Fraternity-Testvériség, 1944 (22. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1944-10-01 / 10. szám
TESTVÉRISÉG 15 PAST HISTORY In 1836, Major George H. Crosman suggested to the War Department that the use of camels might be just the thing in winning the West. Twelve years later Major Henry C. Wayne took up the cry that had been smothered in military red tape. This time the echoes reached Senator Jefferson Davis (later the President of the Confederate States) and when he became Secretary of War under President Pierce, the latter signed a bill (March 3rd, 1855) authorizing the expenditure of $30,000.00 for the purchase of camels. A few weeks later the good ship SUPPLY, under the command of Lt. David D. Porter, left the United States for the Near East on one of the most unusual assignment of the U. S. Navy. In the meantime Major Wayne visited the London Zoo to study camels. Wayne and Porter later met in Italy and from there they traveled to Tunis, Malta, Smyrna and Constantinople, bargaining for and buying camels. On an eventful day of May, 1856, the port of Powder Horn, Texas, witnessed the strange sight of unloading ungainly beasts of burden. From here they were taken to Camp Verde, near San Antonio, where they were joined (in 1857) by a second cargo of camels brought in by Lt. Porter. A trial trip was made with the “ships of the desert”. The camel caravan left for Fort Tejon, California (from San Antonio) in June, 1857, under the command of Lt. Edward F. Beale. The round-trip covered 4,000 miles and one year — and Lt. Beale lost neither man or animal! Lt. Beale declared the experiment a complete success. But....the outbreak of the Civil War obliterated all interest in the camel brigade. Some of the camels were let free in Arizona and California; others were sold in Texas. In 1894, twenty-five of them were rounded up for use in the Sells Brothers’ Circus. And thus with the passing of the years the Camel Corps faded into history! An interesting footnote is Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale himself! From 1852 to 1857 he was Superintendent of Indian Affairs for California and Nevada; he risked his life in making studies of the famous Death Valley; he fought the Indians and in the Mexican War; and he brought the first gold from California to the bankers of the East. In later life he attained the rank of brigadier-general and under President Grant served as minister to Austria- Hungary. Stephen Sziarto VERSEK Irta: Reményi József URAM, BÁNÁTOM MÉLY Uram, bánatom mély. Dávid Király zsoltárain végigfut a vad szél. Uram, bűnöm be sok. Dávid Király zsoltárain szaladnak fulánkok. Uram, lelkem tompa. Dávid Király zsoltárain átdübörg a bomba. Uram, kéjem fáradt. Dávid Király zsoltárain a szédült múlt árad. Uram, zokogásom Dávid Király zsoltárain tiszta vágyódásom. Uram, minden perc gyász. Dávid Király zsoltárain zeng a várakozás. Uram, legyen holnap. Dávid Király zsoltárain hozsannát hangolnak. Uram, légy Ítélet. Dávid Király zsoltárain dal az örök élet. SZAVAK LOBOGÓJA (Izenet minden magyarnak) Széjjelszórt magyar álmodozók és rövidlátók, ime lobogóm. Légvár-mult élő vádját zengve, szine nem ritkolt olcsó dobogón. Életbe küld, ha élni akarsz, én honfitársam, gyárak peremén. Felemás sorsod útján biztat, mig veled s elhagy az örökös rém. És biztat zajban, bút űzve, s a mély árvaság csendjében, elhányt dalok hűtlensége el nem fér célja rendjében. E lobogó a loholó szavak bíbora, megállt ereje, botolt szivek, füsttől gyötört gondok lidérce, vigasz-deleje. (Jajszó, jajszó, te rabok lobogója, jaj szó, jajszó, te hitek vívódója, ki vigyáz rád, mig őrködhetsz a népre, magyarra, baljós időkben szegényre?)
