USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > New Brunswick > New Brunswick, New Jersey, in the world war, 1917-1918 > Part 6
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TWENTY-TWO OFF FOR CAMP GREENLEAF, GEORGIA
More of them going away-to become soldiers in the name of world democracy.
Twenty-two embryo soldiers swung down Living- ston avenue and over George street to the depot in the misty sunshine of 9 o'clock on the morning of March 6, 1918. Though lacking the military preci- sion they attained in a few months, they marched with unfaltering step. The greatest tribute that can be paid to them is that they were physically, mentally and morally fit for warfare, just as well as those who preceded them to camp.
As Knoll's Band played "Over There" and "Keep the Home Fires Burning," they boarded a special train at the Pennsylvania depot at 9:30 which took them to Camp Greenleaf, Georgia.
It was touched with melodrama, this going away of the selective men of New Brunswick. Emotions gripped the several thousand which bid the twenty- two goodbye and good luck. Cheers and tears mingled. Invariably it was those left behind who shed the tears. The departing ones themselves were cheerful, despite the sadness of a farewell demon- stration, which most of them would like to avoid.
TWENTY-SIX FOR CAMP DIX, TWENTY OF THEM COLORED MEN
With the band playing and hundreds of men, women and children bidding them Godspeed, sixty-
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two Middlesex County men-forty-six from New Brunswick and the others from territory em- bracing the Second District-departed from the Pennsylvania Station on April 26, 1918 for Camp Dix. The men were in the best of spirit and ex- pressed a willingness to get into training, prepara- tory to going to France.
The men of the New Brunswick district assembled at the district headquarters at 10 o'clock. Appro- priate exercises were held, and there was the usual distribution of comfort kits, smoking material and essentials by the local chapter of the Red Cross and the Farewell and Welfare committee. Similar exer- cises were held at the Second District headquarters, with the usual distribution of comfort kits by the Red Cross chapter of the rural districts and the smoking material by the local Farewell and Welfare committee.
Twenty colored men from New Brunswick were in- cluded in the local contingent. They were in a happy mood and were cheered all along the line of march. Many of the men were accompanied by their sisters, mothers and sweethearts, and on the way to the rail- road station, they walked arm in arm with them. There were more friends of the boys in line than the selectives themselves.
Among the men who departed from this city was Robert Fitzsimmons, Jr., son of the late Robert Fitzsimmons, former heavyweight champion pugilist. Fitzsimmons registered as a resident of Dunellen.
FOR FORT SLOCUM, N. Y.
On May 13, 1918, thirteen stalwart sons of New Brunswick were added to the constantly growing forces of General Pershing. They departed at 11.25 o'clock to be inducted into the regular army at Fort Slocum, New Rochelle, N. Y. Accompanying the boys who represented several different nationalities and who go to make up this great democratic nation, were thirteen men from the Second District of Mid- dlesex county, most of whom were of foreign birth.
CAMP DIX
On May 27, 1918, New Brunswick sent out what may be termed an "All New Brunswick" delegation to Camp Dix and for that reason an unusual crowd congregated about the local Exemption Board to see the boys off. At ten the boys answered the roll call, after which they were assigned to various captain3. They were instructed as to what would be expected from them upon reaching camp and were requested to obey all orders promptly.
After the roll call the men were permitted to mingle with their friends until 10:45 o'clock, when the parade to the station was started. There was but little confusion in getting off, as all the boys showed an eagerness to reach the camp and begin their training.
It was the greatest demonstration ever given the draftees to leave this city. Many of the local boys were very popular among the opposite sex and their
many friends were surely on hand. In the parade to the station, relatives and friends marched shoulder to shoulder with them.
It was shortly before 11 o'clock, when the parade got under way at the local Exemption Board head- quarters. Headed by Andrew Rappleyea, imperson- ating Uncle Sam, the marchers proceeded down Liv- ingston avenue to New street, to Codwise avenue, to Bayard street where the boys of the Second Dis- trict were met. After a brief stop the parade con- tinued down Bayard street, to George street, and thence to the railroad station.
TO SYRACUSE, N. Y.
On July 30, 1918, thirty-one limited service drat- tees departed from the four draft boards of Middle- sex County, for Syracuse, N. Y., to begin training for non-combatant service in the various embarka- tion camps of the country. The men will be assigned the task of doing fire and police duty in these camps.
