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About La Grande evening observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1904-1959 | View Entire Issue (May 9, 1918)
r JVitch TWO Sho Men's Snappy how liifli t. Patterns. Tin- kind you would like to wear with your Suninifi' Suit. Fast colors 'and in a variety of prices to suit every man (Voir , , . ' : $1.00 to $5.00 HiiPs Department Store V "Over the Top" By An American Soldier ; Who Went ARTHUR GUY EMPEY Machine Cunnf Serving In France (Cuwrliiln, IhlT. bj AfUtur Qui Minw 8VNOP3I8. i CHAPTER I-Flred by tho nws of ths ,lnktng of Hip LuHltunla by a Uurniun .ubmurlne, Arthur Uuy Empay. an Ameri can, leaves his office tn Jersey Clly und roes to ICtisluiid where he enlists In tho irltlih srmy. CIIAPTRIl If-Afler a period of traln nff, Kmiey volunteers for Immeillnte eerv ce and eoon flndn himself in rest billets 'flomewheru In franco." where be tlint nakes the acquaintance ot the ever-pres-.hi "cooties.". CHArf Eli Ill -Umpey, nttrade bis first hurrh eervlcee t the front whllo n.Oer nan Fokker ctreles over the consretfstlon. CHAPTER IV Bmpey's command gets nto the front-line lreitri,oe and li under Ire for the first time. , t v ' . CHAPTlTtt "V tciniiey learns 'to ndnpt lie moilo of tho Uiilsli Tommy, "If you ire going to set It. youil get It, so never vorry." CIIAPTRM VI-Back In rest billets, Em ioy sets bis flrst experience as a niees iraerly. - Ornish eoldlers are foil.1 j i hai' j I' ll vii I'.inoev icarne now me , OHAPTKlt VIll-Dnek In tho front-line trench. Kmpey sees bis flrst friend of the trenches "so Went." OHAPTTrt IX-Binney makes his first lett to a dugout In "Htilelde Ditch." CHAPTKB X Empey lenrns wbst con- l Sent?" a "iay' WOrk" "'"'"li"0 j TTTapTFH XI Empey iroea "over the top" for the firet thite In a charge on tho Qerman trenches , and Is wounded by a bayonet tnrtiet. CHAPTKn, XIT-Kmpry lolne the "sui cide club" as the bombing squad Is called. CHAPTER XIII Each Tommy sets an official bath. . TtlAPYHn XIV;mpey helps dl an udvanced trench under Oernian Are. CHAPTER XV-On "listening poet" in No Men's Land. CHAPTI5R XVt-B-o artillerymen "put one over" on uia l'epucr, tneir regitnciuui commander. ... AftAf'TRh XVT1 Kmnev hns narrow oe- cape while on patrol duty In No Mans Ljina. OIIAPTEn XVIH-rtncrt In rest billets i CHAPTKH XIV Rolrilem have tnnnv ways to amuse tbemeolvea white "on their ' own.." . i ;."'.';. CHAPTER XXI. About Turn. . Tho next evening we were relieved by -the th brigade, and once avnln returned to rest billets. iKin uriivlng nt these billets we were given twentv tour hours In which to clean up. I linil Just flitiihed gelling the mud from inv uniform when the orderly sergcunt In formed me thai my mime wns In orders to leave, antl tlmt I was to report lo the orderly rema in ihe morning fur or ders, transportation and rations. . 1 nearly had a fit, hustled nb,:ut packing up, tilling my psck with sou venirs such as shell heads, dud bombs, nose caps, shrapnel halls, and n Prus sian Ktiarilsiiimrs helmet. In fact, be fore I turned In that night, I hud every thing ready to report at the orderly room at nine the next morning. 1 avna II, i.o tl... ...I...... ., .. I swanking around, telling of the noori time I wns going to hnve. the places I would visit, nnd Ihe renl. old Knulhh t'fer I Intended to giur.le. Sort of rubbed it (mo them, because they all do If, nnd now Unit It was my turn, I took pains to get my own hack. At nine I reported to the ciipinln. re ceiving my travel order and pans. He asked me bow much money wanted to draw, I glibly answered, "Three iiumlretl francs, sir;" he Just ns glibly handed me one hundred. . Iicpnrtlng nt brigade headquarters, with my pack weighing a ton, I waited, with forty others, for the adjutant to . Inspect us. After nn hour's wait, he came out ; must have been sore because he wasn't going with us. The quartermaster sergeant Issued ns two days' rations, lu a little white eiiiivns ration bag, which we tied to our belts. Then two motor