The Westford Wardsman, September 15, 1917
Center. The local branch of the Red Cross met in its old quarters at library hall on Wednesday afternoon with a good attendance. Work sent to headquarters in Lowell from August 1 to September 1, consisted of 29 pairs wristers, 34 pairs of stockings, 37 caps, 14 sweaters, 108 T bandages, 34 abdominal bandages, 108 triangular bandages, 24 handkerchiefs, 23 suits pajamas, 8 hospital shirts, 1920 surgical dressings. The secretary has recently received a check for forty dollars given by the young ladies of Forge Village, who recently conducted a dance at the town hall, and had that amount after expenses were paid. The young ladies showed a good spirit in presenting this sum, which was accompanied by the following letter: To the Red Cross of Westford—We, the undersigned of the Forge Village Jolly club, respectfully present to the Red Cross of Westford forty dollars, the proceeds of a dance given for that purpose, Friday evening September 7, 1917. Margaret Dare, Annie Orr [b. 1898], Beatrice Cushing, Nellie Donovan, Nellie Cavanaugh, Margaret Orr, Addie Cushing, Veronica Smith, Myrtle Healey, Yvonne Cushing, Mildred Parrott [b. 1901], Edith Spinner.
Regular services were held at the Congregational church last Sunday with good attendance. The men’s class of the Sunday school resumed work after the vacation. On Sunday morning the subject will be “What churches are doing for soldiers.” At the morning service the collection will be for the Congregational Educational society.
The Westford Oaklands were defeated in their game last Saturday afternoon at Whitney playground with the Dalton A.C. of Lowell by the score of 10 to 5. On Thursday evening of this week the Oaklands conducted a social dance at the town hall. Music was furnished by the Colonial orchestra of Lowell. Refreshments were served at intermission.
The Ladies’ Aid society held an all-day sewing and business meeting with Mrs. Lincoln at the hospitable parsonage on Thursday. Hot coffee and good things from the chafing dish supplemented the basket lunch at noon. Plans and arrangements for the annual church fair, which is scheduled for September 26, were completed.
Fred B. Meyer and John Feeney, Jr., were not accepted by the examining board in Ayer on Monday. Edward Clement, William Flagg and George Heroux were accepted and will report at Camp Devens in the near future.
The frost of Tuesday night damaged corn, beans, squashes and other tender plants on Westford hill and in the lower lands was more disastrous. With two or three weeks more of growing weather and especially this season early frosts are much to be regretted.
Mr. and Mrs. L. W. Wheeler entertained a group of relatives from Newport, R.I. over the weekend.
Dr. W. H. Sherman completed his series of valuable first aid lectures at the town hall last week Friday. These lectures have been of much value and a good sized class have availed themselves of them.
The home guard held their weekly drill on Tuesday evening at the town hall, about sixty being in attendance. The new uniforms had arrived and getting them given out and fitted occupied much of the time of the evening.
About Town. Thirty-six carloads of horses and eight carloads of soldiers in two separate trains passed over the Stony Brook road last Saturday forenoon for Camp Devens, Ayer.
The meeting of the Grange on last week Thursday evening was unusually well attended, besides open meeting at the lecturer’s hour. For competition prizes for essays on “The history and uses of the American flag,” by high school scholars, Forge Village secured all the prizes. Miss Ethel Collins won first prize, Miss Caroline Precious second, and Miss Cornellia Precious third. Mr. Hanscomb, on behalf of the appreciative listeners, presented the cash prizes with apt and patriotic advice, and Lillian Sutherland sang appreciation. John A. Taylor gave several readings from New England authors. Aside from this “America” and “The Star Spangled Banner” were glorified in song. Fourteen applications were received for membership.
With 60,000 visitors at Camp Devens last Sunday it is evident that they either didn’t hear soap box oratory on that subject at the recent Sandy pond school reunion or else they are not in a stock taking mood in what he did say. However, your correspondent in a chat with the above soap box fellow said he had nothing to retract.
The first frost of the season Monday evening iced the water over sufficiently to be safe for drowning for the early skaters.