The boys were in a happy mood because they were entering the service of the government, but some of the draftees expressed the hope that they would be transferred to general military service. "We don't want to remain in this country, we want to go where there is action," one of the lads was quoted as saying at the local station before departure.
Ten boys departed from this city boarding a special at 7:47 o'clock. Because of the early hour there were but few people present to bid them farewell.
CAMP RARITAN BAND MAKES ITS FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE; THE FIFTH OF THE
ROSENBERG BOYS GOES TO WAR
The citizens of New Brunswick and surrounding municipalities paid homage to the ninety selectives who made their departure from Middlesex County on Tuesday, August 27, 1918, for Camp Mead, Md. The demonstration here was one of the most impressive held in honor of the youth of the city who stood ready to give their all in order that democracy might live.
A truly military aspect was added to the depar- ture of the boys. A company of soldiers from Camp Raritan headed by the military band of fifty-five pieces from the camp, acted as an escort.
The march to the railroad station from the local draft headquarters was started at 10:10 o'clock. The Camp Raritan soldiers were escorted by the mem- bers of the City Commission and the members of the Welfare and Farewell committee. Following the detail of soldiers, marched the members of the local draft board. The Spanish-American War veterans with their colors, also marched with the drafted men.
The draftees paraded down Livingston avenue to New to Kirkpatrick street to Bayard street where the twenty-four draftees of the Second District Board fell in line at the court house. A large crowd of relatives and friends were at this point to cheer the boys up, and when the signal was given to fall
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in, the relatives and friends moved with the draftees. The parade then continued down Bayard street to George street and thence to the railroad station.
At the railroad station, there was a rush for the platform and many succeeded in getting past the officers who were on guard. No sooner had the draftees reached the platform, than the special carry- ing many draftees from northern New Jersey, pulled into the station, and within five minutes the boys were on their way southward. The boys had hardly
time to bid their beloved relatives and friends one last farewell before they were whirled away.
Mrs. William Green, of 22 Commercial avenue, gave her fifth son to Uncle Sam with the departure of William Rosenberg. She was at the railroad station to see her son off, as she had on four other occasions.
Following the parade the Camp Raritan soldiers were the guests of the Welfare and Farewell com- mittee at a luncheon at the canteen on Bayard street.
FOOTBALL RUTGERS PRINCETON
JUIN EWON
FIELD CLERK HAROLD O'NEIL AT HIS DESK IN FRANCE. This is an exact likeness taken by our special artist on the spot.
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The Signing of the Armistice - New Brunswick Goes Wild
ROM the moment on November 7, 1918, that the unofficial news was flashed that Germany had capitulated until the early hours of the next morning, New Brunswick witnessed a spectacle which even Barnum, in all the glory of his trick vocabulary, would be at a loss to describe. To call it a mere spectacle would be a grave injustice to an event which thrilled 35,000 people to the highest pitch of enthusiasm and hysteria-simply, New Brunswick went mad. It is a safe venture to pre- dict that the glowing history of New Brunswick will never record a like experience.
It was a case of sheer hilarity, hysteria, pan- demonium, all the way down the line.
It was just five minutes to two in the afternoon when the disturbance began. Factories and churches, informed that the armistice had been signed, let loose their sirens and tolled their bells. Automobiles honked, a special feature being to back-fire every now and then. And then the crowds appeared. From every conceivable place, hatless and coatless throngs surged into the streets. Staid old gentlemen forgot their dignity for the moment and yelled like lusty youngsters. Flags of all the allied nations appeared instantaneously on all sides. The mob surged everywhere, with no definite direction in view -- simply to let loose after four years of intense strain.
For the moment everyone was dazed, and people in the street stood still until some sudden movement galvanized everyone into action.
Movement was necessary and spontaneous. No- body considered what he was doing. The staider folks found themselves on the tops of crowded taxis, blowing squeakers and holding on with an arm around the neck of a complete and, in normal times, highly undesirable stranger.
