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Show I MILITARY MOTOR CARS WILL PASS THROUGH OGDEN SOON 1 Column of Eight Cars With Fifty Men Under Command of H Colonel Davidson Much Interest Shown in Cities and B Towns on Route Machines Will Be Placed on H Exhibition at San Francisco Exposition. H Tho Trhole -world lenows of the pro- Hj dlgious service that is (being perform- 1 cd bv motor cars in the European war, f tho officials o our own. war depart- B ment havo observed with, great inter- H;; est the port played by tho automobile H! in military maneuvers In the United H States during the Lost few years. H But never, in any country, has a M number of military motor cars been H called uion to travel so many miles H: continuously as is being traversed by H the squadron of the Northwestern Hj Military and Naval A-cademy of Lako H Geneva, Wisconsin. The tour started H from Chicago, Juno J 0, with San Fran- M cisco as its destination. H Some years ago CoL TL. P. Davidson, M head of Northwestern academy, began M building up the automobile corps of H the institution, by the acquisition of a H Cadillac car, which was fitted out with H a rapid firo gun. Tho corps now has H eight cars, all Cadillacs, five of which. H are eight-e Under chassis. H "Regular army officers arc with the Hj party to make extended reports of the K results during and after the trip. Tte- H ports to Washington cover the ' observations made and conclusions H reached with regard to the cars' pcr- Hj foimanccs under conditions approxi- K mating military necessity. There are H about 50 men in tho party, 10 of them H cadets at the academy H The expedition is under command of H Col. Davidson, who has designed much Hj of the equipment which tho cars car- Ht ry, and who recently supervised the H building and equipment of wireless Hj and military cars for tho government Hj of Guatemala. Ho was in 1S97 the B designer of the first gun battery ever Hj mounted on an automobile and has Bj devoted considerable time and study B to the wireless telegiaph as used in H' connection with motor cars. H; The column includes an officers' re- K connaissanco car, equipped with spe- B cial Ross military rifles, map tables B and instruments for making road and K contour maps, a dictating machine, a H periscope for observations Irom be- H hind walls or other defenses, altitude B, indicators, range and elevation find- H ers, In fact, every instrument helpful H in making a reconnaissance report. H1 A wireless car has a telescopic mast B mounted on tho running board, and is m equipped with a special electric gen- erator capable of producing a current of 110 volts A second car carries, in addition to its wireless outfit, a Colt automatfc and a powerful electric searchlight with heliograph shutter. Tho field kitchen and the hospital are mounted on eight-cylinder chassis of 145-Inch wheelbasc. Cooking is dono by means of a flreiess cooker, operated by electricity; there is also a general kitchen equipment. Special operating tables, Burgical Instruments and an X-ray apparatus mako up the equipment of the hospital car. A complete armor of bullet-proof steel, with openings for rifle fire, is provided for another car, which also mounts a Colt automatic rapid flrcr. This car carries a simple rope and windless arrangement which vould be found useful in actual warfare in extricating ex-tricating the car from a ditch, or dragging drag-ging it up a steep embankment. Another car is designated as a quartermaster's car, carrying a Colt automatic type gun, while there Is one balloon destroyer armed with a Colt lapjd firer. The balloon destroyer is a hero of the Glidden tour of 1910, and by this time has had close to 80,000 miles of hard rpad travel and field work during dur-ing different army manouvers. Tho corps will follow the routo of the Lincoln highway for the greater part of the distance between Chicago and the coast. A. side run will be made to Rock Island, 111 . for a visit tn Ihp llnitpd States arsenal. The column Is routed through Des Moines. Omaha, Ogden, across tho desert des-ert to Reno, Sacramento, thence south through Yoscmito National park, San Diego: then to Los Angeles and San Francisco. Most of the machines will be placed on exhibition at the Exposition. Exposi-tion. Much Interest is being shown by many of the cities and towns on the route, and escorts and all courtesies have been vouchsafed tho military men. Camps will be made along the route and military discipline will be enforced. The results of this long tour may have much to do with deciding the war department's attitude on the use of the military automobile other than the truck type. Washington will receive re-ceive daily reports, detailing each day's run, incidents and developments. |