THE arOKXTKG OREGOXTAS1, MONDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1911.
BATTLE OBSERVED
.SCENE OF FIRE THAT DESTROYED NINE BUILDINGS IN BUSINESS DISTRICT OF GRESHAM.
A
TOP OF -TREE
Place Your Orders Early .
Little of Spectacular Is Seen
in Business-Like Artil- '
lery Routine.
FOR THE
dlitioo
BATTERY FIRING SUPERB
FROM
H T ' f ' N S
1 & - f 1- - V J - ' - - - 1
IB-1 t V-&netm'Li "3i-t f ,.v . V Wa
James O'Donnell Bennett, With
Bavarian Army, Describes Sensa
tions Caused ny Pounding Op
. erations of Great Guns.
BT JAMES OTHDNNELL BENNETT.
(War correspondent of The Chicago Trib
une. Published by arrangement with The
Tribune.)
ON THE FIRING LINE IN COTES
LORRAINE, Dec. ? It waa with a,
manner which I hop seemed cordial,
but In a spirit which waa only moder
ately enthusiastic, that I accepted the
invitation of the Bavarians to climb
one of the trees where lookouts were
signaling- by telephone to batteries In
the valley below.
In the first place, I have 110 passion
. for giddy heights; In the second place,
' I feel an almost morbid love of life,
owing to its surprising interest.
Corespondent lias No Choice.
But as between a broken neck and
the laughter of half a regiment of
deep-chested Bavarians, affectionately
.'. known in the German armies from Ant
werp to St. Mihlel as "those damned
Bavarians," fear nothing, and a man
'.' who declined their invitation to climb
a tree that a small boy would scram
ble up in 10 minutes such a man, I
say, might as well go back to London
and write censored stuff about the
fearful perils he suffered while motor
ing at his ease and eating three times
. -a day amid the scenes of the present
hostilities.
That kind of stuff sells, and every
body in Europe Is too busy or too sad
oust now to take the time to expos
the writer of it aa a flamboyant liar.
Tree SO Feet Hish, Seems ISO.
The tree selected for my observation
point stands on the far edge of the
. camp and at the top of the wooded Elope
which drops down with the valley. To
me it loked 150 feet high. I suppose
it was 80 at the most. But if you
look down from U into the valley you
realize that your fall will be quite
twice the height of the tree. So you
decide not to look".
On the way to the tree dozens of
long gray overcoats are bung on im
provised clothes-horses to dry. They
are sodden with mud and rain. Soldiers
back from 24 hours in the trenches
hung them there. The soldiers are
asleep now under those rafters ehalked
with the inscription, "We Bavarians
fear God and nothing else in the world.'
We pass, too. the hut of a Major of
Artillery. Directly in front of his door-
way is a bombproof pit, calculated to
r keep his thoughts on eternity, but so
conveniently placed that he could al
most leap Into it from his bed. 'But to
assuage the strain of the matters of
which the pit is a reminder there are
lace curtains at his windows
Secret of 'Device" Is Kept.
In the center of the camp Is a cer
tain device which we are asked to
test. We do so with cries of admira
tion, so perfect are its workings.
"It is enormously costly, but enor
mously useful," says one of the officers.
"If you please." he adds, "don't write
of it at this time, for the French don't
know that we have it."
Nothing more 1b said as to keeping
this valuable secret. There is no pal
aver and no insistence. The Germans
wfienthey trust you, trust you to the
hilt, and when they don't well, they
. just don't, and they can be extremely
austere about it.
On the way to the tree nobody could
have missed the device in question.
On the .way back, an hour later, most
persons would have missed it. It Is
still there, but is now of different shape
and size one of those "now-you-see-it
- and - now - you-don't-see-it" things
that would delight the inventive soul
of a Connecticut Yankee.
The glorious Autumn valley is preg
nant with death, and yet at the instant
there is nothing terrible to see In it, A
remote banging and pounding come to
the ears. The sounds are full of mean
ing. As far as the sights which the naked
eye can take in, they mean nothing. A
bluish mist rests lightly over the val
ley. The brown fields, their bound
aries marked off by hedges that still
are green, seem utterly deserted. The
outlines of a church tower, a squat mill,
a bridge, and a huddled village can be
discerned, but nowhere is there any
sign of human comings and goings.