lorries come nloug winff! Shirt and we piled In, laughing, Joking, anil In the best of spirits. Wo even loved the Oerhmns, wo were feeling so happy. Our Journey to seven days' bliss In Ullghty hud commenced. ! The ride In the lurry lasted about itwo hours; by this time we were cov jered with flue, white dust from (ho I roud, but didn't mind, even If we were nearly choking. i i At the railroad slnllon nt V we ! reported to an olllcer. who hud a whim bund nrniiml his arm, which rend "It. T. 0." (Uoyiil Transportation Olllcer). To us this olllcer was Kanln Clnus. . The Bcrgennt In timrgo snowed him bur orders; he glanced through them and snld : "Make yourselves comfort able on the platform und don't leave; tile train Is liable to be along In live minutes or live hours." ' It ciime In live hours, a string of eleven match boxes on hlg, high wheels, drawn by n dinky Utile engine with tho "con." These mntch boxes were cattle cars, on the sides of which. was iiulnted the old finnlllur slirn. ' "Hommes -lO. C'lieviiux 8." The It. T. O. sluck us all Into one cur. We didn't care ; It wns as good as it Pullman to us. ' Two days wo spent on that train, humping, slopping, Jerking ahead, mid ! sometimes sliding buck. At three stu- ....... . . . nous we sioppeo long enniign to mulio Knme lea, hut were tumble to wash, so when we arrived nt It -, where wo were lo eniliark for llllghty, we were as black us Ttircos anil, with our tui- stmvcn fnees. we Innkeil llltn n bit of tramps. Though tired out, we wcru j naiipy. i we linil packet! up, prepnrtitory to i detraining, when a It. T. O. held up his hand for us to stop where we were nnil ciilne over. This Is what he snld : Dead Bodies Everywnere. "Hoys, I'm sorry, but orders have Just i been received ciiiicelling all leave. If yon bail been three hours earlier you would have gotten away, .lusl stay In thill train, as II Is going hack. Kill ions will he issued to you for your return linpnnv tn mnr ntunnnl tv,, ul,,ll,,nu , - . .... . neasiiy rotten. I Know." 'men ne lett. A dead silence resulted. Then men i started to curse, threw their rltles on the floor of the cur; oihers said noth ing, seemed tn tie atnpcllcd, while some hnd the tears running tlown ihclr II -nBl,l....ll. .1 ..' 11 1 llow we blinded at the en; ineer of i but train; it was all his fault (so we reasoned) ; w hy hadn't he speeded up n little or been on time, then we would have gollen off before the order ar rived? Now It was no Hllghly for u, Tlmt return Journey was misery to us; I Just can't describe It. When we got buck to rest billets, we found thut our brigade was tn the trenches (nnolher ngreenhle surprise) and that an attack was contemplated. Seventeen of the forly-one will iioer get another chance to go oti leave; they were killed In the attack, .test SAM- Cf.iJI i awful rights dint It makes no luipres- l In passing u lutein shop you ,.. ,'. l.l,wl hv wMou a iloi.il ttir. ; ... . iw.,.i, iv-n m' , n.) "l't " ". . fr.? ' I:1.!"" h. U 100ked ttP0ni Hut, nevertheless, when our six day ;,wero up. we were tickled to deutu to, I tie relieved. , ' our machine Run company lout ; i seventeen killed anil thirty-one wound ' eU In thut little local affair of "straightening the Hup," while the I other coinpuulos clicked It worse than i we did. .' . : ! After the attack 'we went Into re serve billets for Hi I duys, and on (he ' seventh once again we were In rest foil- lets. ... CHAPTER XXII. .' - ' Punishments and Machine-Gun StunU. Soon after my arrival In France; In fact, from my enlistment, I had found that In the British army discipline Is very strict. One has to he very carc- ! fill In order to stuy on the nnrrow path ! of government virtue. i There are about seven million wuyil ; of breaking the king's' regulations; to keep one you have to break another. The worst punishment Is deuth by a firing squad, or "up ugulnst the wall, us Tommy calls It. This Is for desertion, cowardice, mu tiny, giving Information til the enemy, looting, rape, -robbing the dead, forcing n