Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 July 1916 — INDIANA TROOPS AT MERCEDES [ARTICLE]

INDIANA TROOPS AT MERCEDES

W. H. Blodgett of Indianapolis News Tells of Ideal Camp on Border. W. H. Blodgett, special correspondent of the Indianapolis News, who accompanied the Indiana boys to the Mexican border, has written an interesting story to his paper concerning the camp life of the soldiers of the 162 d regiment, of which Co. Mis a part. Mr. Blodgett says: “The camp of the Indiana troops is at Llano Grande, about three 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 has 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 Fort 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 Llano Grande lake, the prettiest body of water in southwestern Texas, is within a mile of the camp. This lake is nine 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 few 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 ot 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 going op, 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 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. “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 four and a half miles from Progreso, a village that the Mexicans looted a short time ago. The troops are surrounded on every side by Mexicans. In tlhi 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 1 7 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 away. .“The outlaws never invaded Mercedes, though they passed over a road on the edge of town. Of course, there is no certainty that 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 the city five Texas rangers, and if there Is anything that will start a Mexican going it is a Texas ranger.

“It has not rained here since last January until 10 days ago and it hatbeen raining ever since, not an ordinary sprinkle. The water com*s down as if the Gulf of Mexico had been turned upside down and the water poured over the camp of the Indiana soldiers. The heavy drops pelted battery and the staff officers as the horse artillerymen unloaded their equipment, but the thunder, the lightning and the deluge did not deter the boys in the least. They showed that they knew how to meet one of the disadvantages of a soldiers’ life. There is not a case of serious illness among the Indiana troops.”