The Antis with their two to one victory in Maine ought to feel proud of the two extremes that helped out the cause of bondage. Part of the best elements of society and all of the underground speak-easy performers locked arms, the one to prevent woman from becoming demoralized and the underground squad for fear that an enlarged suffrage might vote them on to the surface. Virtue didn’t want it for fear it might be an injury to virtue and vice didn’t want it for fear it might be an injury to vice. Defeat under such combinations is more wholesome than victory by way of Satan, Sin & Co.
Lowell reports great damage by frost to the kitchen garden farmer and to the farmer without a kitchen. Corn and potatoes were late planted by way of unusually cold spring and about all hands got sent down with losses by the frost. A spring frost only temporarily retards; an autumn frost is always fatal, and while we know all this we continue to cater to the fatal risk. The Old Oaken Bucket farm got clear with the exception of 1 ½ green tomatoes; total loss 1 ½ cents.
The W.C.T.U. held their monthly meeting last week Wednesday at the home of the president, Mrs. Janet Wright, it being the annual meeting. The following officers were elected: Mrs. Janet Wright, pres.; Mrs. S. L. Taylor, Miss Louisa Crosby, Mrs. Fred Roberts, vice pres.; Mrs. Daisy Colburn, sec.; Miss Louisa Crosby, treas. Mrs. Arthur E. Day was elected a committee on work connected with the soldiers and sailors. The W.C.T.U. will have management of a sixteen-room house in Ayer, bought by the state, the same sort of mother’s home for the soldier boys.
Mr. and Mrs. Elias Smith, of Salt Lake City, are visiting at the Old Oaken Bucket farm. Mr. Smith holds a prominent position in the Desert Bank, Salt Lake City. They will attend the National Bankers’ meeting at Atlantic City, N.J.
Middlesex-North Fair. Middlesex County Farm Bureau will make an exhibit at the Middlesex-North fair next Thursday, Friday and Saturday. All entries close at noon on Thursday. There will be no admission charge. There will be [a] parade Thursday, forming at the North Common at ten and marching through the principal streets to [the] exhibition building on Thorndike street; Hon. Edward Fisher, of Westford, marshal. There will be a boys’ and girls’ garden exhibit with special premiums, and some for the Middlesex Training school at North Chelmsford or any other charitable institution in the county. This fair is intended as a social and industrial educator for better and more farming, and all live folks and societies will set their face fairward. The state fish and game commission will exhibit cages of game birds and cages of fish moistened with water.
The State Board of Agriculture will be there in [a] tent, attitude with lectures with fifty running feet of booth, where 1500 pounds of honey bee hives [will be] in actual operation. This will be enlarged by an exhibit by Miss Dorothy Wright, of Chelmsford. She will be remembered as giving a helpful talk on bees last winter in the vestry of the Unitarian church. In addition the Middlesex County Farm Bureau will be in the large state tent and give the latest ideas on planting and growing. The Lowell Gas Light Company will equip a model modern kitchen where the committee on public safety will conduct a series of experiments in cooking, canning and preserving.
The American Red Cross will conduct a working Red Cross station. The Massachusetts Homestead Commission will exhibit plans of what it intends to do in developing the ideal workingman’s home in Lowell. There is a lot more that might be mentioned, such as poultry, flowers, fruit, music, invited guests and speaking by the home guard safety reserve.
Graniteville. Rev. Alonzo S. Fite had the privilege of entertaining his college mate, Rev. H. H. Lippincott, Monday. Local Methodists will recall that Mr. Lippincott, who is pastor of the West Chelmsford church, exchanged pulpits in the early part of the summer.
Both masses in St. Catherine’s church last Sunday morning were celebrated by Rev. Henry L. Scott, who announced that the Sunday school will re-open on Sunday after the first mass. It is expected that the same staff of teachers will be in charge.
Mrs. James Mullin, of New York, with her two children, William and Ruby, have been visiting relatives here.
Two nurses from Ayer, who are connected with the State Board of health, have been making a sanitary survey in this village this week.
Miss Nellie Healy has recently accepted a position as stenographer and bookkeeper at the Ayer exchange.
Henry Healy, the oldest son of Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Healy, has again resumed his studies at Clark college in Worcester.
William Wyman, a former resident, who has been working in Worcester for the past few years, has recently accepted a position with the C. G. Sargent’s Sons’ Corporation here.
Laura and Ruby McCarthy are attending the Lowell Commercial college.
The early frost certainly raised havoc with the gardens in this vicinity.