safeguard, striking a superior, etc. ' Then comes the punishment of sixty four days In the front-Hue trench with out relief. During tills time you have to engage In all raids, working parties In No Man's Land, and every huzurdous undertaking that comes along. It you live through the sixty-four duyu you are Indeed lucky. ' This punishment Is awarded where there Is n doubt us to the willful guilt of a man who lias committed un of fence punishable by deuth. Then comes the famous Held pun ishment No. 1. Tommy has nicknamed It "crucifixion." It means that a man Is spread-eagled on n limber wheel, two hours a day for twenty-one days. Dining this time he only gets water, bully beef antl bit-cults for his chow. You get "crucified" for repented minor offense &'ext in order Is field punishment No. 2. ' This Is confinement In the "clink," 'Without blankets, getting water, bully beef and biscuits for rations and doing nil the dirty work that can be found. This may he for twenty four hours or twenty days, according to the gravity of the offense. ; Then comes "pnclt drill'' or default ers' parade. This consists of drilling, 'mostly at the double, for two hours with full equipment. Tommy hates 'I his, because It Is hard work. Some times he fills his pack with straw t lighten It, and sometimes he gets caught. If he gets caught, he grouses at everything in general for twenty-! 'one days, from the vantage point of a limber wheel. i '. Next comes VO. B." meaning "on fined to barracks." , This consists of; staying In billets or barracks for twenty-four hours to seven days. You also! get nn occasional defaulters' parude and dirty Jobs around the quarters. The sergcunt major keeps what Isi known as the crime sheet. When n mnn commits an offense, he Is, i"ciimed," that Is, his name, number; rind offense is entered on tho crime! sheet. Next day at 0 n. m. he goes to! the "orderly room" before the captain,' who'clther punishes him with "O. It." or sends him before the O. C. (officer i commanding battalion). The captain; of the company can only award "C. 11." I ! Tommy many a time has thanked j' the king for making that provision In ;hls regulations. To gain the title of a "smart soldier," Tommy has to keep clear of the crime sheet, nnd you have to bo darned smart to do it. ' I have been on It n few times, most ly for "Yankee Impudence." During our stay of two weeks in rest billets our cnptnln put us through n course of mnchlne-gun drills, trying out new stunts and theories. . After parades wero over, our gunR' crews got together nnd nlso tried out. sonio theories of their own In reference i to handling guns. These courses hnd nothing to do with tho advancement of I the war, consisted mostly of causing tricky Jams in the gun, and then the rest of the crew would endeavor to lo cate us quickly ns possible the cause of the stoppage. Tills amused them for n fe'v days and then things come to n standstill. One of the hoys on my gun claimed that he could play a tune while the gun wns actually firing, and demon strated this fact one tiny on the target range. We were very enthusiastic and decided to become musicians. After constant practice I became qulle expert In the tune entitled "Ail Conductors Have Hlg Feet." . When I hnd mastered this tune, our two weeks' rest came to nn end, and once again we went tip tho Hue und took over tho sector In front of G i wootl. I At this point the German trenches i run around the base of a hill, on the i top of w hich was a dense wood. This j wood was Infested with muchlne guns, '. , ' "! " " w,,n n ' ''' wiiien us, mi t,i irnvnrun ir" nn nt , "iiiikci miiviv i- lu'ii; tiiiicieu Willie i In reserve- There wns one gun In pnrtlrular I which used to get our gouts, it had the ; evnet range of our "elephant" dugout entrance, and every morning, about the i time rations were bring brought up, Its ' bullets would knock up the dust on the rond; more than one Tommy went West or to Hllghty by running Into them. This gun got our nerves on edge, j antl Krlti seemed to know It, because i tMnk If that train ha been on time, f osr seventeen would still be alive. I hntc to tell you how I wns kidded hy the hoys when 1 gut back, but It wns t,oetl nnd plenty. Our machine gun compi.ny took over tlii'ir part of the iiiic at seven o'clock, t lie night after 1 returned flora my au-;:r leave. , At 3:30 the following morning three a at tlH LA ORANDK KVENTXG OBSKRVKU wvi weul ovr :(J "ciptured tVie Krai , ml MC01I aru.u trenches. Th. ..1,1.. ,.... Jn, ,. with ih. ri" "...... .... luurtu iu v.'Jwuui" iu 1 "red ""o'-digiu.