Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 165, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1916 — INDIANA TROOPS IN CAMP AT MERCEDES [ARTICLE]

INDIANA TROOPS IN CAMP AT MERCEDES

Soldiers Find Site at Llano Grande Ideal for Outdoor Life—Within • Mile of Lake.

W. H. Blodgett in Indianapolis News. Mercedes, Tex., July 11.—The first Indiana troops to arrive here were the men of Battery C, of Lafayette. .The battery came with Major Tyndall, in charge of the Indiana artillery, on the headquarters train, and arrived yesterday afternoon. The Third regiment, Indiana infantry, under Col. Kuhlman, arrived here this morning and went into camp. Adjutant VanAukcn reported that the trip from Indianapolis was without event and none of the soldiers sick. The camp of the Indiana troops is at Llano Grande, about 3 miles west of this town, and if they had been permitted to select their own camping site they could not have chosen a better one. The folks back home must not imagine that the Indiana soldiers are wandering about sandy plains, filled with snakes, bushes, spikes and thorns. They are not doing anything of the kind. They are in the lower Rio Grande valley. There are 10,000 acres in the Llano Grande tract proper, of which 350 acres are used by the troops of Indiana and Nebraska. A force of men had been at work for several days clearing away the underbrush. The large trees are left standing, so there is a great deal of shade, more shade than at Ft. Harrison. A big 'building that was originally built for a hotel, but never used as such, is on the ground and has been converted into a hospital. There are also several small houses that can be utilized for living purposes if needed. The Liana Grande lake, the prettiest body of water in southwestern Texas, is within a mile of the camp. This lake is 9 miles long and affords every facility for bathing, boating and fishing. The Llano Grande tract where the Indiana soldiers are in camp is high and perfectly level. The climate is fine but the days are hot. It has registered 127. The nights are cool and pleasant. There are no mosquitoes and not many flies. Typhoid fever is almost unknown and there have been only a few isolated cases of smallpox. There was some malaria and one or two cases of typhus fever have been reported in the last year. The citizens of Mercedes contributed $4,000 to pay the expenses of the piping of water into camp and that work is now goijig on, so it will 'be two or three days before the camp has an adequate water supply. The water is conducted through pipes for about 4,000 feet and as the camp site is considerably higher than the land through which the irrigating canal from which the water is taken runs, it is necessary to pump it. So the friends back home need have no worry. The Indiana troops have a more delightful camp than they had at Ft. Harrison. To be sure, the camp is situated in the bandit district. It is six miles from the Rio Grande which is~ the boundary line between the United States and Mexico. It is 4% miles from Progreso, a village that the Mexican outlaws looted a short time ago. The troops are surrounded on all sides by Mexicans. In the brush two miles from the camp are the whitened bones of eight bad Mexicans and four miles farther on are the bones of nine more. No one knows who killed these seventeen Mexicans. All that is known is that they were shot, piled up and left, without burial. These were outlaws and abettors of outlaws from Mexico and the death of them frightened all the bad Mexicans. Tie outlaws never invaded Mercedes, though they passed over a road on the edge of town. Of course, there is no certainty that there will not be another raid, but the camp and this town are prepared should one come. Besides the Indiana and Nebraska troops three miles away there are two> troops of cavalry and a company of infantry in Mercedes and there are in this city five Texas rangers, and if there is anything that will start a Mexican going, it is a Texas ranger. When the headquarters train left San Antonio the railroad officials warned Major Tyndal that the Mexicans might try to capture the cannon. Under orders of Major Tyndall, Capt. Brockenbraugh placed an armed guard on the flat cars but no attempt was made to interfere with them. Major Tyndall posted a guard armed with ball cartridges about the camp with instructions not to take any chances with prowlers. It had not rained here since last January until ten days ago and it has been raining ever since. The water came down as if the Gulf of Mexico had been turned upside down and the I water poured over the camp. The .*e is not a case of serious illness among the Indiana troops.