Burning Village Seen.
Part the branches a little and put
your eyes to the field glasses. The
whole picture leaps into sharp outline
and begins to have meaning.
The spirals of yellow smoke are from
a burning village on the opposite hill
side. It has been set alight by shell
fire. To the layman it seems not as much
fighting as dislodging, and the routine
of it is so well ordered that this lay
man has the impression not of the tent
ed field and of martial ardor, but of
projects in process of development by
groups ,of civil engineers who go me
thodically and laboriously about their
work.
Select your position, slowly bring up
your artillery under the protection of
the Infantry and then intrench your in
fantry under the protection of the ar
tillery. After that the duel begins and
it may continue many hours or many
days or many weeks. Considering the
enormous extent of the western battle
line reaching as it loes from Switzer
land Into Belgium there is rfclatively
little spectacular work.
In clearing the ground for the ad
vance of the artillery and In the final
dashen of Infantry by which the re
sults of the artillery's pounding are
converted Into definite triumph and into
occupation of a desired position in that
kind of work there must be a superb
- pictoriap quality. I have seen no such
fighting and I doubt whether any cor
respondent lias seen much of it.
Jn the first place, their room is pre
ferable to their company on such ooca
sions, and in the second place .when
such occasions are Impending the firing
line is a long way in advance of the
places to which correspondents are al
lowed to come. i
The reader must remember that all
localities given over to fighting are al
most as definitely marked off as a foot
balj field. And. indeed, without the
most explicit passports and the most
authoritative escort it is impossible to
penetrate even into the region that lies
around the zone of fighting. Every
road is guarded. Every village contains
a patrol. Every chateau out of the
range of the shells is either a staff
headquarters or a hospital, and no man
passes it unless nis status is thorough
iy uuueiaioua oy every ooay, rrom a
slow-speaking, slow-thinking sentry to
a vehement and autocratic chief of
Stan.
Routine of Battle Businesslike.
Passing for the moment from our
present point of observation to a place
j j J-U-v -g xf V s1Mi 1
) fT "xrttS JSj j. -
f
liPPER PICTURE, RlilNS OX WEST - SIDE OF MAIX STREET LOWER, SITE OF" BARTELT MERCANTILE COM-
PAX Y, OS EAST SIDE OF STREET, WHERE FIRE ORIGINATED.
which. It is permissible to say. lies
nearly 100 miles to the west, the busi
nesslike routine of the operations which
carried the Germans across the Aisne
may be illustrated by the remark of a
German officer who stood on the
heights whither we now have moved.
Before him lay a wide valley. Its bot
tom lands comprising rich and care
fully cultivated fields, untouched by the
hand of war save where a ten-centime
ter shell had helped a farmer ia his
Autumn plowing. Half way up the
opposite slopes the mill, the church and
such like large structures of a village
or two could be discerned and occa
sionally a whole wall of one of these
buildings would go spurting Into the
air, precisely like a sheet of dirty
water. '
When the wall which had thus been
blown into, the air by shell fire sank
to the ground, tongues of fire would
leap from it, growing brighter as the
yellow smoke slowly billowed away.
ltis evident." said an officer who
was watching this, "that the English
have run out of smokeless powder to
day."
. Scene Is Exhilarating;.
It was our first view of shell fire and
It made us pretty tremulous, not with
fear, I can honestly add, for we were
not In the slightest danger, but with
exhilaration arid wonder. When we
tried to call one another's attention to
this or that feature of the scene our
voices shook a good deal, and finally
we ceased speaking much and only
pointed and nudged. There seemed to
us a kind of indecency in our human
chatter amid this solemn thunder.
Well, what the German officer said
that indicated his sense of the routine
nature of the appalling activity was
this:
"It is rather busy today."
With that he picked up a pair of field
glasses and silently studied the oppo
site slopes for five minutes.
The officers said that as we seemed
interested we could go down the hill to
the battery of six 10-centimeters and
see the men firing them "salve," as
the German word of command has it.
meaning volley firing. So we left the
bit of promontory from which the bat
tery fire in the field below was being
directed and took our places in the lane
20 feet wide which ran between the
battery and the telephone pits behind it.
