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About The Polk County post. (Independence, Or.) 1918-19?? | View Entire Issue (June 18, 1918)
y »- MUCH «DO «BOUT NOTHING and the thermometer » « i t up * » herewith: for « « 6 . The fifth year there will be I it. ta t Hides sell for twenty cents each. o a i 3 h i m . ¿ueSoad jiani nun aiuuiai , .. , Startiug Kith 500 eats at the end o f the m i a total of 523550 I Em sd U h e 223550 h , , r ^ l L ° P? e’ ,he repbe<i' “ Wi||. n . K ... year 1 will have 2500 eats, making a liberal male hides for *4470. Ju, ,,pU g H ve'vra r“ ! k w ing. •> y ’ " “ A C,“ alway8 plck "p \ViLLiam Barnett, a well known allowance for death and starvation. O f I will start the eleventh vear wtth' year with! () resident ot this city, invaded our sanctum qonp. soimu aq qiAv q c z i osnaaaui stqi ---------- 169104750 head having sold off $324025 The Rhyming Summarist yesterday on official business. Mr. Bar- ( I will promptly slaughter and sell the hides worth of male hide in the meantime. A t The aphis bit the farmers’ grain nett wished to know what itjvould cost for $25. Counting in the original 500 I will the end of twenty years I will have a total Ami dry weather spoiled its sprouting, him to have the following advertisement have 1750 to start the second year, Th is; of five billion ami one cats on hand. It will ‘ Looks «is tho we might be short,” inserted on top here along with other good; year the Some of them are shouting; good reading matter: It might aid “ Wanted—500 Female Cats.” When prospects fade When anybody gets to wanting 50'0 cats To start the women hoeing. all at one time, lie’s either crazy or going into business. Mr. Barnett assured us that slaughtered. Their hides will bring $243. Thrift Spasm j both were partially true; he was “ just At the commencement o f the fourth year western side of life with $180000000 to fool wiÎ ^ S0Jiatl in twenty years, is it ?” ' \ This year pick the blackberries crazy to go into the cat business.” there will be 24750 in the invoice. They ,' Barnett, what about expenses, For they will bring the rocks, W e beseeched him to warm up to the will produce 123750 offspring of which , ; >u“ -y,1 teed, etc.? we asked, as he caught sight of And you’ll alwavs have tobacco subject, so he removed his coat and shoes 457.50 win be .„ales wl,ore hides will soil, a telephone pole and i Buster The Confassi of a Ger Deserter Written by a Prussian O fficer^ e Who Participated in the Ravag^^^y fag and Pillaging of Belgium. . I L Copyright b j Detroit Free P ra t, (Continued from F rid a y.) At ten o’clock the French attacked a fourth time. They came on In enor mous numbers. Our leaders recognized the dunger o f our position and ordered us back, abandoning the wounded and much booty. By a superhuman effort we did manage to save the machine " J which they struck was broken. H el mets and knapsacks had been lost long since. In spite of the superiority of numbers, the French could not defeat this little group o f desperate men. We forgot everything around us and fought like bloodthirsty beasts, thinking of nothing else. Part o f our men pene- trated the hostile ranks and fought to j retake the lost cannon. “ The enemy recognizing the danger, retreated, and tried to hold the conquered guns with all his energy. W e continued to stab, 1 to club, ma'.i for man, but the enemy : held on Sr the batteries. Every can non was aarrounded by corpses, dnd every minute new victims were cre ated. The artillerymen who were fight ing with us tried to remove the breech i blocks o f the guns. Three Germans fought four French men at the third gun which was Just to my right. They were all that was left around that piece. At another gun 70 men lay dead or wounded. A pio neer went to the mouth of this gun and wfth astounding calmness pushed shell after shell lDto the barrel, touched | them off and ran. Friend and foe alike I were tom by the terrible explosion, j The gun was completely demolished. Seventy to eighty men were killed for { nothing. A fter an hour’s fight, all the guns i were once more In our possession. W e were now able to approximate the ter- i rlble casualties. In the battle for this I battery. Dead and wounded by hun- | dreds. Infantry, cavalry, artillery and pioneers, covered the narrow strip of ground. Once more we received re-enforce- ments. This time four regular compa nies o f Infantry had been taken ! away from another detachment Even If a soldier takes part In everything, be can get only a very restricted view of what Is going on and has absolutely no wav o f determining how the battle Is going. These re-enforcements had been taken from all different arms and late arrivals bad been taken from a division which hud been threatened exactly like ours was. This led us to conclude that we could only resist further uttacks provided fresh troops reached us. If only we could get sotnelhing to eat. But there seemed no way to relieve the 1 hunger and thirst which tortured ea. Now, horses galloped up to remove the guns we had left, and at the same Instant the French artillery opened a tremendous fire from guns of all cali bers. The shells fell among the 80 teams comprising the column. Confu sion reigned. Groups of six horses comprising each team sprang Into the air, then ran In all directions, pulling their carriages with the wheels up be hind them. Some of the terrified anl- tnals ran directly into the heaviest fire, only to be torn to shreds with their drivers. The enemy now transferred his fire to the battery position which we occu pied. For us It was only a question of advance or retreat. Retreat? N o l The order came to retake the positions which we had lost at the opening of the battle and which the Frenchmen presumably had made ready to with stand a new attack. By this time we had been re-enforced with more can non fodder and the Insane fight could begin anew. W e advanced over a wild field, cov ered by thousands upon thousands of torn human bodies. No shot f e l l ; the only firing was the hostile artillery continuing to shell our battery posi tions. Neither the enemy’s artillery nor Infantry was turned upon us. This made us suspicious and our apprehen sion regarding what was t<^ come In creased as we were permitted to ad vance unmolested. Suddenly there war turned loose upon us the fire from a multitude ot machine guns. W e threw ourselves on the ground and hunted cover. An In 7 / o W e Went Over the Top. 1,000 meters and took a stand In our form er trenches. The officers told us w e would have to make a stand under any circumstances and that the re-en forcements would come soon. In a moment the machine guns were set up and soon we were sending a bull o f bullets Into the ranks of our pur suing enemy. His advance stopped In stantly. Encouraged by this success we fired harder, so that the French were compelled to seek cover. Thg promised re-enforcements fajled to appear. About (100 meters to our rear were six German batteries In po- sitlon, but they maintained only a very- weak fire. An artillery officer appeared before us and asked the commnnder of our detachment If It would not be well to recommend that the batteries be taken back. He said he had learned by telephone that the German line was wavering on Its entire length. Before the commander could reply, another attack en masse followed, which outnumbered us by from five to s ^ e n times. Our commander now gave up this position also. Completely de moralized, we retired In flight, leaving the six batteries (36 guns) to be taken by the enemy. The French stopped their barrage fire because they feared to hurt their own troops. The Germans utilized this moment to bring up re-enforcements made up o f all branches o f the service. Scattered Infantrymen, unmounted cav alry, detached pioneers, had all been "assembled. Every makeshift was em ployed to fill the ranks. Complete re serve units apparently no longer exist ed on this the third day o f the battle o f the Marne. Once more the command was given to turn and take a position and the un equal fight began anew. W e saw the enemy advance, and seise the bat teries. Then we saw him storming ahead with fixed bayonets. We fought like wild animals. For*folnutes there raged a bayonet fight beyond descrip tion. We stabbed through the breast, through the abdomen, and wherever else we could. This was no occasion to employ the bayonet tactics taught at drill, something which must be left for drill-ground practice only. The butts ot the rifles whissed through the air sad say man's hand stant later we again sprang up and continued our march. Once more wo us approuen minus our neadgeur, our uniforms torn Into shreds and without guns and knapsacks. “ Why are you rumring around here?' he roared. That was our reception. Nobody answered. Nobody cared. Nothing could be worse than what we had been through, but although every one among us felt keenly the Injustice o f the captain’s attitude we all re mained silent. "Where is your equipment?— Lost— Lost—. This has been a nice business. The state equips you, you rebel. I f all were like you— ” He raved on for a while after this fashion, this brave fellow, who, without any action on his own part permitted the rebels to retreat while he defend ed his fatherland In Vltry, 4.26 kilo meters behind the battle line. We selected guns from those lying around us In heaps and soon were ready to fight again. We stood around half asleep, lean ing on our guns, and waited to be led once more to the slaughter. A shot fell In our midst. It struck a color sergeant and smashed his right hand. He cried out from the pain. His band was quickly bandaged. He was the first An eyewitness told us how this had happened. He had rested his hand on the gun barrel In the same manner as did all the others except that his hand partly covered the muzzle. The orders provide that the gun be locked If loaded. Turning to the color ser geant who was writhing with pain, the captain roared at him : “ I shall report you fo r punishment for your gross carelessness and for mutilating yourself In the field.” C H A PTE R V III. The color sergeant, a noncommis sioned officer, realized that bis military W e now tried to gather by com career was at an end. W e all felt for panies. O f our own company only 12 him. During the months preceding this men remained. Presently others strag Incident he had always associated him gled In until there were 20 o f us as self with the privates. sembled. There Is eager questioning W e never learned whethfer he was everywhere as each man attempts to learn about bis comrade or acquaint brought before a court-martial. Pun ance. Few questions can be answered, ishment for self-mutllatlon was a dally event and many severe sentences were however, as each man bad thought pronounced and then made known to only o f himself In that fligh t all the oth>M he serve as a deterring Driven by hunger we approached example. The color sergeant’s place the village. The first thing we did was conferred upon another, after was to hasten to the wells and drink. which the captain disappeared once We drank as If we wanted to fill our more In the direction of Vltry. selves up with enough water to last ns W e marched away and halted at a the rest o f our lives. Only here and point northwest o f the village. Here there were we able to find anything to we met other pioneers who had been e a t A few beets were left In the gar gathered together from various bat dens and we ate them eagerly, without talions and our unit was once more waiting to wash or clean them. brought up to 85 men. The officers Where Is our company? Nobody told us that we would not enter the knows. We are the company, we 20 battle today. Our only duty for the men. And our officers. “ Somewhere time being was to keep the bridges surely.” said a soldier, “ somewhere In over the Marne in good condition for a bomb-proof corner.” the German troops fighting on the But what were we to do? N6 one other side, so thnt they could be used could decide. Presently a noncommis In case the battle went against us. sioned officer o f the field gendarmes W e then marched to our destination, approached on horseback. It is the which was at the point where the duty o f this particular class of defend Sauhc flows Into the Marne. ers o f the fatherland to round up We reached our destination about slackers behind the front. s ij o’clock in the morning. The dead “ You are pioneers." he called to us lay around in heaps everywhere. We roughly. “ What are,you doing here?" were camping on a wooded height Then he asked us innumerable ques and could overlook the country for tions, which we answered as well as many kilometers In all directions. We we could. saw shrapnel bursting by the thou “ Where are the others?” he asked. sands. Little could be seen of the “ Over there, ’ said a young Berlin ; men wj,0 were fighting despite the fact soldier, and pointed to the battlefield. that many divisions were locked In a “ The others are dead or perhaps death struggle. Presently we saw the fighting line. prisoners. Several others have man aged to save themselves and are some The Germans were about two kilome ters behind the Marne, which flowed where, perhaps." “ Never mind," the noncommissioned by directly In front of us. OermaD officer said roughly. The conversation cavalry In great numbers was en had become disagreeable to him. “ Walt camped along the banks of the river. here, until I come back. Where are Tw o temporary bridges In a very dilap (dated condition constructed of what the officers?” Again no one could answer. "What ever materials were at hand were lo are their names? I shall find them. cated near us. Preparations had been made to blow them up with thousands Perhaps they are In Vltry.” of pounds of dynamite. The electric We told him the names o f our offi fuses had been strung to the point cers. He gave us Identification papers where we were located and It was up so that we might be able to prove to to us to manipulate the switches. Con others Inquiring why we .were waiting nected with the battle line by tele where we were. phone, we were In a position to destroy “ I hope bis horse falls and he breaks the bridges at a moment's notice. his neck,” said one o f our men. The fighting became more lively We entered one o f the houses which We saw the French rush to attack and had been robbed, as were all the others, retire again. The fire of musketry In threw ourselves down upon the mat creased and the attacks became more tresses to sleep, sleep, sleep. How frequent. This continued for more long we slept no one knew. We only