thing that
they were all raw rockies for they
were such poor shots that it was safer
in front of the guns than it was 80
feet off to one side Of them. Finally
he got them Quoted down with the
same old story and he saw then, the
early morning manouevers of the
army at Camp Custer. He saw the
preparations for breakfast, drilling,
shooting and everything else which
the soldiers stage during the day,
from one Of the best points obtain
able. Wright says that you may go
and visit Camp Custer but you know
very little about the real life of the
boys until you have an auto stalled
on the camp grounds and stick by the
machine until morning appears and
you see the whole thing from start
to finish. Finally, garage man
from Battle Creek appeared and tow
ed the party in to the city, where the
machine was given the few needed
repairs and they started for home,
reaching this city about 6 o'clock on
Monday night, "a hours late, but hav-
ing Witnessed the exciting life at
Camp Custer to the greatest possible
extent.