The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1918-03-01
MORE INTERESTING LETTERS
FROM LEAVENWORTH BOYS
Chas. Hathaway Having Some Great
.... .Experiences-Boys Have Wild
Time at Panama Canal
Hampton Roads, Feb. 13, 191

Well here / am after so long ;
time. We left San Diego on tn,
5th. 1t was great trip. Their,
was 500 of us and we had just thir
teen cars. A very unlucky number
I'll tell the world. We came up tt
Los Angeles and then took ths
southern route. From Los we went
into Arizona, then into New Mexico
into Texas by way of Ell Paso, ther
into Louisiana to New Orleans
Then Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia
North and South Carolina and fl
nally landed in Virginia. The main
cities we touched in these states
were Birmingham, Meridian, Atlanta
Hamlet, Raleigh and then Norfolk
Speaking of Atlanta, In the first
place, I have absolutely no use for
it, or the whole state of Georgia
and its people. This is also the
feeling of the rest of our crowd
Talk about "from Atlanta to the
Sea-" if they had turned that bunch
of hungry sailors loose, Atlanta
would have ceased to exist. The
city lies about three miles off the
main road. Well we were due at
this branch line about three o'clock,
so the chief wired ahead for the res
taurants to make preparations for
500 sailors About 8 o'clock the
answer came back that the people of
Atlanta didn't want any sailors
there and would not allow troop
trains to stop in the state, but said
they would have some box lunches
ready and we could stop long
enough to load them on. We got
there at 8 o'clock, having had moth
ing to eat since the night before,
and received the lunches. I downed
one sandwich and gently lowered the
remaining ones to rest along side of
the railroad track. Dry bread,
mouldy cheese and meat that really
had very disagreeable odor. And
the chief had ordered .75 cent lunch
es. He told them what he thought
about it and refused to pay for the
sandwiches. The boys would cer-
tainly have made mess of that
town if they had been turned loose.
At eleven o'clock the next day we
ate. Nearly forty hours, with only
one sandwich. North Carolina was
the most patriotic state we struck.
Everywhere the people turned out
and greeted us. But Georgia, Good
night.
7 don't think would care tn live
either in New Mexico, Arizona or
western Texas. Why its so dry
down there that even the cactus
looks yellow. I got off at one
small town and asked man if it
rained often there. He said it did
in comparison with some places. /
asked him then when it rained last.
and he said about year and half
ago. Another town back a few
miles, he said had not had any rain
for three years. BY the looks of
the country there hadn't been any
water there since the flood.
We have been having some very
cold weather here the past week,
five and ten below zero. 1t is fine
out today however.
There is something doing around
here all the time. A big HYDRO
plane just crashed to the ground but
I haven't heard yet as to whether
any one was killed.
oh yes, I forgot about the unlucky
thirteen cars. Shortly after leav-
ing San Diego one fellow got raked
off the cars and cut up about the
face, tho nothing serious. About
five miles from Yuma we struck a
broken rail. Fortunately for us we
were Just beginning to gain speed
and then the semaphore saved us
from the ditch. The engine and
first truck of the baggage car went
over. Then when we were about
hundred miles from here, the en-
CINE broke a drive rod. They got
another and it burned out a box.
How's that for luck? To say moth
ing of being starved. We are get
ting good "chow" now however.
C. L. Hathaway
u. S. Naval Training Station, Ma
val Operating Base, Hampton Roads,
Va, Company ].
Mrs. D. C. Town is in receipt of
the following letter from her nephew
Ewing Boyle, a former resident of
Leavenworth, who will probably be
remembered by many of the older
residents. He is boatswain on the
Great Northern and has been in the
navy for many months. He also
has two brothers in the service, one
of whom is now on an army tran
port on his way to japan. The fol-
lowing letter is interesting: