With the aid of several volunteers, good progress was made with the initial task, and by July 9th the list had been completed, and every name had been assigned a number.

On July 10th, upon information from Washington, the Board announced that claims for exemption from service would be heard after the drawing took place at Washington. Fathers, mothers, wives or guardians were invited to appear in behalf of men in the draft.

The drawing at Washington took place on Friday, July 20th. Ten thousand numbers, in capsules, were placed in a huge covered bowl, and were drawn out, one at a time. Secretary of War Newton D. Baker drew the first number. It was 258. Carlo Cappola, a resident of Wooster, had been assigned No. 258 when the names here had been numbered by the Local Board. Hence Cappola was the first man actually liable for service in this county. It developed later, however, that he was an alien enemy, and therfore exempt at that time, although he went into the army later on.

The number "258" drawn at Washington, was telegraphed to every city in the country with a newspaper up-to-date enough to have a telegraph service. It was 10 a. m. when it became known in Wooster that this was the first number drawn. Others followed in quick succession. Senator Chamberlain drew 2522, which called Edward Weber, of Wooster. Weber went to camp in September with the second group which left Wayne County. General Tasker H. Bliss drew No. 458, which called John Hauenstein, of Dalton. After high officials drew several more numbers, the task was taken over by clerks in the office of the Provost Marshal General and the drawing was continued, taking two days to complete it.

By evening of the first day the names of the first 400 men drawn in Wayne County were known, except for a few errors resulting from telegraphic transmission.

About a week later the Local Draft Board received the official list of numbers, photographed from the original list set down at Washington, and then the assignment was made, and a complete list published in the exact order in which men were liable for service.

FRED I. HEIM ON DISTRICT BOARD

On July 23rd F. I. Heim, of Wayne Township, was appointed a member of the District Draft Board, to represent Wayne County. This Board held its sessions at Canton, passed on all agricultural and industrial claims for exemption, totalling a great many thousands, and also on cases appealed from the Local Boards. Mr. Heim was chosen secretary of the District Board, and served until the close of the war in this very important capacity.

FIRST PHYSICAL EXAMINATION

On the first day of August the first 100 men drawn in the draft were summoned to Wooster for their physical examinations. This was held on the third floor of the court house and was in charge of Dr. Paul. Dr. A. C. Smith, Dr. J. D. Beer, Dr. J. W. Lehr and Dr. H. N. Yoder (Smithville) assisted Dr. Paul.

Edward Van Zile, of Blachleyville, was the first man in the county physically examined. He was exempted, however, having a wife and

four children.

The second group of men was called in on the day following. Of those examined on both days 128 were accepted and 34 rejected.

In these early days of the draft the physical examination was the first step. Later only those men selected for service were examined for physical defects.

The question of hearing claims for exemptions began immediately. Only about ten per cent of the men failed to put in some claim for evading service, and the work of hearing claims developed into a tremendous task.

Many of those drafted presented two, three, and even four separate reasons why they should be left at home.

On September 4th it was learned that the men sent from Wayne County to Camp Sherman would be assigned to the 329th regiment. Major General Edwin F. Glenn was at this time in command at Camp Sherman.

The Local Board was instructed that the net quota for Wayne County in the first draft (credit was given for men from here who had enlisted) was 165 men. The first five per cent of this quota left Wooster on Friday, September 7th at noon. Five per cent of the whole quota were sent to Camp Sherman from all over the state ahead of the main body to prepare quarters. Barracks at this time were not completed and there remained a great amount of work to be done.

The first men to leave Wayne County under the draft were: Harley A. Coffey, Creston, Captain; David A. Heron, Wooster; Glenn Brenneman, Orrville; Ellis G. Seigley, Apple Creek; Elmer E. McAdams, Orrville; John B. Schmid, Wooster; Ralph O. Stelzer, West Salem; Edwin Schumacher, Rittman.

These eight men left ahead of the main contingent of Company D and Company H, and were the second group to go out of the county. The fifteen national guardsmen from Co. D and fifteen from Co. H, transferred to the Rainbow Division, had gone about three weeks before.

Capt. Taylor requested Col. F. C. Gerlach to furnish an escort to the depot for the men who were leaving, and the officer responded by reporting with the Eighth Regiment Band, and every uniformed guards

men in Wooster.

The eight were escorted by Company D, commanded by Capt. M. R. Limb, and the Headquarters Co. commanded by Capt. G. G. McCoy. Members of the draft board were in the procession, and a large crowd witnessed the farewell.

Predictions were made at the depot that the war should end before any of the men in the contingent would get farther than Camp Sherman. This, like many other forecasts, did not prove true, for drafted men from this county crossed the seas and bled and died in the battles in France that crushed German military might.