Street hawkers with supplies of flags were cry- ing huskily, "Wear yer colors, lidy, all silk." Even in their wild excitement the pretty little workgirls had not forgotten how to look picturesque, and they wore their colors bound over their heads like a nurse's veil or had a red, white, and blue fillet across their brows. Dogs ran about with decorations, a French poodle with a tricolor tied to his tail doing his best to look democratic.
Taxis carried thirty people, and the driver neither grumbled about his tires nor collected money from his cheering fares; and the great Government air- plant lorries and fire apparatus were hidden by
shouting crowds which hung on to their every pro- jection, those passengers who had any foothold stil! continuing to dance.
A motor bus passed with its load overflowing on to the cover over the driver's head and on to the hotbonnet of the motor, all cheering, singing, waving flags and dancing.
There was no organized or official rejoicing, just a spontaneous popular outburst. There were no bands but the tin-can and comb kind, no processions but the informal groups.
What did it matter that there was no music? What did anything matter ? Anyway you could not have heard the music for the singing and the cheer- ing.
What if later on the people in the cafes did take w the table-tops and from this point of vantage sing and dance and harangue the multitude ? Who had a better right? Never were so many speeches made and so few listened to. The crowd had other things to do; it could make its own speeches and did, too, whenever the spirit moved.
But although the streets were crowded, the churches were crowded too, and if the benches could speak, they would tell of men and women who rushed in with their trumpets and squeakers in their hands, dried floods of bitter tears on their crumpled flags, and then went bravely out to cheer for the sake of others.
LETTER CARRIERS FIRST TO PARADE
The Letter Carriers' Association had the honor of being the first to parade, and the ranks of this asso- ciation were swelled by the Postal Delivery wagons. Others fell in line.
The report had hardly reached the New Brunswick High School students when they met in the audi- torium of the school, and, after holding short exer- cises, were dismissed for the day. The excited school- boys and girls marched out into the street to merge with the wild throngs crowding the thoroughfares.
Auto trucks began to make their appearance. Crowded to the tailboard with frantic employes, who had hastily left their work to join in the celebration, the trucks coursed down one street into another, without purpose or direction, moved simply by their occupants' desire to let out. All this while chimes rang out from church belfries, sirens shrieked and automobile horns snorted.
An improvised parade began, sowehow, somewhere. All propelled by the same urge, moved in the same direction. The parade managed to get some sem-
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blance of order and direction, finally, on George street. Rutgers College men, attired in their S. A. T. C. uniforms, Wright-Martin employes, High School students, India Rubber Company trucks, negro organ- izations, cidinary individuals, Prep students, Boy Scouts, autos, everything and everybody, marched shoulder to shoulder, side by side. And the crowds cheered. Strangers greeted each other with perfect familiarity. "I knew it, I knew it," went from one person to the other. "Too good to be true," was another phrase that was hurled from one to another. The crowds lined the sidewalks, and, becoming too great for comfort, surged into the streets.
A MYRIAD OF FLAGS
A myriad of flags appeared. Unearthed from cellars, garrets, and every other possible hiding place, they flooded the streets. "A multitude of color," as one enthusiast described it, evidently forgetting the anomaly. The din kept on without abatement. Noise, noise and more noise. Stores shut their doors and factories joined in the jubilee.
Bands, created on the spur of the moment, let out their discordant music. Tin discs were apologies for cymbals. Cans were used for bass drums. An effigy of the Kaiser was brought to view. The crowds jeered. Grammar School children gave their catcalls and cheers. "Two, four, six, eight, how we do hate the Kaiser," was shrieked in its cadence. Women cried with joy.
The crest of the afternoon celebration was reached about three o'clock. Officials forgot their dignified positions and yelled like schoolboys.
The first wave of enthusiasm abated somewhat as the afternoon wore on. The crowds dispersed gradually, tired by the physical exertion.
Then officialdom became busy. Mayor Farrington made public announcement that a huge parade would be held from Livingston avenue at 7:30 in the even- ing.
SWARM TO PARADE SCENE
The bustle and the expectancy kept up without a stop. Horns kept trumpeting. The noise kept up without abatement.
