OREGON CITY COURIER, OREGON CITY, OREGON, MAY 29, 1919
5
'Jiiuiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiu
l-Somewhere
in France" I
- ,with i
Arthur Guy Empey
Author of "OVER THE TOP"
(Continued)
"Gimme a fog, mate; I'm all out
Come on, chum, don't forget me.
That's a good fellow. Let's hare
one."
Pretty soon every Tommy who was
able had a lighted fag between his
lips, and a sigh of content went up
as he Inhaled deep drafts of the
smoke. I certainly enjoyed mine.
The sergeant major again entered.
The medical men came to attention.
In crisp tones he ordered:
"Get the convoy for England ready.
Look alive; the ambulances are ex
pected any minute."
The stretcher bearers entered, bus
tling about, and the ward was In an
uproar. Then, outside, could be heard
the chugging engines of the waiting
ambulances.
As each fortunate Tommy was car
ried out the more unfortunate ones,
who were to be left behind at the
base hospital, bravely wished him a
"Good luck, mate; give my regards
to Trafalgar square. Be careful and
don't lose your watch In Petticoat
lane. Give 'er my love."
As I was carried through the door
the cold air sent a shiver through me
and my wounds began to pain. The
effect of the chloroform was wearing
off. Outside It was dark and confu
sion seemed to reign supreme. Lan
terns were flashing to and fro and
long lines of stretchers could be seen
moving toward the ambulances.
I was placed in an ambulance with
three others. A rasping noise as the
I Was Placed In an Ambulance.,
gears were shifted, and. with a jerk
the ambulance started. That Jerk
made me grind my teeth.
But I was happy in the thought
that at last I was on my way to that
longed-for heaven, Blighty I
The Enemy Within; er,
Rounding Up Spies an
the Western Front
By
Sergeant Arthur Guy
Empey
Author of "Over the Top,"
-First Call." Etc.
o-o-o
Mr. Empey's Experi
ences During HisSeven
teen Months in theFirst
Line Trenches of the
British Army in France
(CopjngUl, W17, br The McOlni Newipapor
We were in rest billets In the little
French village of S , about ten
kilos from the front-line trench. Num
ber Two's gun crew were sitting on the
ground in a circle around their ma
chine gun, while a sergeant, newly
returned from a special course in ma
chine gunnery at St. Omer, was ex
pounding the theory of scientific ma
chine gunnery. He himself had never
actually been under fire with a ma
chine eun. but from the theoretical
point he sure could throw out the
book stuff. I must conress mat nis
flnw of eloauence passed over my
head like a Zeppelin, and I noticed
an uneasy squirming among the rest
of our crew.
Happy Houghton, who was sitting
next to me, leaned over, and with his
eye on the sergeant, whispered in my
ear:
"Bllme me, Yank, Isn't It arful the
way he chucks his weight about?"
I agreed with Happy.
Across from me sat Ikey Honney,
with our mascot, Jim, in his lap.
Every now and then Jim would take
.his hind leg and furiously scratch at
a spot behind his ear. Honney, no
ticing this action, would reach under
his armpit and also scratch.
Sailor Bill was Intently watching
Jim and Honney; he, too, started
scratching.
In a minute or so Hungry Foxcroft
started on a cootie hunt; and I had
an irresistible desire to lean back
against the barrel casing of the gun
and also scratch.
It Is one of the chief Indoor sports
'on the western front, especially dur
ing a monotonous lecture by soma offi
cer or noncom, for one of the fed-up
listeners to start scratching himself.
This generally causes the whole gang
to do the same, the instructor includ
ed. It Is Just like a minister In the
midst of a very dry sermon suddenly
stopping, stretching himself, and yawn
ing, this action causing the rest of the
congregation o do likewise.
As tne wnole circle Scratched, our
sergeant instructor commenced to
shift his weight from one foot to the
other In an uneasy manner. We all
gazed at him intently and each began
to scratch furiously. Sure enough,
the sergeant gave In and started un
buttoning the front of his tunic to get
at some real or Imaginary cootie. A
nudge went the rounds of the circle.
