Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1919-05-11

IN telllnS the story OF DouEo BTolH-
ers famous q. NJ. car which played
such remarkable part in the motor
history of the recent war. it is an al
most irresistible temptation to fall
back on quotations from the multi
tude Of interesting and graphic let
tiers that have poured into the home
office from soldiers in almost every
branch of the service, both in this
country and abroad. They are not
letters that have been written to
Dodge Brothers, possibly with selfish
motives, but have been forwarded on
to them from friends in every part Of
the country. They merely mention the
car among the graphic details of their
narratives, because it was so constant
and intimate a part of their expert
ences. And the testimony is all the
more valuable because incidental and
without motive.
OF course any lengthy narrative of
the cars part in the war is out of the
question here. 1t must suffice to tell
how 1t quickly became known as the
Handy Man of the Army" and was
pressed into all manner Of service,
where heavier cars could not go and
less sturdy ones could not survive.
No sooner had the war department
chosen the dodge Brothers motor car
hs the official government car in its
class. than thousands Of these cars
were rushed into service as speedily as
the works at Detroit could turn them
out.
The long truck caravans, or trans
ports" as they were called, which fol-
lowed one another across the country
to the seaboard, We're almost without
exception led by officers in Dodge
Frothers touring cars. And then
somewhere along the train would be
seen the Dodge Brothers q. NJ. car"
loaded with truck parts, food, officers
equipment. and ready to dash ahead
into the nearest town on necessary err
rsnds.
THEY ALL CHEERED.
But it was on the other side that the
real work began, and one of the many
letters referred to above will be
quoted for the rest of the story.
Written by typical devil-may care
Yankee soldier, and motor car en-
thusiast, it makes intensely interest
ing reading. The letter was written
by w. A. P. John. second lieutenant,
"Any ole not knowing the perfor
nance of Dodge Brothers motor cars
here in France" he writes, would
naturally say, Aw, hell! no wonder
he cheers! Did you ever see an Am
erican automobile guy that didn't
But 1t is fact that whenever I
have had a chance to talk to Dodge
Brothers drivers and officers in the
tra tot inp ha
done So I have asked what kind of a
'hack" this Dodge Brothers car was,
then about repairs, mileage, strength,
reliability and comfort.
"Truthfully, never once did I en-
counter one of these hard -boiled.
leather -necked, two listed, hard -driv-
ing chauffeurs who had anything but
praise for the car. The first one I
ran into in France was back in 8. o.
s.. near Cijon. That was in August,
1917. She was all shiny and glistened
in the Burgundy sunlight like thing
alive. She was just out of America,
they said and almost kissed her; but
this is a narrative and not a home
sick drool.
MEETS A FRIEND.
"Soon the cars began to multiply,
and the wonderful hard ROADS DacR
there began to hum with them. But
the S. o. s. with it's wonderful Or
ganization and perfect roads, offered
no real test of the strength of the car.
Where they catch hell is UP here!
Zone evening recently 1T was just
before the attack in which eight
thousand guns were massed on a
front of eleven kilometers, I was walk
ing through the inky streets of Sois
sons which were not even lighted with
the flickering aurora borealis of the
barrage. That was when barrages
were five and day affairs and not
the ferocious five or six-hour terrors
they later became.
II was lonesome-damn lonesome
there amid the Poilu and the Quilted
houses--when around the corner
heard the whirring throaty Shrek
of an automobile horn. 1t was one OF
your cars-I would have known that
sound in hell!
Il dashed around the corner on
which the famous Cafe F'oliel D-Ar