Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 176, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 July 1916 — GETTING ALONG FINE DOWN ON THE BORDER [ARTICLE]

GETTING ALONG FINE DOWN ON THE BORDER

Interesting Letter From Maj. Healey —'Little Sickness But Plenty of Work. Llano Grande, Tex., July 19, 1916. The Republican: A broken typewriter is my excuse for having permitted a whole week to elapse without waiting a letter for publication. Fortunately, Sergeant James Spate, of Newland, a member of Company M, is an expert at remodeling Oliver machines and having a kit of tool® with him he was able to restore my . machine to good condition after laboring for about six hours. The machine had been packed iii the baggage car with a vast amount of other things and while stored with some care at the start, apparently everything in’ the car was turned topsy turvy by some of the rough bumps received on the trip here. There are a number of typewriters in camp and they come in very handy, even being loaned about half the time.

Kensselaer boys seem to be ’getting alcng very well, although suffering some from the heat and some from home-sickness, which is one of the disagreeable experiences every soldier has to go through with. There have been occasional other troubles but none have proven serious or lasting. Floyd Elder was ill Tuesday and was sent .over to the field hospital but made immediate recovery and came back to the company today. Corporal Jimmie Eldridge,' Who was slightly ill while on the train enroute here, was also complaining some after his arrival but is again back on full feed and ready for any sort of service. General Parker, of Brownsville, who made an official visit here a day or two ago, is quoted to have said that •he wanted a baseball team organized in each regiment, and it is presumed that this information reached Joe and Jimmie and caused their speedy recovery. There was. difficulty for several days in getting ice but the officers of the Rensselaer, Monticello, Plymouth and Valparaiso companies solved this question by hiring a Mexican wagon to haul the ice out from Mercedes and now cool water, iced coffee and lemonade are possible, and this has done much to cheer up every person, for it is hard to reconcile oneself to warm water. The supply of water is secured from the irrigation canals, which get their supply from the Rio Grande river, which is said to be continually muddy". The analysis made by medical officers, however, and also by chemists, declare it to be free from disease organisms and the town of Mercedes gets its waiter supply from the same source and the community is said to be particularly healthful. Northerners, especially from Illinois, whom I have met, say they have had no sickness since coming here. Typhoid, which is always feared, is virtua’ly impossible owing to the fact that the anti-typhoid prophylaxis was administered to every soldier, constituting immunity for a period of two or three years. Malaria, which is common in some tropical countries, is unknown here. It is transmitted by the mosquito. There are ordinarily very few of these pests, but since the rains of last week there have been a great many, but cots and mosquito'netting will be issued to every soldier. There has been some delay in getting everything needed, a further proof of our unpreparedmess, and many Indiana soldiers are Still without adequate, tentage but tents are to be supplied within a few days. There has been no rain since last Friday and in that time our muddy camp ground has been transformed into a well drained and cleanly city of tents. The soldiers are not without love of the beautiful and it was only a day after the rain stopped that landscape gardeners, volunteers from among the soldiers, began setting the grounds, about the camp with large Mexican palms.,sage trees in beautiful purple blossom and other plaints. Officers of my battalion from the cities above named were the first to adopt semipermanent homes. This was done by building floors and frames the size of the tents. The tents were then screened in with wire screen, the front poles dispensed with and screen doors enstalled. Flies, mosquitoes, scorpions, tarantulas, rattlers and the million and one other flying and creeping things that are said to be so frequent in this section are kept out. None should become alarmed, however, about the various varmints as they exist largely in fancy. An old mussel hunter on the Mercedes lake, where our boys go to swim, states that he has been there four years and never saw a rattler, while others have informed me they never heard of a person being bitten by one. Two or three were killed in the making of the camp

and I see by The Republican that one was killed near my tent. I think the distance, 'however, must have been a quarter of a mile away as the only knowledge I had of it was the shouting of the Mexicans, who 'held a sort of pow wow whenever a rattler is killed. Likewise a story in .the Indianapolis New r s related the killing of an armodilla near my tent. This harmless animal was killed about a square away. John Robinson has become a sort of zoological expert since his arrival here and has captured two or three tarantulas, one scorpion, several lizzards and a baby jack rabbit. There was talk of making up a collection of these animals and sending home a window display but it has not materialized. I undertook to profcum a number of botanical specimens with the same intention but I found much difficulty in finding any person who could tell me what the correct names were. Finally when I did find one who could tell me, the specimens had so withered as .to be unfit for sending. In the collection was the mesquite bean, Mexican persimmons, Mexican olives, cats’ claw, sceca, prickly pear, white brush chapparall and wesatch. There are many other kinds and I see new ones every day.

Our daily drills have not been sufficient to endanger the health of any one, lasting only from 7:30 in the morning until 10 o’clock and from 6:30 to 7:30 in the evening, with a school from 4 to 5 each afternoon. There are other duties, to be sure, including road making, water pipe burying and details of various sorts. Also each company catches a tour of interior guard duty every twelve days and a tour of brigade guard about once eaxjh month. Officers of the regular army are being assigned as instructors and other regular army officers are visiting the camp with a view to seeing that we are equipped with everything necessary for field service. Tentage, transport wagons, mules for hauling and mounts for officers are yet to arrive. I am mighty glad I brought a Jasper county horse with me, for it has been a daily pleasure. Since I began this letter almost a day has elapsed, during which time there have been two drills, two conferences, one school for the study of the Mexican language, and many other things to keep me busy, including the making out of requisitions for needed equipment. Last night John Monridh, a member of Company M, was Stung on the head by a centipede. He issued a war whoop that made some think the camp was being attacked. A little iodine was painted over the siting by the regimental doctors and no bad results are expected. Several have been stung but the injury proves no worse than a Sting from a yellow jacket, except as a matter of fright. Colonel Paul, of the sth Nebraska, was stung and was quite ill for several hours. Two deaths have occurred so far. One Nebraska soldier was drowned .wiuie-'swimming in the lake. His body was not recovered for about 40 hours. There were about fifty swimming near him when he was siezed with cramp© but all efforts to save him failed. The other death was also at the lake and the victim was a member of the Fort Wayne company. It is believed he died of heart failure. Our company has been bathing two or three times. The lake is an old river channel and is quite narrow, and many of the men swim over and ■back without stopping, but most of us hover near the bank Where the water is over one’s head only a few feet out. 0 Another night has elapsed since this letter started, but there should be enough of It for this time any way. A new schedule formulated by the commanding general has gone into effect. It makes every person hump from 5:30 a. m. to taps at 10 at night. I shall drop a line when I can. maj. geo. h. Healey.