M.E. church. The Methodist church opened its fall and winter work last Sunday. The pastor, Rev. Alonzo S. Fite, preached in the morning on “God’s yearning love.” Percy Kilminster, a local preacher of the Graniteville parish, who is a student at Wilbraham academy, and pastor of the christian church in Grafton, N.H., assisted at the morning service. In the evening the pastor preached on “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” Good attendance marked the fall session of the church school. Sunday inaugurates a plan in the school to give at Christmas time an appropriate acknowledgement of perfect attendance. Miss Lottie York, superintendent of the Junior league, was greeted by a score of the children at the league meeting and they appeared eager for the work that is ahead. George Wilson, president of the Epworth league, prepared an especially edifying program and gave an inspiring talk. On Sunday a special collection will be called for to assist in surrounding the cantonment camps all over the country, including Ayer, with a religious atmosphere that will help to make it easier for all involved to live better and more difficult to do wrong. If any find it impossible to attend on Sunday please send your gifts to the parsonage. Miss Mattie Blanchard was the soloist last Sunday.
Forge Village. Rev. Williston M. Ford preached his farewell sermon at St. Andrew’s mission last Sunday afternoon at 3:30. Rev. and Mrs. Ford have made many warm friends during their stay, who wish them success in their new field of labor. Mr. Ford came to St. Andrew’s parish, which includes Ayer and Forge Village, four years ago, from Christ’s Episcopal church in Fitchburg. He goes to take charge of a parish in Montrose, Col.
The Misses Mary Murphy and Elizabeth Elliss of the State Health Department of Boston, have been taking the census through the town the past week. Miss Murphy, who is a trained nurse, spoke highly of the condition in which she found the property of the Abbot Worsted Company, which comprises nearly all of the village. There were but two cases to be reported one was for crowding sleeping apartments and one case of neglect, where a district nurse would be of great benefit. Some of the foreign-born residents, who could not speak the English language, refused to give their names, thinking it was to obtain their sons for the war. The census is being taken for the State Board of Health on account of the nearness of the Ayer camp. Every possible means is taken to safeguard the soldiers from contagious diseases.
Percy Kilminster, of Providence, R.I., is spending his vacation at the home of his sister, Mrs. Fred Naylor, of Pine street.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Larkin and two children, of Barre, returned home Monday after a pleasant visit as the guests of Mrs. Jane Dare and family.
Services will be held at St. Andrew’s mission on Sunday afternoon at 4:30. Rev. and Mrs. Ford are visiting among their many friends here for a few days before leaving for Montrose, Col.
The frost of Tuesday morning has killed all of the tomatoes, beans and corn in the section.
The Jolly club, composed of several young ladies of the village, held a social dance in Abbot hall last week Friday evening. After all expenses had been paid the sum of forty dollars was turned over to the local branch of the Red Cross.
Mrs. James Wisely and two children of Newark, N.J., are visiting at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Thompson and family.
Miss Alice Dumond and Edward Boisvert were married by Rev. Fr. Heaney at the parochial residence in North Chelmsford on Monday morning.
The Sinclair girls, Belgian refugees, now playing at Keith’s theatre this week, were the guests Wednesday evening after their act until Thursday of Mrs. John Shaddick, Tadmuck farm. They were friends in Antwerp for many years. The young women, who are talented musicians, recently learned of the death of their brother, Ernest Sinclair, who was fourth engineer on a boat that was torpedoed while on its way to England last February.
The Soccer club will play the Methuen club at Cameron park Saturday afternoon. This will be the first football game of the season.
Ayer
News Items. The work on the roads at the camp is steadily going on under the direction of the Barrett Company of Boston.
Another wild story which has appeared in a certain Boston newspaper that Dist. Atty. Nathan D. Tufts and Chief Beatty were investigating the charges that Ayer merchants, restaurant keepers and other persons were increasing the prices of food and lodging about the new camp, and that there was a possibility of criminal conspiracy by these persons, was nailed by Chief Betty on Thursday. He says that the story is an absolute falsehood.