We had accomplished our purpose.
The sergeant's mind took an awful
drop from the science of machine gun
nery to that of catching that particu
lar cootie.
We constantly glanced at our wrist
watches. Fifteen minutes more and
the lesson would be over. The ser
geant was becoming confused, and was
trying to flounder through the rest of
his talk. We had no mercy on him,
but kept up the scratching. At. last,
In desperation, the sergeant snld :
"You men have actually been under
fire with machine guns several times.
Can't one of you relate some incident
of how, through some ruse, you put It
over on the Boches?"
. Ikey Honney, grasping this golden
opportunity to break up the lecture,
and slyly winking at us, started In
and told how a certain gun's crew lo
cated and put out of action a German
machine gunner by playing a tune on
their gun, which the German tried to
Imitate, thereby indicating to them by
sound the exact location of the Ger
man gun, which was later put out of
action by concentrated machine-gun
fire from their section. ,
Of course we all listened very In
tently, but It was an old story to us,
because we were the gun's crew which
had accomplished the feat that Hon
ney was describing ; but anything was
better than listening to that sing-song
ironing of book knowledge which the
sergeant had been pumping into us
for the last hour and a half.
The sergeant glanced at his watch
and dismissed us. We dismounted our
gun, put It in its box and stored it
away in our billet; then we reassem
bled under an apple tree In the or
chard, and, while the rest of us In
dulged In a shirt hunt, Hungry went
after our ration of tea. Hungry was
sure 6n the Job when It came to eat
ing. Pretty soon he returned with a
dlxle one-fourth full of tea, two tins of
Jam, a loaf of bread, a large piece of
cheese, and a tin of apricots which he
had bought at a nearby French es
taitilnet. He dished out our rations,
not forgetting a generous share for
himself. After we had finished, out
came the Inevitable fags, a few puffs
from each man, and the ball of con
versation started rolling.
Curly Wallace cleared his throat and
started in with:
"Remember that village we passed
through - on our march up the line
about two weeks ago ; you know, the
one where that big church with all the
shell holes In It was right on the cor
ner where we turned to the left to
take the road at St A ?"
We all remembered It and turned In
lulrlng glances In Curly's direction.
"Well, this morning, when I went
flown with the quarter (quartermaster
sergeant), to draw coal, I met a fellow
at division headquarters who told me
s. mighty interesting story of how he
and another fellow rounded up a cou
ple of spies.
"This bloke, through modesty, and
to cover up his own good work, tried
to make me believe that It was only
through a lucky chance that he stum
bled over the clue which lead to the
spies' arrest, but I'm a-thlnkln', and I
know you'll all agree with me, that It
was not so much luck as it was clever
thinking. I'm not much at telling a
story, but I'm going to try and give it,
as far as I can remember, Just the
way he handed It to me.
"It seems that this fellow, who told
me the story, and another chap, had
been detailed to the divisional Intelli
gence department, and were hanging
around division headquarters waiting
tor something to happen.
"Now, here's the story as he reeled
It off to me :
'"About three kilos behind division
headquarters was the old French vil
lage of B . One of our Important
roads ran through it This road was
greatly used by our troops for bringing
up supplies and ammunition for the
front line. It was also used by large
numbers of troops when relieving bat
talions In the fire sector.
" 'Of course, on account of this road
being In range of the German guns, It
could only be used at night; other
wise the enemy airmen and observa
tion balloons would get wise and it
would only be a short tune before the
road would be shelled, thus causing
many casualties.
" 'For the last ten days reports had
been received at division headquarters
that every time troops passed a cer
tain point on this road, marked by an
Did church, they were sure to click
heavy shell fire from the Boches. On
nights when no troops passed through
there would be very little shelling, If
any, but if a battalion or brigade hap
pened to come this way they suffered
from heavy shell fire.