And so the hours went by and when six o'clock had come, the crowds swarmed in the direction of Livingston avenue, the scene of the huge parade. It seemed as though late information to the effect that the armistice had not yet been officially con- firmed, made no impression on the ardor of the crowd. It was intent upon celebrating, and it did. The parade will live in the annals of New Brunswick for all time. It is current belief, though, that the specta- tors enjoyed the parade more than the paraders themselves. The goodnatured joshing that was pass- ed amid the throng, the familiarity which greeted one on every hand, the chatting and the expectancy, will be memorable to every one of the spectators. Celebrating knew no bounds.
Camp Raritan turned out in full force. It is extremely hard to conjecture whether the soldier laddies enjoyed the excitement. Many were disap- pointed. Those who had ached for an opportunity to go over-seas saw their hopes blighted by the la- test news.
"Gee, I wanted a' lick at that damned Kaiser," they said.
EVERYBODY IN LINE
The parade didn't get started until 9 o'clock. After all ceremonies had been completed, the march- ers swung up George street to Albany, the City Com- mission, followed by the Police force, heading the parade. Everybody marched. Police, Fire Depart- ment, whose sirens created an unearthly din, Red Cross Workers, Home Guards, everybody. Every civic organization was represented. The noise was terrific. Every now and again, a lone cheer would go up, which would immediately be taken up, until it became a frenzied outburst. The parade wended up George street, to Somerset, to College Avenue, to Bartlet, to Easton, to Somerset, to Louis, and finally disbanded at French street. It was interesting to see a band of lone Socialists in the body of the parade carrying a huge red banner with the inscrip- tion, "Workers of the World Unite. Peace has been declared."
It is impossible to give a complete description of what happened. Suffice it to say that all the super- latives with which the English language is so richly endowed would hardly express, with any degree of exactness, the event.
There was a mob, pandemonium and fervor. A concoction of these three elements, suitably mixed might result in something to compare favorably with what happened. What an event!
But all through that strange day, there was this medley of noise and movement which seemed to make clear thought impossible. Odd, disconnected inci- dents and individuals stand out.
Many folks looking back to that wild day will find themselves wondering at the unaccountable things they remember doing.
SECOND CELEBRATION
The news of the signing of the armistice was heralded into town at 2:05 o'clock on the morning of November 11, 1918, and from all appearances, peace must be a remarkable restorative. It seems as though all the pent-up energy of four years had not been ex- hausted by the premature peace celebration on November 7. Not content with these outbursts of delirious joy, New Brunswick decided to have a par- ade to celebrate the great event. And it did.
Promptly at 2 o'clock the Union Band appeared in Court House Square and entertained the huge crowd which turned out for the parade. Throngs lined Livingston avenue, George and Albany streets, patiently waiting for the parade to begin. An
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avalanche of talcum powder greeted the onlookers. Armed with feather dusters which were sprinkled plentifully with the powder, energetic young people pushed through the crowd and used their dusters with almost deadly effect. Drug stores must have rid themselves of a year's supply of talcum powder.
The parade did not begin until the Jewish paraders made their appearance on Bayard street, waving banners with such inscriptions as "Allies' Victory is a Jewish Victory." The crowd extended a glad hand to their Jewish compatriots.
With the police at the head of the procession, fol- lowed by the band, the parade turned down Bayard street into George. As the corner of George street was reached the Zionists in line broke into the "Marsellaise," singing the stirring tune in the French version. Everybody cheered. Boys from the Rut- gers Students Army Training Corps in line were fol- lowed by the City Club, each member wreathed in smiles. The ever-present Boy Scouts were there, with a Scotchman in Highlander costume, the Junior Police at the head, a handful of Socialists with their fiery red banners, the fire department and the Girls' Division of the War Camp Community Service.
Several incidents in connection with the parade served to bring bursts of laughter from the enthusi- astic audience. Funeral cars, donated by Under- takers Harding and Quackenboss, carried the flaring announcements "Here Lies Wilhelm," "The Crown Prince," "Ludendorff" and "Here Lies Von Hinden- burg." The throngs shouted their approval when the funeral cars hove into sight.
The Kaiser must have been remarkably meek in his last moments of power, to judge from the goat purporting to be his, which was mounted high on an automobile in line. Considerable laughter was evok- ed at the sign, "We've got the Kaiser's goat."
Every dump heap in town was raked for old boilers and tin cans which were used in making the terrible din. The sirens of the fire department were at their discordant best. Rattles, after early hours in the morning, could not be procured at any price. Every- thing was enlisted to make the day the most memor- able in the history of New Brunswick.