-B.Toma.y call., Crossing No Man's tBnd without cllcklug itny casualties, we cutue to toe German trench and mounted our suua ou th uarudns of nam. I never saw men a inese In my life bunches of twisted barbed wire lying about, shell huleg everywhere, trench nil bashed In, parapets gone, and dead bodies, why, that ditch was full of them, theirs and ours. It was a regu lar morgue. Some were mangled hor ribly from our shell fire, white others were wholly or partly burled In the mud, the result of shell explosions cav ing In the wulls of the trench. One dead German was lying on his back, with a ride sticking straight up In the air, the bayonet of which was burled to the bllt in his chest Across his feet lay a dead English soldier with a bul let hole In his forehead. Tills Tommy must have been killed Just as lie run j bis bayonet through the German. ' Itllles and equipment were scattered nhout.and occasionally a steel helmet could be seen sticking out of the mud. I At one point, Just In tho entrance to ) a communication trench, was a stretch- er. 1 On this stretcher a German was j lying with a white bandage around his i knee, near to him lay one of the stretcher-bearers, the red cross on his arm covered with mud and his helmet filled with blood and brains. Close by, sitting up against the wall of the trench, with head resting 6n his chest, I was the other stretcher-bearer. - He seemed to be alive, the posture wns so natural and easy ; but when I got closer I could sec a lnrge, Jugged hole In his temple. The three trust have been killed by the same shell-burst. The dugouts were all smashed In and knocked about, big square-cut timbers splintered Into bits, walls caved in and entrances choked. Tommy, after taking a trench, learns to his sorrow that the hardest purt of the work is to hold It. In our case-tills proved to be so. i The German artillery and machine guns hud us taped (ranged) for fair; It wns worth your life to expose your- I self un instant. Don't think for a minute that the Germans were the only sufferers; we were clicking casualties so fust thut you needed un adding muchlne to keep track of them. Did .vou ever see one of the stenm shovels at work on the Panama canal ?i Well, it would look like a hen scratch - lng alongside of n Tommy "digging In"! while under fire. You couldn't see day - livhr Ihrnnirh rho clnmlu fir ritrf frnm -...- - ,,, ,,,,vi uir.vj niiii niiiHIbL, III Ills shovel. Icintsop county, the derbls and old After losing three out of six men of, i)lmls al.e ll0lng cleared. It has our crew we managed to set up i our hecn roun(1 tlmt f,res t t mnch negun. One of he legs of the j rm, M bH1.n. ov... tripod wns resting on the chest of n : , hall-burled body. When the gun was' 0 tiring, it gave the impression that the! ,Seat reservations for Neighborhood hotly was breathing. This was caused Cmb Musicnlo, High School Autlitor by the excessive vibration. ! Ium, Tuesday night, on sale ut Silver- . . Three or four feet down Uie trench,! thorn's beginning Saturday morning, about three feet from the ground, u Adults 35 cents, children 2,1 cents, foot was protruding from the earth.! 