"'Upon receipt of the first two or
three of these reports we put It down
as a strange coincidence, but when the
fifth report of this nature' reached us
It was evident to us that a spy was
at work, and that in some mysterious
way the information of the movements
at our troops were communicated by
him to the enemy, ,
"'Myself and another bloke, who
had been working with me for the last
two weeks, were assigned to the task
f discovering and apprehending this
spy. To us it seemed an impossible
job, as there were no clues to work
upon. As Is usual, our general, "Old
Pepper," called us in, and said :
"'"There is a spy working in the
rtllage of B ; go get him."
"'Foolishly, I butted in and asked
(or further Information. I got it, all
right With a lowering look which
made me tremble, he roared :
""Go and dig up your own clues,
What are you with the Intelligence de
partment for? Intelligence department!
It ought to be called the 'brainless de
partment' if you two are a sample of
the rest"
" 'Somehow or other we didn't stop
to argue with "Old Pepper." "
At this point Sailor Bill butted in:
"Bllme me. he's Just like an admiral
we naa m our navy.tms "Old pepper.' "
A chorus of, "Oh, shut up, you're In
(he army now," cut oft Bill's story. We
knew Sailor Bill. If he ever got start
ed talking navy, nothing short of a gas
attack could stop him. :
Sailor Bill, with, an indignant glance
around the circle, relapsed Into silence.
Curly Wallace exclaimed : .
"To 'ell with your admiral; do you
want to hear this story? If you do,
shut up and let me tell it."
"Go on, Curly, never mind; he's
harmless," ejaculated Happy Hough
ton. Curly carried on, with:
"'Getting our packs and drawing
three days' rations, we started hiking
It for the village of B . We arrived
there about four In the afternoon, and
after putting our packs and rations in
an old barn which we intended to use
as our billet during our stay in the vil
lage, we left on It general tour of In
spection.
"'There were about three hundred
civilians In the place, who preferred to
brave the dangers of shell fire, as there
was a rich harvest to be reaped from
the sale of farm produce, beer and
wines to the troops billeted all around.
Two estaminets (French saloons)
were still open and did a thriving busi
ness. " 'Occasionally a shell would burst
in the village, but the civilians did not
seem to mind It ; Just carried on with
their farming and business as usual.
" 'We decided to make a thorough
search of all houses, barns and build
ings for concealed wires, arid did so,
but with barren results. Nothing sus
picious was found. This search wast
ed five days, and we were in despera
tion. Watch and question as we would,
not a single clue came to light
" "During this time two large bodies
of troops had passed through and each
time they were heavily shelled, with
dire results.
'On the sixth night of our assign
ment, utterly disgusted, I, being in
Charge, had decided to chuck up the
whole business and report back to
Old Pepper that we bad made a mess
out of the Investigation. My partner
pleaded with me to stick it out a cou
ple of days more, and after he gave
me a vivid description of what Old
Pepper would hand out to us I decid
ed to stick It out for six months, if
necessary. To celebrate this decision
my slde-ktcker offered to blow to sev
eral rounds of drinks. Now, this fel
low had never, during my acquaint
ance with him, offered to spend a ha'
penny, so I quickly accepted his offer
and we went to the nearest estamlnet
' 'Sitting around a long table, drink
ing French beer and smoking cigar
ettes, was a crowd of soldiers, laugh
ing, joking, arguing and telling stories.
"'We sat down at the end of the
table, and In a low tone tried to work
impossible theories as to how the epy,
if there was one by this time we
were doubtful could get the Informa
tion back to the German batteries.
"'Right across from us were two
soldiers arguing about farming. Sud
denly my side-klcker pinched me on
the knee and whispered :
" "Listen to what those two fellows
across the table from us are saying. It
sounds good."
" 'I listened for about a minute and
then paid no further attention. At
that time farming In no way Interested
me. I wanted to catch that spy, and
started devising impossible theories as
to the ways and means of doing so.