The Globe hotel has been leased by Conway & Phalen, of Boston, the Devens Hotel Company, who are to make extensive alterations on the building. On the street floor there will be a large dining room, kitchen, vestibule and library. The upper part of the building will be remodeled and used for lodgers. The lessees say they are to cater to a high class of trade. Work on the renovation of the building is to commence at once. The changes will require about four weeks’ time. A first-class Chinese restaurant is to be opened on the street floor according to the present plans. Mrs. J. J. Livingston, who has conducted the hotel for several years, retires this Saturday night, the boarders being told this week that they would be obliged to seek new quarters. The new place is to be known as Hotel Devens.
A Campaign of Slander. During the past week several of the Boston papers have printed editorial articles severely reflecting upon the merchants and people of Ayer. One editorial was headed “Those poor citizens of Ayer,” and another “Prices in the Ayer.” They all complain of alleged excessive charges to camp workers, soldiers and visitors for merchandise, food and lodging and intimate that discrimination is shown in favor of the townspeople, or, in other words, that the strangers are “roasted.” And these papers include all the neighboring towns under the name of Ayer and charge us with everything unpleasant that occurs in them. It reminds one of the statement made in Ian Hay’s recent book, “The oppressed English,” that whenever anything unpleasant is done by the Allies the odium falls upon England and not upon Great Britain and France.
While it must be admitted that prices are disagreeably high here as elsewhere, they are the same for everyone, for the soldier, the workman, the visitor and the native. Most of our merchants have been in business here for many years and have established reputations for fair dealing. We are confident that even a slight investigation will convince any fair-minded person that the stories of discrimination and unreasonable profits are entirely without foundation.
Some of our visitors do not seem to realize the extraordinary situation that was produced by suddenly dumping several thousand men earning very high wages into a small town which had scarcely a vacant tenement. Room rents and house rents were bound to increase in obedience to the well-known economic law of supply and demand. Yet the vast majority of landlords have been very fair with their tenants. House rents have been raised in comparatively few instances and reasonably in those. Many of our people who have never let rooms before and who would not even think of doing so in normal times are now doing so at great inconvenience to themselves and after much urging at prices which are not at all unreasonable considering all the circumstances.
Some of our visitors apparently expected to find prices here the same as they were a year or two ago in spite of the fact that they have gone up everywhere else. Every merchant knows that he can make a larger percentage of profit with less trouble and dissatisfaction when prices are normal than when they are soaring. Every business man in town is at his wits’ end to get competent help. One of our lunch rooms is closed because the proprietor cannot get help to keep it running. An employer who pays good wages drove to the camp ground a few days ago with three of his men. They jumped off his team and left him without a minute’s notice to go to work at the camp for the fancy wages paid there. One of our prominent citizens declined an offer of $250 per month for his house, furnished, for three months, and another $200 per month. They did not want to let their homes or seek to do so.
The town is entitled to fair treatment by the Boston press. Some of their reports are grotesquely exaggerated, e.g., the dynamite plot in Thursday’s papers. We welcome a fair investigation of prices here in comparison with prices in other places similarly situated. Most of the offices and soldiers will admit that they can buy here as cheaply as elsewhere and the fact that they do buy here proves it for they can easily go elsewhere. A few who have tried to get special discounts for themselves may feel aggrieved because they were unsuccessful. The truth is that we have been getting a great deal of advice and a great many suggestions from outside philanthropists to be carried out at our own expense. We have been doing our best to take care of our new problems and are more deserving of praise than blame for what we have done.
Camp Notes. At the annual meeting of the Grand lodge, I.O.O.F., in Boston last week it was decided to have a recreational center for the benefit of the members of the order who are to be encamped at Camp Devens. An appropriation of $5000 was voted to carry on this work. It is understood that the Methodist church building has been selected for the purpose.
The outfit given each draft army man consists of a set of underwear, cotton khaki trousers, an olive drab shirt, canvas leggings, two pairs of cotton socks, one pair of army shoes, one khaki coat, a campaign hat and four army blankets.
Camp officials were much concerned during the past week of the report of a case of typhoid fever, Warren Carkin, of Westford, being the victim. Carkin returned home from the camp, where he was employed on August 31, on account of illness. The fear that the contagion might spread to others at the camp caused considerable uneasiness among the health officials there. However, such fear has passed according to those having charge of the safeguarding of the health of the camp. An outbreak of any contagious disease under present conditions with the draft army coming in might result in serious consequences.
Major Rhinelander Waldo, a former police commissioner of New York city, was one of the officers assigned to meet the new troops. With him was Major Reginald Barlow, a well-known New York actor.