5-S-2t We knew It was a German by the black leather boot. Ono of our crew used that foot to hang extra bandoliers of ammunition on. This man always was a handy fellow; made use of little points that the ordinary person would overlook. ' The Germans made three counter attacks, which we repulsed, but not without heavy loss on our side. They nlso suffered severely from our shell and mnclilne-gun fire. The ground was allotted with their dead und dying. The next day things were somewhat quieter, bat not quiet enough to bury the dead. We lived, nte and slept in that trench with the unburlcd (lend for six days. It was awful to watch their faces be came swollen nnd discolored. Towards the last the stench wus fierce. What got on my nerves the most was that foot sticking out of the dirt. It seemed to me, at night, In the moon light, to be trying to twist around.' Several times this Impression wus so strong Hint I went to it ami grasped it in both hands, to see if I could feel u movement. , " ? 1 1110 "nn who had used for a hatrack Just before I lay down ;for 0 ll,,le ""P. as things were quiet, nnd I needed a rest pretty badly. 'When I woke up the foot wus gone. He hnd cut It off with our chain saw out of the spare parts' box, and had plastered the stump over with mud, " During the next two or three days, before we were relieved, I missed tluit foot dreadfully; seemed ns if I had suddenly lost a chum. I think the worst thing of nil was to watch the ruts, at night, nnd some times tn the day, run over mid play about among the dead. Near our gun, right across the para pet, could be seen the body of a Ger man lieutenant, the hend and linns of which were hanging Into our trench. The man who hud cut off the foot used to sit und curry un a one-sided conver sation wllh this tiilieer, used (o argue nnd point out why Ormnny wns in tile wrong. During all of this monologue I never heard him s:iy anything out of the way anything that woultl hnve hurt tiie otllctr's fe..iinf.s hnd he been alive. He wns iv.pmro all right ; wouldn't even ti.' - advantage of u dead mnn In an arpiir.ient. To civilians this must seem dread ful, but out here one gets so used to Bound Is a valuable asset In locating n machine gun. hut Tommy surmounts this obstacle hy placing two machine guns nhont ono hundred to one hun dred and fifty yards apart. The gun on the right tn cover Willi Its lire the sector of (he left gun nnd Uia gun on tho left to cover that nf the right gun. This innkrs their fire cross; they are fired simultaneously. . By this method It sounds like one gun firing nnd gives the Uorninns the Impression that the gun Is tiring from n point midway between the guns which are actually firing, anil they ac cordingly shell that particular spot. The machine gunner chuckle nnd sny. "Frits Is a brainy boy, not 'nlf he ain't." Hut the men In our line? at .the spot . j.-- ji,alai iiPlrPinr?;nfl17Mi. "'jl 'sufew t rl.nu U. P""4 rew irI remarks down 'he m rMi 10 the tuv ,.l,iia eunnvrl li.lftif "wind?1 fhe.r .etni ' UUI : OVKIl THK XOKTHW !T Klamath Falls Herald: The boys' working reserve is the latest pa triotic organization which Is to be enrolled n Klamath Falls.' Owing to tho great need of labor on the farms this summer, In which the task of harvesting enough products to feed thin nation and tho allies, xmfronlB th? United States, the government' will need the sen-ices of every able-bodied boy or man. To this end It has requested that all boys between the ages of lit and 21 years old bo enrolled for this service, so as to he available when needed. ' ... ' . Medfold Is planning the organiza tion of u branch of the Woman's Land ..Army of America during the ,c6uilng spring and summer,' the purpose of which Is to help meet the labor situation In caring for the fruit crops of the valley. All women and girls willing to work will be enrolled. The organization places no restrictions on those en rolled, but is simply for the pur pose of service. It proposes also to urrango a uniform ' wage and ! hours of work and transportation facilities for the workers. , Mnrshfleld Record: Tho cutting of fir at the Moore mill ut Ilandon j has been forced to cease, accord- j ing to atithenlic reports. No sale j for fir Is the reason given out. j The spruce cut by the mill Is taken by the government and is sent out i by rail. The fir has been shipped by boat, but