At last I gave up In disgust My part
ner was still attentively listening to
the two across the table from us. An
other poke in the knee from my part
ner and I was all attention. One of the
fellows across the way was talking:
" "Well, I don't see why this French
blighter should change horses in his
plow every afternoon. I've watched
him for several days. Now, in the
morning he uses two grays, and then
about two In the afternoon he either
hooks up two blacks or a gray and a
black. French wnys may be different,
but this frog-eater Is very partial to
the colors of his team. He works the
grays all morning and then changes
them In the afternoon. Now, figure it
out for yourself. He starts work with
the two grays about six o'clock in the
morning; works the two beggars up
till noon. That's six hours straight
Theh he sticks them In the stable, lays
off for two hours, and In the afternoon
about two o'clock the new relay of
animals comes on and works up till
four. Now, anybody with any brains
In their nappers knows that is no way
to keep horses in condition, working
one team oyer six hours and the other
team only two hours. I know, because
we have been farmers in our family
back in Blighty for generations."
, I was all excitement, and a great
hope surged through me that at last
we had fallen on the clue that we were
looking for. Restraining my eager
ness as much as possible I addressed
the fellow who had Just spoken:
" "Well, mate, I don't like to Intrude
into your conversation, but I've also
been a farmer all my life and I don't
see anything queer in the actions of
this French farmer."
"He answered: "Well, bllme me,
there might be a reason for this
blighter doing this, but I can't figure
it out at all. If you can explain it go
ahead."
"'I answered: "Well, perhaps if
you can give a little more details about
it it would be easy enough to explain,
Who is the farmer, and where is his
farm located?"
""He swallowed the bait, all right,
and informed me that the farmer was
plowing a field on a hill about five
hundred yards west of the church at a
point where our troops were being
shelled.
"'Buying a round of drinks, I
nudged my partner and he came in on
the conversation. The two of us, by
adroit questioning, got the exact loca
tion of the field and a description of
tho farmer.
'"I pretended to be sleepy, and,
yawning, got up irom tne table, say
ing that I was going to turn in, and
left My partner soon followed me.
Upon reaching our billet, we outlined
our plan. We decided that next morn
ing we would get up at daybreak and
scout around the field to see if there
was a hiding place.
" 'Sure enough, along one edge of the
field ran a thick hedge. We secreted
ourselves In this and waited for de
velopments.
"'At about 'six In the morning, the
farmer appeared, driving two grays,
which he hooked to the plow, and car
ried on his work. To us there ap
peared nothing suspicious In his ac
tions. We watched him all morning.
At noon he unhooked the horses and
went home. We remained In hiding,
afraid to leave, because we wanted to
take no chances of being seen by the
farmer. We had forgotten to bring
rations with us, bo it was a miserable
wait until two o'clock, at which time
Hooked to the Plow, and Carried on
His Work.
the farmer reappeared, driving two
blacks, which he hitched to the plow,
and carried on until four o'clock, and
then knocked off for the day. That
night troops came through and, as usu
al, were shelled.
"'Next morning, at daybreak, we
again took our stations in the hedge,
this time bringing rations with us.
The farmer used the same grays in
the morning, but in the afternoon he
appeared with a black and a gray, and
again knocked off around four o'clock.
No troops came through that night,
and there was no shelling.
" 'Next day the former repeated the
previous day's actions two grays in
the morning and a black and a gray
in the afternoon. No troops, no shell
ing. '1 'We were pretty sure that we had
him, but this arresting a spy on slim
evidence is a ticklish matter. We
didn't want to make a mess of the af
fair, or perhaps send an Innocent man
to his death, so the following day we
again took up our stdtlons. Sure
enough, it was two grays in the morn
ing, but in the afternoon he used two
blacks. That night troops came
through and were shelled. We had
solved the problem. Two grays in the
morning mean nothing. The actual
signal to the enemy was the change
of horses in the afternoon ; two blacks
meaning "troops coming through to
night, shell the road ;" a gray and a
black, "No troops expected, do not
shell."
"When it got dark and it was safe
to leave the hedge, we Immediately re
ported the whole affair to the town
major (an English officer detailed in
charge of a French village or town
occupied by English troops) who, ac
companied by us and a detail of six
men with fixed bayonets, went to the
farmer's house that night and arrest
ed him. He protested his innocence,
but we took him to military police
headquarters where, after a grueling
questioning, he at last confessed.
