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