for three weeks or more none lias been forwarded. Mr.. McKenna, the cashier of the plant, says that for several weeks no orders have been received. P. A. Elliott, state forester, re- ports considerable work being done in slashing and cleaning up In the nlnclt Uiver tcetlon In Polk county and. the Sllctz basin. The work Is ; be'ng drihe largely by the l'olk Cditnty Fire Patrol association and ! ! Includes th clearing up of the derbls from the. 1!)10 burnt over ' sections. In IJnn county near Ber- 11., .....i ..i.. ti ,.. Job Printing, The Observer, .Main 37 ; TODAY Monroe Salisbury in "THE RED RED HEART" A story of a College Bred Indian TOMOBHOW Adolph Zultdr Marcaterite H Lark "The SevenSwans" Arcade ' CXinmnmtCu1iim ig tar ft V 'St WAV Jir Jk ' That's fair. All we ask is for'you to brins; in your gro cery list and let us show you our Roods and our pirces. VVc know we have the liest quality; we know we have fair honest prices and you will find that our rood groceries cost no' more than others ask for inferior grades. v ' Phone us vour grocerv order today. -; ' HARRIS GROCERY Thone Main 70 and 77, Farmers Black 192 408 North Fir Street Across the Track, "United States Food Administration License No. Gfi025S." AI'Thlt THltKK VICARS. Many mon and women are sick and don t Know If. Some 'never (discover that they have kidney tronblo until they apply for life insurance. The kitlnevs ore work- nE ii tho tune, filtering noisonous , waste out ot the blood stream, and when they become wenkenod or de ranged backache, pains in side3 and groins, so-culled swollen rheumatism, Joints antl i j'anguldness, SAY:-- If you want to SAVE YOUR SENSE, nnd CENTS, oml DOI, LAHS, cross the Track out of the High-Rent District. NUF6ED Harris Furniture Store II. B. HARRIS, Proprietor 400 FIR STREET Phone: Jed 3171. 1 1 1 1 i i OIL BURNERS I I i i Your wo6d is gone, the suinmor is here, that oil hurnor tliatyiTti have longed for is ready to install in your .Range FRK13 TRAIL and guarantee cover your dollars. BUY THRIFT STAMPS AT Furniture Exchange Fir nnd Jefferson E. J. DONOHUE Illnck 1241 Best Prices Paid for Used Furniture ' Mr. Grain Farmer: Are you prepared to handlo your grain in bulk? Do not wnit until Spring antl Summer when you are buried with work and worried with labor shortage, but build your ginneries now. You can buy the lumber antl roofing paper for n first-class 1000 bushel portable grnnnry for $54.58 and it will last for years. Sacks for the same amount of grain will cost you $125.00 nnd this would be a dead loss against this year's crop. A granary of this size can be moved anywhere nnd can he filled directly from the thresher, doing away with high priced labor handling and sewing sacks. , The boys in the trenches need the sacks for snnd bags for the protection of their very lives nnd perhaps your boy is among them. ' Spend your money in your own valley by buying lumber manufactured at home. When you buy sacks part of the money goes to India. BUILD YOUR GRANARIES NOW - Be prepared by building them heforo the farming season opens up. Be sure to get Rood lumber, well seasoned, ns low prade lumber will give you trouble in n few seasons. Don't use green lumber. , Save money keep what you spend nt home movent loss , and damage from exposure to weather leave the sacks for our boys in the t enches; help win the war hy huilding giannries now. Portable granaries of this type are universally used in other sections. One trip with a good team will haul the ma" ior as The George Palmer Lumber Co. LA GRANDE, OREGON THUT?SPAy.'Af'AY;Q. 191j BRING US YOUR GROCERY LIST AND LET US ' ' ''..!- show you OUR GOODS! AND OUR. PRiCES. other symptoms develop. W, . B. Moss,' Ogden, Ark., writoBi "Foley Kitlpey Pills relieved me of severe kidnoy troubles of three years standing." Sold everywhere. . . BABY CHIX We Iiv tlw reputelion'ti PeUlume of liamliiae the beet Uyina Sock. I et ut prove Ulii to you. Boy not llio rli-apest. but the beat Vtile lor tnloiaution. Petelurae, California "li IW (I 0