"It was a mystery to us how this
farmer knew that troops were com
ing through, because he never made
a mistake in his schedule. After fur
ther questioning he explained to us
that if we searched In his cellar and
raised up an old flagstone with a
ring in it, we would find a telephone
set The other end of this set was
established In an estamlnet in a little
French village eleven kilos distant
His confederate was so situated on
the road that troops coming into the
village had to pass the door. As
troops march only at night while In
the fire sector, his confederate could
safely figure out that the passing
troops would be quartered In his vil
lage until the next night, when, under
cover of darkness, they would start
for the next village, and would have
to pass the point in the road by the
old church. He would Immediately
telephone this information to the
farmer, who would change his horses
accordingly. The hill on which he
did his plowing could be easily ob
served from an observation balloon
in the German lines, and thus the sig
nal was given to the German artillery.
'"We still carried on with our third
e'egree, and got further valuable infor
mation from him:
"'If, in the plowing, two gray
horses were used on two consecutive
"I Have a Good Mind to Send You
Back to Your Units."
afternoons, it meant that the use of
the road bad been indefinitely discon
tinued for troops and supplies.
(Continued Next Week)
Ed. S. Bowman filed suit against
T. W. Linn and O. S. C. Gerber, doing
business as Linn & Gerber at Molal
la, to collect $766.40, claimed due
him and that $207.50 is due Ora E.
Coover, which bill was transferred to
him.
ave you ever heard this?
is made from Cream of Tartar
derived from grapes
Royal Contains No Alum
Leaves No Bitter Taste
Slat's Diary
Friday just got home frum a
party wich I attended tonite. J. E.
was there & we
played a game
called post Of
fice wich mostly
is kissing who
Ever you want
21 Wen my turn
come 2 call sum
1 in 2 kiss I
called J. E. fer
a 3 ct stamp
wich is S kisses
then I got wcr
ryed & thought
may Be she
would get mad.
so wen she come
in the room I
sed now if you
dont want me 2 kiss you turn yure
hed. She diddent & I did. Man 0
man it was just like berrying yure
face m a handfull of fresh Dewey
vilets. & I used 2 think ice cream
was good. Wen I went out they
ast J. E. to call a kustomer & she
sed nuthing doing Im sold out &
she cum out with me, Guess May
be I aint strong. No sleep for me
tonite.
Saturday Had a nother fite to.
day with Slimey Lukens. come
home kinda mussed all up & ma
sed 2 me youve ben fiteing agen &
Im ashamed of you' & I replyed if
she cud see Slimey she wood be
mitey proud of me.
Sunday after Sunday skool Jake
& me found a nest of little bitsy
Robbens wich had just a littel bit
of hair on there backs. The cutest
littel things.
Monday Jake found a tooth
Brush & washed his teeth and wen
teecher seen him she was very Su
prized and wanted 2 know wot was
the matter with him.
Tuesday Squeaky Stone has got
the meenest pa in this here hole
town, his pa give him a dime if he
would go 2 bed las nite without his
supper. Wich he did. And this morn
ing his pa charged him a dime for
his brekfast before he wood let him
eat any. Sed he et 2 much.
Wednesday pa was out pritty late
las nite & ma locked the dore on him
& wen pa tride 2 get in he cudent.
Finely ma went 2 the window & sed
wot do you want & pa anserred &
sed I want 2 stay here all nite & ma
All rite go ahead and stay
there. Wich he did. It was a nice
warm nite tho. But pa diddent seam
2 like it much.
Thursday teecher was explane-
ing how you cant add trees & men
nor take ottomobeels frum horses and
etc. & Jake ast if you cuddent take
milk frum cows & I sed ma cud take
money frum pa's pocket, if he was
Asleep.
SHOT HOLE BORER HITS
PEAR AND PRUNE TREES
"Twenty per cent of my five-year-old
prune orchard is attacked by shot
hole borer," writes a Salem grower.