The Collegiate association of Boston is looking for a site in town upon which to erect an entertainment house for the men.
The Vesper Country club of Lowell, the Alpine Golf club of Fitchburg, and the Leominster Golf club have notified the camp officers that the club grounds will be open for their use for recreational purposes.
The Western Union Telegraph Company has four regular messenger boys attached to its office at the camp. The boys find the task of handling messages pretty hard and are much on the go in finding the people to whom the messages are sent.
Jacob Kopelman, of Chelsea, a carpenter employed in the camp, was killed last Saturday afternoon by being run over by a heavy army auto truck. Kopelman had finished work and was going to his barracks to make a change of clothing preparatory to going to his home for the weekend. In the attempt to get on the moving truck he was jostled off by the swaying of the machine and fell under the wheels killing him instantly. Dr. Frank S. Buckeley, medical examiner, was summoned and viewed the body of the dead man. Later the remains were taken to Wright’s undertaking room and then to Boston, where the funeral took place. This is the first fatal accident at the camp since it started. Kopelman leaves a widow and several small children.
Albert Little figured in the automobile accident at Woods Village on Saturday, almost noon, when a car containing a party of recruits from Greenfield, and two others, crashed into his car. A full account of the accident will be found in the Shirley news of this paper.
Company B, 1st Regiment of Engineers, left last Sunday morning for Boston. They expect to leave for France next week.
Several men suspected of being I.W.W. sympathizers were ordered to leave the camp last Saturday by the officers there. They complied with the order.
News Items. As would be naturally expected, the camp has drawn characters of questionable reputation from many places. Among the gang of undesirables are professional gamblers who come here to separate the men from their hard earned cash. There is more or less stealing going on. Another class which makes its headquarters at the camp is a gang of professional pickpockets. They are especially busy just after pay day.
The secret service officers at Camp Devens, in order to conceal their identity, get jobs as laborers or on other work where they can hear and see what is going on without being known. They are dressed in ordinary working clothes.
The completion of all the work will probably take up the time until cold weather arrives. The building construction work is expected to be finished before long.
The camp where the military companies were located is now vacant and looks deserted. The reason for the absence of tents is of course due to the fact that the men now at the camp are quartered in the wooden barracks.
The 41st Telephone Battalion, numbering 1300 men and divided into two companies, D and E, is to report for duty at the Camp October 1. Col. Reber, chief signal officer at the Northeastern department, is the head of the battalion.
The government, through the quartermaster at Camp Devens, has advertised for bids for supplying the following articles for the camp: 3,000,000 pounds of potatoes, 200,000 pounds of fresh onions, 65,000 pounds of lard and the same amount of substitute lard, 60,000 pounds of butter, 50,000 pounds of oleomargarine, 45,000 pounds of compressed yeast and 4,000,000 pounds of ice. Sealed proposals for furnishing this supply will be received until eleven o’clock in the morning of September 26.
Gov. Henry W. Keyes, of New Hampshire, was in town Wednesday and made a visit to Camp Devens, where he was given a rousing welcome by the New Hampshire recruits. He was accompanied by his brothers, Charles W. and George T. Keyes.
Judge John M. Maloney has been appointed United States Commissioner whose duties are to hear cases for the federal government at Camp Devens, the sessions to be held as now in the district court room. He has not yet qualified for the position.
Draft Recruits. Never has the town of Ayer witnessed more stirring sights than the ones presented during the past week when the first contingent of the great draft army coming from their homes in all parts of New England and northern New York arrived to take its place as a part of the 76th division of the national army. From early in the week when more recruits arrived until the end of the week the embryo soldiers came. Every train coming into the railroad station was met by officers from Camp Devens. After the necessary formalities were over, such as the inspection of the identification badges that each man wore to indicate the state he came from, and the formation of the men into squads, the nondescript army started for Camp Devens, led by a mounted cavalry man. A few were fortunate to be carried in automobile trucks.
The recruits presented a peculiar appearance. They were dressed in all sorts of costumes, about all wearing their old clothes. A number wore overall suits. Many had no collars and ties. The reason for this was that the government sent out word before they left home that it would be advisable for them to come with old clothing, that could be thrown away after they reached camp, as no other than military clothes would be required when they entered the service. The recruits were allowed to carry only a few necessary toilet articles in paper bundles so that the wrappers could be easily disposed of when camp was reached.