than two hours. knew that it was night and that some W e saw the French continuing t# of our company bad aroused ua. These bring up re-enforcements constantly were newcomers who had been hunting desplte the German artillery fir*. for us for a long time. A fter an extended pause the French “ Come along. The captain Is out made another attack, employing sev side and he la very angry. He bee eral different kinds o f formations. gathered 17 o f his men together and Is Each time the waves o f offensive cursing like the very devil because he troops ware forced back. At three j could not locate you." o’clock in the afternoon, under a blow Sleepy, and entirely Indifferent to the which contained the full power o f future, we left the building. We knew France, our troop« were forced to re that we would be sent Into action tire, first slowly, thw la wild flight. again but no longer cared. I had never The exhausted derm a«« eould «ot be before seen among a body o f soldiers rallied In the fae« of this blow. With such an atmosphere o f absolute indif ference. encountered destruction. By tnis time we had lost almost a third of our men and, exhausted, we halted. Scarcely had we taken a position be fore we were attacked from the front and flank. W e no longer had an ade quate force to successfully resist this double blow, as the enemy. In greatly superior numbers, had practically crushed our force. The left wing was completely cut off and we saw our men throw up their hands and surrender. We who were In the center were un able to come to their assistance; our ranks were being decimated from min ute to minute. “ Revenge for. Sommepy,” sounded In my ears. The right xvlng broke and carried us with It In a wild flight. Direct retreat had been cut off for us, so we ran backward across an open field, each man for himself, with a heart bursting with horror and fear as the result of the enemy's murderous fire. A fter running a long time we reached a hamlet northwest of Vitry-le Fran cois. Without guns, helmets, or knap- saqjts, the few who had been able to save themselves gathered here. As a result of this battle the French acquired a large amount of booty. All the guns which had been the center of so much bitter fighting were lost. Of the hundreds upon hundreds o f sol d i « « who participated in the battle, scarcely 100 were left. The others were all dead, wounded or missing. This Is what was done to the Invincible war machine by the French people, who, before the struggle, we had brand ed as cowardly and degenerate 1 VY m W •S i The Fighting Became More Lively. wild confusion all tried at the same time to reach the bridges beyond which lay safety. At this Instant the cavalry which had taken cover along the river bank galloped to the bridge position. In a moment the bridge was covered with human bodies, all racing for the op posite bank. We could see this tem porary structure trembling under this enormous burden. Our offleet saw the situation and be nervously pressed the telephone re ceiver to his left ear. His right hand was on the switch. Breathlessly he stared at the fleeing masses. “ I f only the telephone connections had not been broken,” he muttered to himself. H e knew as well as all the rest o f us that he was to act on the instant that the enrt order came over the wire. It was not much that he had to do. Merely make a movement o f his hands. Masses o f troops continued to rush across the bridge until more than half were safely over. The bridge further above was not In such great demand, and with the lessened congestion al most all who crossed here were already safe. W e could see how the first o f the Fren*ch units had crossed, but the bridge continued to stand. The sergeant who manned the appa ratus at this bridge became restless waiting for orders, and finally on his own Initiative blew It up. Some Frenchmen and hundreds o f Germans upon the bridge found their graves In the Marne. \ At the same moment the officer standing next to me received the order to blow up the lust bridge. He hesi tated to obey, for he could still see many Germans on the other side. He could see the race for the road leading to the bridgehead as all sought safety at the same instant There a terrible panic reigned. Many soldiers Jumped Into the river and tried to swim across. The pressure became greater as the thousands still on the other side tried to get back. The message over the wire became more and more Insistent. Finally the officer sprang up, rushed by the pio neer standing at the apparatus and a second later there was a terrible deto nation—bridge and men were thrown into the air hundreds o f meters. Just as a river at high tide races along, taking with It all manner o f debris, so the surface o f the Marne was covered with wood, men, torn uniforms and horses. Efforts to swim were futile, yet soldiers continued to Jump into the