Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 90, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 April 1918 — ACROSS THE SEAS AND BACK [ARTICLE]

ACROSS THE SEAS AND BACK

WITH DON BEAM WHO HAS JUST RETURNED FROM EUROPE. The following letter has been received by Mrs. Don Beam, from her husband, who with Don Wright is again back in America after an interesting voyage across the Atlantic and a visit i nthe war zone. En Route, April 16, 1918. It has been some time since 1 have written; I have nearly gotten out of practice, I haven’t written any letters for so long. I will start out at the beginning of our voyage and take you through. On Good Friday, March 29, at 10 a. m., we left Philadelphia without the slightest idea as to where we were going. On the 7th of April about 10 a. m., we dropped anchor in France. Our trip across was uneventful. There were two other ships' with us and believe me they don’t take any chances. If they see anything at all suspicious they cut loose with their guns. About twenty-four hours out we were met by five torpedo boats and they have sure got the subs buffaloed. If they see one they go right for it and ram it. They can acquire a speed of about 35 knots an hour, which is about forty miles. We, however, were not bothered either going over or coming back. I was pretty busy all the way over as the crew was rehearsing a minstrel show and I was detailed for the orchestra. We put the show on in France and it made a hit.

We were considerably worked up when we got across because someone spread the word that there would not be any liberty; but everything came out alright after all. We coaled ship Monday, Tuesday we had clean pp and Wednesday they gave us liberty from 9 a. m. to 6:30 p. m., and I certainly had an enjoyable day. We had th? pleasure of running across Maurice —you perhaps have heard me speak of him. His band left Great Lakes about two weeks ahead of us. They have been in France about three weeks and have become pretty well acquainted. He took us through an old, old castle which was built in the time of Caesar. it sure was interesting to see the various methods they employed to torture their prisoners. The thing that •innpressed me most was a sort of a weil about 100 feet deep and at the bottom were swords and spears stuck up in such manner that when they threw a prisoner in he was cut all to pieces. It was located so that the tide would come in and wash the remains of his body out to sea. The dungeons were just as you read' about —cold, dark as pitch and you never, never could get out of one of them. Maurice can speak French wery iluently and we had a French guide who explained everything to us as we went along. It sure was an interesting sight. I will tell you more about it when 1 get to see you.

I wasn't very favorably impressed with France, as it rains too much. If the people in the U. S. could see all the soldiers and widows and orphans that I saw they would realize that there is a war going on. I stood on the corner and watched about 100. soldiers who were On leave going back •to the trenches. They went along just like they were going to work, gun strapped on their shoulder and their lunch and a bottle of wine in their knapsack. All you see is men in uniform. There are no •‘slackers’’ in France. All-men that are physically fit are in uniform. We also had the pleasure of seeing about 1000 German prisoners. They go around with their head? up just like they owned the whole world. They are sure well built men, or at least what I saw are. They, keep them out on working parties all the time. There are about 1000 in prison where we were. The stores are awfully peculiar. There are no large ones at all and you don’t see any signs of our up-to-the.->mlnute stores. 1 can’t begin to describe them and if I could I wouldn’t have anything to tell you about when I get home. I am writing this letter on the installment plan and I find it rather difficult as I forget what I have already written and what I want to write.

. I<want to give you a little idea of our life aboard ship. As far as work is concerned we don’t have any to speak of. Two concerts daily and maybe an hour rehearsal, the rest of the time we sit around and curse the kaiser. At 6:30 every night the lights go out and are n'bt turned on until daylight. The last three days on the way over we were Compelled to wear a life preserver day and night and sleep in our clothes. This applied also on the return trip. They do all they can to make life just as pleasant as they can. We have motion pictures about every other evening. Our grub is fair, but taking into consideration the fact that we are at sea a good share of the time, it is pretty good. I crave sweet stuff all the time. lam glad I saved my “Hershey’s” until we were out in the middle of the ocean. I could have sold them at a premium, but I wouldn’t do it.I can hardly wait until we get in so I will get some mail. It seems like I have been gone for