As every squad, big or little, arrived at the station, they were welcomed by big crowds which had a decidedly cheering effect upon them. As they formed for the march to the camp through Main street the applause and cheering continued. The reception at the camp grounds was an added pleasure to the men and many who left the depot, somewhat downcast, were wearing broad smiles when Camp Devens was reached. The recruits were met at the camp entrance by Maj. Gen Hodges and staff.
Six barracks are marked with the name of a New England state, and the seventh bears the name “New York.” The men from each state are assigned to the barracks bearing the name of the state. The Maine and New Hampshire recruits will be assigned to the heavy artillery; Vermont, Engineers; Rhode Island, Machine Gun battalion; Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut, Infantry.
The greatest demonstration of the week came when the Boston and Rhode Island men arrived. As they left the railroad station for the camp they were given a rousing welcome from the crowds and automobiles that packed Depot square, the sound of the hundred automobiles adding to the noisy but heartfelt greeting. New recruits have been arriving daily.
To the Maine men belongs the honor of being the first to arrive. They reached here last week Wednesday morning on the Bar Harbor express at three o’clock. Abraham O’Clair and Philip Mason have the distinction of being the first sent from the town of Ayer for the new army.
The next movement of recruits will be on September 19, when it is expected a much larger percentage will come than on the past week’s quota.
The officers at the camp speak highly of the appearance of the recruits and feel confident that they will make good soldiers. In addition to the draft recruits there are many regular army men and officers arriving. Last Saturday afternoon a squad of clean cut cavalrymen arrived at Camp Devens coming from Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Other squads came from Texas, Pennsylvania and from Fort Ethan Allen, N.Y.
Besides draft recruits from New England at Camp Devens there are many New York troops. A large number came in on a western express last Sunday night and marched to the camp, headed by an officer on foot carrying a lantern. The sight was a most unique one.
News Items. It is reported on the best of authority that General Hodges, commander at Camp Devens, will soon occupy the old Pierce place on the Westford road. The report cannot be confirmed at this writing.
Plans are being made for a visit of the Japanese mission to Camp Devens sometime during the coming week. The mission has been touring the country for several weeks past and will come to Boston next week. The trip will be made to Ayer from that city if the present plans are carried out.
The next contingent of draft recruits amounting to forty percent of the draft quota is to come next Wednesday and Thursday.
Monday and Tuesday nights were the coolest of the season. The temperature dropped as low as 20°. The severe frost did considerable damage to some of the unmatured crops. The soldiers at Camp Devens felt the cold in their new wooden barracks which are unheated as yet. The officers also suffered from the cold, which was unusually severe for September. Old weather prophets in town say that such low temperatures have prevailed before, although the cases are very rare for this month.
New Quota of Recruits. The following is a list of those who have been notified to hold themselves in readiness for twenty-four hours’ notice to report at Camp Devens in the next quota from this district, the names being given of those in the surrounding towns in which this paper is circulated: …
Westford—Leon F. Hildreth, John Hobson, John A. Anderson, Herbert Smith, Gustaf Elisson, John Szilwan, Clarence Hildreth, Frank C. Johnson, Frank E. Charlton, Joseph Perkins, Jr. …
The following are substitutes, who have also been told to hold themselves in readiness to make up for any deficiency in the quota: … Robert J. Orr, Westford.
It is expected that these men will be ordered to report on September 19, although no official notification has been received by the local board to that effect.
Gov. McCall Visits Camp. Gov. Samuel W. McCall visited Camp Devens on Tuesday afternoon and received a rousing welcome from the draft troops, regular army men and officers numbering nearly 5000 men. It was his first visit to the camp. The entire body of men and officers were drawn up to receive the state’s chief magistrate.
The Governor first called at the government headquarters where he met General Hodges, the commander of the camp. After the usual formalities he was escorted to the new parade ground in the main part of the camp. The men were drawn up in a hollow square leaving a small place for the governor’s party to pass into the center of the square, where he delivered a forcible and timely address. He was briefly introduced by General Hodgkins [sic].
