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Addressed to Miss
Minnie G. Frey, Stockdale, Kansas
From Ward Clarke Griffing, 20th Infantry Co. E
Nitro, West Virginia
January 27, 1919
Dear Minnie,
…I went on guard last Friday morning as usual & again my post was one of
those 4 hour ones. I was on the first relief so went first & was
relieved at one o’clock. The post is about two miles from the main
guardhouse so our dinner consisted of sandwiches & coffee we boiled
ourselves. Having been out to another of those Y.W.C.A. parties the
night before, I was afraid I would go to sleep on post that night so I
tried to get some sleep but it wasn’t long before I was awakened by the
fellows tearing around & raising merry – you know.
About four o’clock the corporal of my relief came in & told me to put on
my overcoat & bring my rifle. I didn’t know what was the matter because
I didn’t go on again until nine o’clock. He & I went outside & there was
another corporal & man to relieve us. The corporal said, “Knock a home
run Griffing,” so then I knew that
we were going in to play basketball. I tell you going on a basketball
trip beats standing guard at night all hollow.
We walked in & had to hurry & get ready to catch the river ferry up to
St. Albans across the river. We finally got there because as someone
said, that boat could meet a snail but it surely couldn’t catch one. We
finally found the school house, “Yo’alls jest foller up yander & yo’alls
will see it.” The court was awfully small – far smaller than the one we
had been playing on so they had the advantage but we beat them. Actually
that was the roughest & dirtiest & hardest fought game I believe I ever
saw. Score 15 to 14. The score shows that to be a fact. After the game,
we caught the ferry again & got into camp about 11:30. We didn’t eat any
supper before the game so of course we went to bed supperless. I had
just gotten to sleep about 12:30 when one of the players came & woke me
up & said that we were to get up before six o’clock the next morning &
go on another trip.
Well we got up about five thirty & woke a fellow to drive us down to the
ferry landing in the Ford truck. It was too early for breakfast so we
lightened our belts & smoked cigarettes. The Lieutenant’s wife went
along with him this time. She is an awful nice little lady. We woke up
the ferry man & crawled up to St. Albans again & took the Interurban to
Charleston. We didn’t have time to eat at Charleston but had to take a
train out of there for the place where we were to play – a mining town
away off in the mountains about 75 miles named Eccles [Raleigh County,
West Virginia].
Well that train went a little faster than the ferry but its speed was
well under 75 miles per hour. The trip was very interesting & pretty
even if we were hungry, tired & sleepy. [There were] lots of tunnels,
cliffs, trestles & deep valleys. The hills were covered with pine &
great tall spruce & oak. Lots of places the grass was green & ferns &
holly were thick. It was very pretty even now in winter; I would
certainly like to see it in summer. If I don’t look out tho maybe I will
see too much of it in summer. While nature was beautiful you couldn’t
say that for man. I wouldn’t live the way most of those folks do for
anything in the world. Life there may not be as bad as it looked but the
looks are far from imposing. I saw a cornfield that looked ready to
slide off the mountain onto the track & I asked one of the boys how they
farmed up there. He said, “Oh! They shoot the seed up there in the
spring with a shotgun & then let the snow bring down the corn in the
winter.”
We reached our destination about two o’clock & was taken to the hotel.
“I reckon as how I ken put yo’alls up.” So we cleaned up & finally sat
down to supper, breakfast & dinner all rolled together into a tough
beefsteak. The town was in three or four parts – each part on the top of
a [different] hill. The principle industries of the city were mining,
loafing & railroading. It happened to be the junction of two [rail]roads
– one down in the valley & the other way up the mountain. The coal mine,
however, was the thing.
We were shown the hall where we were to play & then hung around the
barber shop below awaiting our turns & listening to the wonderful tales
of gunplay & fistfights. To hear them talk you might think that they
were hard boiled but they didn’t take the trouble to molest us soldiers
at least.
We don’t usually eat before playing but we were still hungry & knew we
couldn’t get anything after the game so we went back to the hotel & ate
a light supper. Soldiers were quite an attraction in that town. The
girls in the hotel got all ready & hung around trying to talk their
heads off. They turned down the fellows who asked them to go with them &
hung around watching us eat supper & when we got up they “wondered who
all was going with them.” Well, we all didn’t ask them so I guess they
must have gone alone.
Well those miner lads certainly had the goods on us. They beat us 18 to
43, but they played a clean & sporty game – lots better than the St.
Albans team. We couldn’t start the game until after the show so we could
get a crowd so it was about eleven when we finished. We were one tired
bunch when we went to bed that night & we didn’t get up until about nine
o’clock Sunday morning. We decided to go back on the other road & as it
left at 10:30 we ate breakfast & climbed up the mountain to the station.
The trip home was very slow but we enjoyed it. We stopped at every coal
mine along the road & they were about five miles apart. It resembled an
interurban more than anything else. Part of the way we followed a
mountain river & I wish I could describe it but I can’t. Anyway, it was
very pretty. We reached St. Albans about dusk & again enjoyed our speedy
trip on the ferry. When I reached the barracks, I got some clean
clothes, took a bath & went to bed & the next thing I knew I realized
that I was still in the army because the old bugle was “I can’t get ‘em
up, I can’t get ‘em up, etc.”
…The weather is simply wonderful here now. All day yesterday we rode on
the train with the windows open & our overcoats off.
…Well enough is enough. So goodbye. With love & hopes for a kiss from
you by April 26. -- Ward |
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Letter
written by my grandfather in January 1919 Basketball game with Eccles,
WV
I am enclosing the
transcribed letter written by my grandfather in January 1919. If
you could help me identify the locations mentioned in the letter, I
would be most appreciative -- especially if you could point me to some
photographs of the places mentioned in Eccles."
Submitted by
William (Griff) Griffing
- January
29, 2006 |