The Jewish flags with their five-pointed stars and those kindred to them, the Greek, fluttered all over the foreign quarter.
Everywhere could be felt the quiet enthusiasm which came with the assurance that the indescrib- able beast had abdicated and that his army was in the throes of defeat.
The streets were lined with crowds, talking good- naturedly and making complimentary remarks about the Kaiser and his eventual destination. Noisy auto- trucks dashed noisly around the city, raising a din. In this respect, trucks from the Nixon Nitration Works excelled. Crowded to the full with cheering
workers, and bedecked with highly amusing signs caricaturing the Kaiser, they were greeted by the onlookers with rounds of applause. The men from Nixon's carried a coffin with the flaring announce- ment, "He lingered but we nailed him in the end."
George street was a maze of showering paper flung about by delirious clerks in office buildings. The air was one swirling mass of white flakes, of curious shapes and sizes, torn out of ledgers, books and other office accessories.
Traffic was extremely arduous, wagons and autos intent upon going on their business always in danger of being overturned by careening trucks crowded with celebraters.
The carrying of red flags by the Socialists in the parade without American flags, aroused the ire of more than one 100 per cent. American, but none of the onlookers took any action until the members of the S. A. T. C. at Rutgers got busy. The students formed a body and went to meet the parade, but when they arrived at a designated point where it was passing, they found that the ones they were looking for had left the line of march. Then came a search. The followers of the red flag were found to be holding a meeting in the Hungarian Socialist headquarters on French street.
Hanging out of a window of the meeting room was the red flag. The students demanded that it be re- moved, but it was not put away as promptly as the crowd on the outside desired. One of the Socialist orators attempted to make a speech about the pur- pose of the meeting. Those on the outside only clamored that the red flag be removed. After a time it was removed and the American flag hung out. The crowd cheered this, but following the American flag came the red flag, waved by one of the participants in the meeting.
This was enough for the crowd of soldiers and townsmen on the outside, and, led by a prominent member of the Rutgers football team and a sailor, they crowded into the place. The Socialists locked the door, but it was quickly broken down. The crowd entered the room in true moving picture style. The first thing they went for was the red flags. The Socialists fled through the window in the rear of the room and were not followed, as the red flags were the objective of those making the raid.
One of the Socialists offered resistance, but a husky sailor lad soon put an end to his fighting spirit. The flags were taken to the college campus, where they were distributed among the raiders.
"The Day" has come and gone. The red harvest of blood and desolation and tragic misery has not even yet been fully reaped-but the setting sun of November 11, 1918, witnessed a German fleet steam- ing into the silence of surrender without honor,
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German armies in retreat, and a passionate appreci- ation of peace that the world had never known be- fore.
The signing of the armistice which meant defeat for German ambitions of might-the ironic night of her dream of The Day-released everywhere the spirit of exultant, prayerful celebration; a glorifica- tion of freedom, not of domination, of victory-yes !-
but not of the premediated crushing of one member of the human family by another.
For this was "The Day" on which the false God of Force invoked by Germany had been overturned by the true God of Strength that the free nations had summoned to their aid. As never before there were shown, then, to the peoples of the earth the glory and the richness of peace, bought at the price of such heroic but dreadful death.
"Le Jour de gloire est arrive."
SERGT. "BOB" SEARLE He was so fierce he scared all the girls in Edinburgh.
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The Homecoming of Co. H
Cheers and Tears Greet the Boys
On Tuesday, May 28, 1919, with so much of affec- tionate welocme as it had the physical opportunity to give, New Brunswick greeted the boys of Com- pany H, 113th Infantry, just home from overseas. Proud of all American soldiers, New Brunswick is proudest of her sons. These were home troops. They were the old National Guard. Their glorious part in the momentous campaign with their British and French comrades in the Argonne Forest is not only a noble chapter in the history of the war, but it be- longs to the family record and domestic history of New Brunswick.
It was a great day for the boys. Most of them arrived the day before with their honorable discharge while others did not reach this city until noon of the day of the reception. Captain Smith was among the last to get his discharge. He did not reach here un- til nearly 5 o'clock and for that reason the parade was delayed an hour.
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