With the governor were his daughter and Mrs. Charles A. Stevens. Others in his party were officers from the state guard, who substituted for the governor’s staff, all of whom are now in the federal service, and a secret service officer who occupied the front seat of the automobile with the governor. Following his address he was introduced to all the regimental and brigade commanders. He expressed himself as highly pleased by the appearance of the officers and the soldiers.
There was a rumor about the camp during the day that President Wilson would visit the camp. The president spent a few days this week visiting Gloucester, Salem and other points along the North Shore. The visit of the president was not made, however.
District Court. Two drunks paid fines of five dollars each last week Friday morning. A third, an Italian camp laborer, appeared with a big bandage on his head, which covered a bad wound inflicted by the military guard. The man’s story, told in broken English, was in substance that he went to the contractor’s office for the three weeks’ pay due him. There are three windows in the office, the clerk at each telling him to go to the other window. Finally the man became enraged and threatened to do harm to the office clerks. A guard was called who arrested the man. In the mixup that followed the guard struck his prisoner on the head with his night stick. The prisoner was found guilty of drunkenness and his case was filed on the payment of the expenses of the case, amounting to two dollars.
Two Camp Devens workmen, Benjamin Brodsky and Ralph Timmerman, got into a scrap in one of the camp buildings over a game of poker, which lasted from 7:30 last week Friday night to six o’clock the next morning. Each claimed the other was the winner in the game. Hostilities began when Brodski [sic] failed to get change for a twenty-dollar bill which he claimed his chum kept. Timmerman claimed that the story could not be true as the Jew won all his money and therefore he was unable to change the bill. A military guard broke up the disturbance and had both taken to court on a charge of gambling. Both were found guilty of that complaint and fined ten dollars each. Five camp drunks were fined five dollars each.
Monday morning the court listened to the details of a Polish row in Westford. Steve Minka and George Posnik were charged with assault and battery on Steve Shello. In the mixup Shello was stabbed on the head with a large knife evidently wielded by Minka, making a bad wound which was treated by Dr. Sherman. The doctor testified that the wound was caused by a sharp instrument, the cut being consistent with a wound caused by a knife. Shello was also struck by a flying flat iron, the missile striking him on the foot, cutting it. Judge Atwood found both defendants guilty. Minka, who it was alleged used the knife in the scrap, was sentenced to six months in the house of correction at East Cambridge. Posnik was fined fifteen dollars. The court imposed the stiff prison sentence to discourage the practice of using knives in rows among this class of people. Frank J. Maloney was counsel for the government.
Five steam-fitters at Camp Devens were found guilty of drunkenness and paid fines of five dollars each.
Associate Justice John J. Plokman, of the Lowell police court, in his decision given Wednesday on the inquest into the death of Henry O. Keyes, of Westford, who was injured by a car of the Lowell and Fitchburg street railway on February 13, finds that Keyes’ death was not caused by the criminal negligence of the company or of its officers, agents or servants. At the time of the accident Keyes was driving on the tracks of the company two horses attached to a wooden sled.
The case of Patrick McCabe, of Westford, who was charged with assault and battery on Peter Kelley in that town on September 1, was settled without going to trial Thursday morning. John M. Maloney, who appeared for Kelley, informed Judge Atwood that he and the defendant’s counsel, Joseph Donahue, of Lowell, after consulting with their clients, had agreed to the case being placed on file on the payment to the plaintiff an amount sufficient to cover his doctor’s bills and for legal services, provided that the court would agree to it. The court was convinced that such action on its part would meet the ends of justice and ordered such a disposition of the case. The extremely lenient attitude of Kelley toward his assailant was a revelation to counsel and the court. Such leniency has never been heard of in the local court or perhaps any other under like circumstances, the plaintiff not even asking anything for the time he was laid up on account of the assault. According to Kelley, unpleasant relations had existed between the men for some time past, both being employed on the Abbot estate in Westford. On September 1 Kelley says that McCabe approached him and struck him with a wrench on the nose, knocking him down. The blow broke the complainant’s nose. When Kelley was lying on the ground McCabe jumped on his body breaking two ribs. The assault was unprovoked.
Two steam fitters at Camp Devens were fined five dollars each for drunkenness. A third man paid the usual fine.
