Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-01-29
.C0UTTS TELLS
OF VOYAGE TO
ENGLISH CAMP
Machine Gun Member writes
Interesting Series of Let
tiers to Sister Here.

Letters received from Robert T..
Coutts. musician in the one-time Ma
chine Gun company of the North Da
kota National Guard, Grand Forks.
by his sister. Viola Coutts at 500
North Fourth street. give an unusual-
ly. vivid n interesting glimpse Of
life aboard an American transport
bound for Europe. and also contain
a number of descriptions of land
scape in England, observations OF
army food, impressions Of ancient
towns. etc.
Three letters came simultaneously
from Mr.. Coutts. the first having
been written aboard the largest
steamer in the world. the former
German liner. "Vaterland." which
was seized by the United States. gov
eminent on April 6 last year. This
letter had been very thoroughly in
spected by the bureau of censorship.
and shears had zen industriously
applied to several pages. On the first
page, the date line had. been elimln-
ated, n in three other places the
shears had e at work; rubber
stamps explain what had been done
."Deleted by censor" Later on in the
mLtilated letter more deletions at
test to the vigilance of the censor.
There is an awful lot to tell, but
there are restrictions IN it," n sem
tence in the letter runs.
Judging from the present appear
nee Of the letter. there must indeed.
have been a good many restrictions
more indeed than the writer antic-
ipated.
Much u Sec Aboard.
MI. Coutts says that on board the
ship he had hardly time to write. Tor
there vas so much to be seen. 'and
m a1uyoyS froyo1inU frnn, nloon RI
place looking at everything with an
open mouth He says he was no,
sea sick. but hat several of his com
rades had become victims to the
fickleness of Neptune. The letter
continues:
Every pr%ecaution has been taken
on the trip, and we are just as safe
as on a troop train. Every one is
happy. and everyone is joking about
about sinking, seeing sharks, flying
fish and whales. Some of the ru-
mors that float around among the
soldiers are really witty. The sailors
OF the boat are Il jolly. husky bunch
and take delight in getting a bunch
Of soldiers round them n tell them
imaginary tales of sea life.
Yarns of the Sailors.
One of the rumors that just float
ed by was that Il sailor nae caught
a couple of sharks and when he cut
them open to find jewelry in them;
he found an Identification tag in one
and a pair of 'hiker shoes in the
other. 1t wasn't very c%onsoling, SO
no one believed it. We believe all
the good stories that soothe the
nerves, such as: Someone reports
land in sight or last day aboard
The cooks and bakers are experts,
and the bread n pies are great"
Glad TO &c Ashore.
The second letter is dated, "On Ac-
tive Service with American EXpedi-
tionary Forces, Dec. 25." ana came
here, with a British postage stamp.
the trip:
,,> cot off the great ship about
p. nl.. und travelled in the strange
al uncomfortable English trains all
night and landed in southern Eng
land about $3.50 a. m., and were fas,
asleep at 1:30. We were on the
trains during Christmas eve, so didn't
have a chance to hang up our socks,
but are happy just the same. 1t was
/, great relief TO get off the ship and
place our feet on solid land although
we liked the ship fine and had a
swell time, hut I didn't have my
clothes off, except my shoes, during
the whole trip. We had nice. clean
quarters, but we kept our clothes OIL
for cases of emergency.
English Notes.
"England surely is a beautiful
place. The scenery is grand with its
little ~farmhouses nestled down at the
foot of the hills. The grass is green,
n one would never think it was
December. Our camp is one even ar
rangement of cantonment houses or
the top of a large hill. We have ev-
cry accommodation and like the
camp fine. although we will not he
here long. This is more of a rest
camp than anything else. No place
to drill.
Today is Christmas, but it does MOI
strike me so in the least. I would
imagine it to be April or May and
have to force myself to believe it Is
December.
Everyone is feeling fine from the
ocean voyage, but We sure did wish
we were home sometimes when the
boat rocked. OF course. it dian
rock much. but the inexperienced
ones thought it did. At times wher
the ship was going its fastest We
would never know it was moving.
British Discipline Strictcr.