The second contingent of drafted men, numbering sixty, left Wooster for Camp Sherman Sept. 21, getting away, as did the initial contingent of eight men, before the national guardsmen left the county. Since this was the first large contingent of men sent out of the county, their names are given here, as follows:

Edward G. Weber, Joseph C. Seifert, Joseph Ryan, Ira Younker, Charles Asa Miller, William Barden, Clarence P. Johnson, William M. Kain, George H. Adams, John D. McKee, Harold W. Norton, Forest F. Kendig, James Massoni, Orville I. Parsons, Bert Budd, Walter Hile, Alexander Campbell, Floyd W. Derhammer, Leet J. P. Deibel, Walter C. Forrer, Glen G. Shreve, John Sherman Russell, Harvey L. Koontz, Paul Fry, Spencer A. Stoller, Lorain M. Wilent, Clayton Burt Sanders, Leroy Jacob Fry, Charles E. Bruny, Earl B. McClelland, Joseph R. Flickinger, Vernon Newell, Ellis Davenport, Asa R. Krabill, Milo Crumley, George J. Proeger, Platt Sigler, Glen L. Converse, Fred Smith, Emanuel M. Wenger, Carl L. Ammon, Harold P. Chapman, Jesse McGlennen, William Olson, J. Vance McDowell, Earl Pratt, Nelson Wear, Franklin P. Reider, William L. Fuchs, Russell S. Patterson, Harry E. Yates, Ray N. Frazier, John Bonner, Galen J. Purdy, Dayton Lee Blosser, Henry C. Martin, Karl Adam Steiner, Lee Charles Stutz, Wayne F. Kamp, James A. Reardon.

They, like the first eight, were given a military escort to the depot. Some were later transferred, but a goodly number remained in the 329 regiment, and went overseas with the 83rd Division.

The third contingent, composed of forty-two men, left Wooster and Orrville on the morning of October 5th for Camp Sherman.

In all contingents sent out from this time on, the entrainment took place both at Wooster and Orrville, the draft board calling all of the men to meet in Wooster before the departure, usually one day prior to going, when they were inducted into service. After the induction, the men were permitted to go home, to report at the train, choosing between Wooster and Orrville.

The third contingent left the city more quietly than any delegation up to this time. The national guardsmen were gone, having left for

Camp Sheridan a few days before, so there was no military escort, Only friends and relatives were at the depot on this misty October morning as the nearly half a hundred stalwart boys went off to war. After remaining at Camp Sherman a little over a month, the following from this contingent were transferred to Camp Pike, and the majority later went to France with the 87th Division; Henry Huff, Menas Nussbaum, Clayton Marthey, Jerome Dannemiller, David Baumgardner, Elmer C. Crider, John R. McKee, Harry L. Thompson, Harlen Hauenstein, Robert P. Boyes, Emery Dale Stahl, Charles R. Hunt, Clare W. Willaman, Roy H. Johnson, Carey Franks, Ralph O. Stelzer, Harvey Bechtel, Joseph Shire, Dominic Tiger, Lyman Johnson, Park Hershberger, James Massoni, Russel Welty, Charles E. Speiche, Nicolo Tarquina, John C. Simonton, Arthur E. Ogden, Zola R. Blosser, William H. Graef, Walter I. Schultzman, John Harshman, Albert Berkey.

These three contingents of men had gone forth as a part of Wayne County's quota in the first draft. The county's gross quota was 377 men, but credit was given for 218 enlistments, so that the net quota was reduced to 158 men. The final contingent for this draft was never sent to camp. This third contingent proved to be the last group of men (except for some very small calls) that went out from Wayne County until in April, 1918.

On October 31st Robert Bruce, as chairman of the Wayne County Board of Elections, visited Camp Sherman in an official capacity and secured the ballots of nearly all the Wayne County men quartered there. The first week-end furloughs to men at Camp Sherman were granted on November 3rd.

The reason that the sending of men to camp was stopped was the failure of building contractors to provide the necessary barracks at the specified time, although Camp Sherman developed like a magic city. Later on, when the camp was ready, Local Boards were engaged in the huge task of classification.

THE WORK OF CLASSIFICATION

The original plans of the war department had called for a classifi cation of all registrants, so that those who could be spared at home with the smallest economic loss should be selected for service. This plan was delayed because of the imperative necessity for getting the first men into the training camps at the earliest possible moment. While Local Boards made their selections for the first draft army, the printing of the questionnaire blanks was rushed through at Washington, and other supplies were furnished Local Boards.

The actual work of classification was begun December 15th. A. D. Metz, W. F. Kean and Judge John C. McClaran, Wooster attorneys,

were appointed as the members constituting the Legal Advisory Board. This board took up with other members of the Bar the question of aiding registrants in filling out their questionnaires. During the latter part of December all attorneys in Wayne County gave their services to the men of draft age, with the result that the Draft Board received the questionnaires, for the most part, properly made out.

From the answers made, under oath, by registrants, the Local and District Draft Boards classified each man in one of the several subdivisions of the five classes provided for in the questionnaire. It was not necessary, at any time, to take any men from other than Class One for service in the army. The classes and subdivisions thereof, provided for in the questionnaire, were as follows:

CLASS I.

A-Single man without dependent relatives.

B—Married man, with or without children, or father of motherless children, who has habitually failed to support his family.

C-Married man dependent on wife for support.

D--Married man, with or without children, or father of motherless children; man not usefully engaged, family supported by income in. dependent of his labor.

E-Unskilled or not a necessary farm laborer.

F-Unskilled or not a necessary industrial laborer.

G-Registrant by or in respect of whom no deferred classification

is claimed.

H-Registrant who fails to submit Questionnaire and in respect of whom no deferred classification is claimed.

I-Registrant not deferred and not included in any of above

divisions.

DEFERRED CLASSES

CLASS II.

A-Married man with children, or father of motherless children, where such wife or children or such motherless children are not mainly dependent upon his labor for support for reason that there are other reasonably certain sources of adequate support (excluding earnings or possible earnings from labor of wife) available, and that the removal of registrant will not deprive such dependents of support.

B-Married man, without children, whose wife, although registrant is engaged in a useful occupation, is not mainly dependent upon his labor for support, for reason that the wife is skilled in some special class of work which she is physically able to perform and in which she is