Nearly every pear tree in a large
commercial prchard is infested, ac
cording to reports from Washington
county. Many trees in both orchards
were apparently vigorous until a few
days ago when the blighting effects
appeared. An examination showed
many small holes in the bark holding
a small, blunt, dark brown beetle
busily boring into the heart wood.
They were shot hole borers."
"This borer breeds in devitalized
trees affected with sour sap," says
A. L. Lovett, entomologist of the O.
A. C. experiment station. "The
wholesale attack at this time is due
to the lack of vigor in the trees from
the adverse climatic conditions of the
last three years. The beetles tunnel
through the trees and plant a fungus
which grows in the presence of sour
sap. On this fungus the larvae feed.
"Use every reasonable means ' to
wMy baking powder," gays the
smooth solicitor, "costs less than
Royal."
But he omits to say that it often
leaves a bitter taste, that food made
with it is likely to stale in- a day and
that it contains alum, which is con
demned by many medical authorities
for use in food.
England and France prohibit the
sale of alum baking powders.
In spite of the heavy death losses by the ravages
of Influenza and War
The Northwestern Mutual
Life Insurance Co.
will pay its policy holders large dividends this year.
When buying insurance why not
buy the best.
S. O. DILLMAN
tAgent for Clackamas County
8th and Main Sts. Oregon City
niiiiiimiii iiiiiiiiiinniu tiiiiiiiiilliiilullllllili!illllll!lllllllllll!IIU!llllWIIIIIIIIIM
increase the vitality of the tree cul
tivation, irrigation, drainage, and
fertilization. Paint the following
over infested portions of trees: Water
3 gallons; soft soap liquid fish oil
1 gallon; crude carbolic acid pint.
"Mix thoroughly and apply with
brush at intervals of one week, using
care to apply to infested parts only.
Three treatments are generally
enough."
An Appeal to Parents
Your children are all entitled to re
ceive a kindergarten education, but
sufficient kindergartens have been es
tablished for only one in eight of our
nation's children. In many commun
ities the parents have secured a kin
dergarten by presenting a petition to
their school' authorities. The Bu
reau of Education will gladly furnish
upon request, blank petitions and
propaganda leaflets. Bessie Locke,
Director of Kindergarten Extension.
United States Bureau of Education,
8 West 40th Street, New York.
Build Now. More Americans should
own their own homes.
"In the Public Eye"
MOST eye-trouble is
the direct result
of eye-neglect. When
the first signs of eye
strain appear a compe
tent optometrist should
. bo consulted. We will
thoroughly examine the
delicate mechanism of
your eyes and prescribe;
the glasses that will
give you comfort and
ease. Our moderate
charge is regulated by
the amount of work on
the lenses and the value
of the mountings you
choose;
OPTOMETRIST
612 Main St. Oregon City
Baking
Powder
We Have
a
Surprise
for
YOU
This
Week-
Look in Our
Window!
Oregon City Retreading
and
Vulcanizing Works
. 1003 Main St.
Oregon City, Oregon
THAT BAD BACK
Do you have a dull, steady ache in
the small of the back sharp, stab
bing twinges when stooping or lift
ingdistressing urinary disorders?
For bad back and weakened kidneys
Oregon City residents recommend
Doan's Kidney Pills. Read this Ore
gon City statement.
Mrs. A. Reddaway, 116 S. Center
street, Bays: "My back ached most all
the time. It was so weak and sore
that when I got down to do anything,
it was all I could do to straighten up.
Sharp catches shot through my kid
neys and for a minute I could hardly
move, they were so severe. My kid
neys also adted irregularly. I felt
tired all the time and could hardly
drag myself around. After I had
been taking Doan's Kidney Pills
awhile my back felt stronger and my
kidneys acted more regularly."
Price 60c, at all dealers. Don't
simply ask for a kdney remedy get
Doan's Kidney Pills the same that
Mrs. Reddaway had. Foster-Milburn
Co., Mfgrs., Buffalo, N. Y. (Adv.)