WWI - Excerpts from The Times Picayune - May 3 & May 4, 1917 -- Orleans Parish Submitted by: Rosemary Ermis Source: Times Picayune - May 3 & May 4, 1917 Date: August 2003 ************************************************* Submitted to the LAGenWeb Archives ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http:/www.usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Excerpts from The Times Picayune May 3, 1917 NEW ARTILLERYMAN IS SHOT TO DEATH SHOWING PISTOL -- Louis E. Gravois, Preparing to Don His First Uniform, Puts Bullet in His Heart. Preparing to leave for the Washington Artillery Hall for his first uniform, Louis Elmer Gravois, 17 years old, accidentally shot and killed himself in his home, 3007 Dauphine street, at 10:30 Wednesday morning. Gravois was wearing the khaki enlistment band of the Washington Artillery on his arm when a bullet from a 22-caliber revolver that he kept in his room entered his breast. He walked to the back gallery to seek his mother. "Mother! I am shot through the heart," he cried, and dropped dead. The boy was demonstrating the use of a revolver before the admiring gaze of Lloyd Neguesloa, 14, of 1033 Louisa street, who had come over to the Gravois house Wednesday morning to see the new Washington Artillery recruit. Gravois pointed the weapon at his breast. There was a flash of fire from the muzzle--then a scream. The boy dropped the weapon and staggered out of the room. Lloyd ran out of the house and summoned Dr. J. F. Hartley, 730 Clouet street. A Charity Hospital ambulance also was called, but before it or the physician reached the house Gravois had died. Emulating the example of his brother, Lionel Gravois, who is a member of Battery C, Louis resigned his position as receiving clerk with Stauffer-Eshleman Company last week and joined the artillery. He was to have been a member of F, the sister battery of C, and was to report for duty Wednesday afternoon. A few hours after the accident, Lionel Gravois appeared at the Washington Artillery Hall and requested that he be given Louis' uniform for him to be buried in. It was the wish of the boy's mother and father, he said. The uniform was given. The boy will be given a military funeral by Battery C Thursday. The entire battery will participate. The body will be borne to the cemetery on a caisson and "taps" will be sounded over his grave. DIED--GRAVOIS--On Wednesday, May 2, 1917, at 10:30 o'clock a.m., LOUIS ELMER GRAVOIS, son of Camille Alice Guilotte and Charles H. Gravois, a native of New Orleans, aged 17 years. The friends and acquaintances of the family and Companies C and F, Washington Artillery, are respectfully invited to attend the funeral, which will take place Thursday, May 3, 1917, at 3 o'clock p.m., from his late residence, No. 3007 Dauphine street. Interment in St. Bartholemew Cemetery. ********************************************************************** Excerpts from The Times Picayune May 4, 1917 ACCEPTS FIFTY-SIX MEN FOR TRAINING CAMP OF OFFICERS Recruiting for the officers' training camp made a record Thursday, when fifty-six men were accepted by Major Charles G. French, officer in charge of the local office, at 901 Hibernia Bank building. The call for members of the National Guard to report directly to Major French for enlistment to the camp met a ready response. Men from the Washington Artillery and the First Louisiana infantry came to the office throughout the day. Because of their military experience, they were given preference over civilians in the waiting line. A telegram received by Major French from Colonel Fleming, officer in charge of the reserve officers' corps of the Southern department at San Antonio, said that although men accepted for the officers' camp would be required to furnish their own transportation, it would be refunded to them. Indications are the camp at Leon Spring, designated for candidates from Texas and Oklahoma, already is overcrowded. Major French Thursday received a telegram from John T. Gano, a civilian at Dallas, Tex., saying the Leon Springs camp had its full quota and asking to be certified to Fort Logan H. Roots. Those accepted for the camp Thursday were: Carroll B. Walmsley, 2507 Prytania street; Charles G. Wolfe, 901 Hibernia building; Frank T. Sullivan, Bogalusa, La.; Joseph Berthelot, 4723 South Carrollton avenue; Robert T. Garing, 2009 Carondelet street; Henry M. Vautrain, 6301 St. Claude avenue; John W. Sherrouse, 807 St. Charles avenue; Owen Kethler Walton, Summitt, Miss.; George H. Benz, 608 Barrone street; Rufus N. McKnight, Clinton, La.; William Amos Ponder, Amite, La.; Chester G. Oertling, 4168 Canal street; Randall F. Walker, 822 Whitney-Central building; Felix W. Gaudin, 1001 State street; John S. Weick, 2437 Milan street; Robert Lapsley Dodd, Kosciusko, Miss.; Charles W. Buckley, Phoenix, La.; Victor T. Mather, 932 Peters avenue; Selin B. Lemle, 3413 St. Charles; Paul H. de Mange, 2624 Carrollton avenue; Frederick H. Fischer, 2711 Calhoun street; Benjamin Davenport Raines, 810 Whitney-Central Bank; Julian Hawthorne, 1537 Calhoun street; Louis B. Cox, 1503 Verna, Arcadia Court; Leslie F. Tanner, 2006 General Taylor street; Ignatius C. Kernaghan, 1222 Jena street; George K. Favrot, Jr., 417 Royal street; William J. Kross, 1740 Religious street; Kenneth Watson, 1403 Louisiana avenue; George C. Farrell, Jr., 2014 State street; Byron J. Casey, 3535 Canal street; John H. Friend, 908 Hibernia building; Henry Lorimer Naff, 3711 Danneel street; George H. Nusloch, 631 North Alexander street; Elmer J. Smick, 714 Barrone street; Warren A. Kramer, Franklin, La.; Joseph J. Farrell, 916 Leontine street; Harry W. Dinkins, 2226 Canal street; Joseph I. Laird, 4917 Chestnut street; Samuel D. Waitzman, care of Morris and Company; George A. Roussel, Jr., Patterson, La.; Oscar K. Comez, 2219 Jena street; Henry C. Holloway, Houma, La.; John Dart, 904 Canal Bank building; George B. Penrose, 2302 Prytania street; Frank Knight, 7373 Neron Place; Adrien Bodet, 1320 Aline street; Harry M. Dougherty, Sterling M. Newton, 420 Whitney-Central Bank building; Ewell C. Potts, Marshall J. Wellborn, 1734 Second street; Malcolm McC. Brown, 2402 Calhoun street; Robert Emmet White, 3726 Prytania street; James G. Tuttle, 1302 Constantinople street; Carl E. Woodward, 7441 Hampson street; Lamar Polk, Alexandria, La.; Rudolph J. Weimann, 7328 Plum street; Robert N. Marx, 1641 Amelia street; J. S. Vander Veer.