Joseph Trayner of Boston was arraigned this Friday morning on a complaint for assault and battery and robbery. The court declined jurisdiction. Probable cause to believe him guilty was found and Trayner was held for the November term of the superior court at Cambridge in $500 bail. The assault, which was a most brutal one, occurred near the main entrance to Camp Devens at midnight Tuesday. The victim was Thomas McGrath, a steam fitter at the camp, who had just returned from Lowell. McGrath stated to Judge Atwood that six men attacked him on the highway of which the prisoner was one. They also took fourteen or fifteen dollars from him. McGrath was severely bruised on the head and body. Three of the gang were arrested by the military guard and taken to the camp police station. All three escaped during the night. Trayner was recaptured Wednesday night. The other two are still at large. A large number of witnesses, including military men, were at the trial.
Many Visitors at Camp. Last Sunday was visitors’ day at Camp Devens when many thousands of the new draft recruits’ relatives and friends came to visit them and incidentally to look over the vast cantonment area of 100 square miles. The crowds were by far the greatest since the cantonment was started and easily the largest number assembled at a given time in this vicinity. Estimates of the numbers of visitors vary from 60,000 to 75,000. A military officer stated that he kept account of the number of automobiles coming into the camp between visiting hours, from eight in the morning until five in the afternoon, giving the number of machines as 12,000 in that time.
The town of Ayer never saw such a sight. Every conceivable means of transportation were used in getting to the camp by the friends and relatives who came to see the recruits in their new quarters for the first time since they entered Uncle Sam’s service. From the entrance to the camp to the town hall, a distance of over a mile, there were practically solid lines of automobiles coming and going all day. One who tried to keep account of the number of automobiles passing near the entrance to the camp for an hour gave up his task after he had counted 2500 machines in much less than sixty minutes. It was the first time in weeks that the cantonment was open to automobiles and the public generally, the usual procedure of procuring passes being entirely suspended for the day.
The great crowds drove about the camp looking up their relatives and friends in the barracks to which the new recruits have been assigned, and later all made a general tour of New England’s greatest training ground. The area of the cantonment is so large that the immense throng was “lost” in it. Judging from appearances in the camp area one would think that the number of visitors was nearer 1000 than 75,000. Besides the recruits at the camp there are nearly 2000 officers and hundreds of regulars who are to train the rookies for service in the great national army.
There are few if any army chaplains on the ground as yet. The spiritual needs of the men are looked after by protestant and catholic clergymen, the former services being held in the Y.M.C.A. “huts” and the catholic service in the quarters of the departed 6th regiment while it was stationed here. Mass was said last Sunday morning by Rev. Thomas P. McGinn, pastor of St. Mary’s church, Ayer, at 6:15. An earlier mass was said at the main camp as usual for the camp workmen at 5:30. Rev. T. P. McGinn was assisted by Lieut. Richard Kennar of the class of 1917, Harvard college, a reserve officer. Lieut. Kennar, it may be said, came here from England to attend the famous Cambridge university. When the war came he took out his first naturalization papers and later went to the Plattsburg training camp.
The Coast Artillery companies from Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island are assigned to guard the cantonment. With the close of visiting day comes a long period of hard work for the new recruits who have now become somewhat accustomed to their new environments.
Beginning Monday morning an army discipline in all its forms was put in practice. The work will include forty hours or more of drill during each week. There is a marked difference in the “rookies” since they first came to camp. The military spirit has seized them and they appear to be anxious to begin their routine work incident to camp life. This spirit is particularly encouraging to the officers who are to direct the training of the men.
With Camp Devens being the first to be ready of all other camps in the country for the coming of the draft army, it is expected that the men assigned there will be in the lead of all others in efficiency in Uncle Sam’s domain.
Shirley
Center. Private Warren Proctor, from Camp Devens, who is ill with rheumatic fever, is staying at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Howard M. Longley.
Pepperell
News Items. Several autos from town, well filled, went to Ayer Sunday, on visitor’s day at Camp Devens, and swelled the throng of 50,000 reported to have been at Ayer during the day.
Gov. Keyes from Concord, N.H., was in town Wednesday and with his brothers, George T. and Charles W. Keyes, made an unofficial call at Camp Devens.
Boxborough
News Items. Every family who has a member with the sawmill unit in Scotland received a call from a gentleman last week who has lately returned from there and in the company of Arthur Blanchard brought cheerful reports of conditions there. He states they are very comfortably located, served good food, find time for recreation and are among fine people.