Amulng Results Attained.
But for a half articulate person he
got amazing results as to both noiae
and accuracy. The six gray babies
lurched back on their haunches simul
taneously when he whispered "Salve."
Blue sky and sunshine seemed torn to
tatters, and s,ix shells went singing and
sighing clear across the valley to a
thickly wooded height, where they ex
ploded over an area that seemed to
comprise only a few square yards.
After that you had four minutes to
shake the ache out of your ears be
fore the officer with green lines of
weariness under his eyes whispered
"Salve" again.
But the ' 10-centimeter declaration
was a reticent kind of spending com
pared with the roar of the 21-centimeter
mortars that go traveling on three
flatcars apiece and have difficulty in
finding a. French field which will sus
tain them in wet weather. When we
took our stand behind them they were
not in action. An officer said he be
lieved matters could be arranged.
So he moved IS feet through the ex
tensive thicket in which the guns were
planted and bent over a 'telephone pit
that was screened not with sheaves of
grain, but with branches of oak leaves.
There was conversation with an officer
of a General's staff which was located
six miles away, but that was nothing
as to the distance, I mean, for from
that same Yit you could talk with Ber.
lln if you had something of the highest
Importance to say.
The word ran along the line, "Keep
your mouth open keep your mouth
open keep your mouth open."
It was addressed to the civilians
standing 30 feet behind the guns or
perhaps it was 50.
And an officer who seemed to wish us
well added: "Stand loosely, gentlemen,
stand loosely.'
The shell was on its way to the
enemy.
All I saw was something red, and all
I heard 'was the crack of doom. Later
I tried to remember what was heard or
felt at the firing of a 21. and I decided
that the dominant thing lay in the see
ing, and that what one saw was the
blue sky vanishing in a crimson flash.
Turks Take Hills In Persia.
BERLIN. Dec. 20. by wireless to Sav
vllle, N. Y. The Turks report taking
some hills overlooking Kotur, near Lake
Urumlah, Northwestern Persia.
MAYOR HAS LIFE JOB
L. J. Simpson, of Nortfr Bend,
Has Eye on Congress. .
HARBOR AID IS SOUGHT
Perpetual Executive Tells of Ex
tensive Public Work Completed
and Contemplated, Declaring
Coos Bay Prosperous Place.
Did you ever hear of a man, and a
young and healthv one at that, elected
Mayor of a thriving cty for life?
A person of such distinction is in
Portland- now in the person of L. J.
Simpson, Coos Bay enthusiast, who
has been Mayor of North Bend since
that city was born officially 18 years
ago.
"The people in my' section were not
satisfied wrth -the Ten Commandments
laid down in the Bible," said Mr.
Simpson in the lobby of the Hotel Port,
land yesterday. "They have pledged
themselves to this eleventh command
ment: 'There shall not be a new Mayor
at North Bend so long as L. J. Simp
son lives.' "
But If Mr. Simpson has his own way
he will upset the commandment a
couple of years for he wants to suc
ceed Willis C. Hawley as Representa
tive in Congress and is already nurs
ing his candidacy. He is a staunch Re
publican and will seek to defeat Mr.
Hawley for the nomination.
If he goes to Congress Mr. Simpson
intends to see to it that Coos Bay and
other harbors along, the Pacific Coast
get their full quota in Federal appro
priations. , The object of his present
visit is to' confer with Major Morrow
relative to the prospect of renewing
work on the Coos Bay Jetty. Providing
Major Morrow will recommend the
work. Mayor Simpson says North Bend
will send a large delegation to Wash
ington to work for the appropriation.
' "The Port of Coos Bay has estab
lished a district including the natural
watershed of the bay and has voted
$600,000 in bonds to improve the inner
harbor," said Mr. Simpson. "This means
an assessment of 55 for each man,
woman and child in the district. By
the time our $600,000 has been spent
we will have a channel 25 feet deep at
mean lower low water and 300 feet
Vide.