river. a rorce. test it inignt prove a menace to the German arms. After these hostile troops had crossed, the plan was to destroy tho nridge to prevent their being re- enforced. That was why the sergeant manning this switch had been kept waiting for the order to blow up tho bridge. But the sergpnnt In the ex citement und confusion thought that the cable to which his phone was con- uecteri had been disconnect^?! and blew up the bridge on his own initiative while It was crowded by Frenchmen and long before the enemy could have had an opportunity to cut that cable. At the same time the officer at the switch connected with the explosive« under the second bridge received hla orders. He afterwards said that the order he received was hard to make out and thnt he had lost his presence of mind and threw In the switch, thereby killing thousands on the bridge und leaving many other thousands to the mercy of the enemy. Before there was time for more Im pressions our entire unit was ordered to Vltry to be assembled In front o f the cathedral. With t. sigh o f relief we hurried away, for the French a r tillery began once more to send shells with much accuracy ovei the entir« countryside. Wounded men from other detachments whom we passed on the road told us that the French bad al ready crossed the Marne In several different places. Everyone among « s voiced the same opinion. We had al ready sustained great losses on Bel gian soil and sach day brought aew sacrifices. Our tinea became thinner and thinner. Many companies were entirely destroyed and all units suf fered heavily. These companies whose forces had been reduced te a minimum and with the survivors half starved were opposed by an army well equipped with supplies and arms. The enemy constantly brought up fresh (roops while our forces became few er from hour to hour. W e realised that It was Impossible to make a stand here. W e were constantly learning from soldiers e f other contingents thnt their losses in men and materials were enormous. » I thought o f the God o f the Ger mans. Had he forsaken them? I thought It so loud that the others could hear. “ Yes," said another, “ whom the Lord wishes to punish (s first stricken with blindness. Probably be thought o f Belgium, Donchery, Sommepy and Bulppes, and still many other places and let us run Into this perdition Ilk « flying fiends.” W e reached Vltry. Here the misery seemed to be still greater than ever before, fo r In the entire town there was not a single house that wns not overcrowded with wounded. In the midst of all this misery robbery flour ished. All residences had been emp tied o f their furnishings and every thing was thrown Into the streets te make room for the wounded. The sanitary squads went over the town and took everything o f any value. The munition and railroad columns followed the same practice. They had plenty o f room for plunder. This was amply proven by numerous seizures afterward o f parcels put In the mall, which contained gold rings, watches, precious stones, etc. The business of the marauders flourished here In Vltry. The soldiers In the supply columns en countered very little actual danger; they had an easy time as compared with soldiers fighting at the front. We soon resched the cathedral and reported to Lieutenant Elm. He also had defended his fatherland at a safe distance and here In the city, freshly shaved and In Immaculate attire ha looked very presentable. The contrast was vivid ns he stood before us who were torn, dirty and cov ered with blood, with unkempt hair, with beards grown anil caked with mud and dirt. W e were obliged to wait so we sat down and looked around us. Tha church was full o f wounded; many died under the hands of the doctors. They were carried out to make room fo r others. The dead were carried ts ene side, where whole rows o f corpses lay. W e counted more than sixty. On the othe* side the French began to disarm such German soldiers as stood there with raised hands. Thou sands o f prisoners, Innumerable horses and machine guns fell Into the hands of the enemy. Several o f our company were Just about to retire with the electric apparatus when something de- veloped which certain o f our number bad suspected. An error had been (Continued Friday.) made and It was too late to rectify I t The upper bridge^ which had not The always smiling and popular been used to any great extent by the Douglas Fairbanks in "W ild and Germans, should have been left stand W oolly" at the ISIS Sunday night ing! ft ***** b* * n ***p purpose o f the staff In command to leave this bridge ao that the enemy might continue Its pur suit ot omt troops until a certain num ber o f Frenchmen had crossed tho river. The plan was to permit enough rrenohmen to pane ao that they could bo taken orlaoner. ret. not taw larsm next. SWOPE ft SWOPE LAWYERS I. O. 0. F. Building * Independent!«, N Oregon