"The ttwn of North Bend, population
3500, has just spent 1165,000 on im
provements, and a paving contract is
pending. Next year the new grade be
tween North Bend and Empire, four
miles distant, will be hard-surfaced. In
addition there Is about (400,000 worth
of road work in sight In the Coos Bay
district. -- "
"Work is about to be started on the
175,000 tiimpson Hotel and between
1500 and 2000 men are employed In
building the railroad into the Coos
Bay district. This work and the fact
that all the big sawmills are running
eight-hour shifts makes Coos Bay the
most prosperous community on the
Coast."
FIRE BURNS BUILDINGS
Continued From First Page.)
men, who worked heroically and saved
other buildings that were threatened.
The home of Peter Mitchell, nearly
two blocks from the scene of the blaze,
was set afire by flying sparks, but was
saved by a bucket brigade.
Wires Are Prestrate.
Many telephone and light wires were
burned, and direct communication with
Portland was interrupted for a time.
The places burned follow;
Bartelt Mercantile Company, stock
loss $15,000, insurance $11,000. Loss on
building about $6000. Warehouse con
taining blacksmith's equipment.
J. C. Hessel & Son, Implements; stock
loss $5000, Insurance $2500. Ed Osborne,
owner of building, loss about $1200.
- Ed Osborne, blacksmith shop and
J - -sl 1
9" 1 1
s'; - r
J. k.
wagon factory. Building and equip
ment total loss.
Max Schneider, photograph gallery
and equipment, total loss.
Palmquist harness store; loss (1500,
insurance $1000.
Tietx meat market; loss $1000, insur
ance $800.
J. J. Halligan, barber-shop; loss $300.
D. A. Hart, residence; loss $250.
' The Condon Hotel sustained damage
of about $600, while the heat and water
did slight damage to the Bank of
Greshani, the Sterling & Kidder hard
ware store and the C. C. general mer
chandise store.
Gresham Firemen Praised.
We got the call at 4 A. M.," said
Captain William Hansen, of Engine No.
9, last night. "I don't know Just
what time we made, on the trip out.
The boys in Gresham said that we ar
rived there Just 17 to 19 minutes after
they called us.
"But I don't know about that. The
roads were bad, and it was dark. We
made as good time as we could with
safety. We could see the fire from
Mount Tabor, as we came up on the
Base Line road.
"Gresham has a good little fire de
partment and they were doing good
work when we got there. But the
east wind was too strong for them.
We had plenty of water, but the build
ings were" all close together and it
was a hard Job to fight the fire.
Portland Flremea Shocked.
"A lot of our boys, and some of the
Gresham people, were shocked by live
wires. They were falling all around.
Before we left we chopped all the
live wires and cleared them off the
street. We got back to Portland at
9:25 A. M, The people of Gresham
sewed breakfast, to us after the fire."
Eight members of Engine No. 9's
crew went to tha fire. They were:
Captain William Hansen, Lieutenant
Frank J. McFarland, Hushel Thomas,
chauffeur; George Holsheimer, - Jack
Kline, Ira Gardner, T. O. Baker and
A. J. Conrad. ,
.The men say that the water froze
on their clothing.
NEIGHBOR OF LASSEN BELIEVED
TO BE IN ERUPTION.
Theory That Forest Fire Accounts for
Smoke Discredited by Snow Crater
Not Kaons to Exist.
REDDING, Cal., Dec. 20. Mount
Kanaka. 30 miles west from Redding,
broke into, eruption shortly after noon
today, according to residents of Shasta
and Trinity counties.
A dense column of black smoke as
cended from the extreme peak of the
mountain and hung plume-like until
darkness hid the phenomenon from
view. In Redding it was declared by
several persons that Ore could be dls
tingulshed by the aid of glasses In -the
smoke at the apex of the peak. No
previous crater existed oh Mount Ka
naka, as far as could be ascertained.
Mount Kanaka is one of the Yolo
Bolo mountains that form part of the
Coast Range and is 15 miles north of
Lassen Peak in nearly the same corre
sponding position across the valley
from Redding. The eruption, while not
of as great magnitude as the recent
disturbances of Lassen Peak, bore the
same general appearance.
That forest fires were responsible
for the smoke plume was not believed
possible, owing to the fact that the
mountain was covered by a heavy cap
of snow, and because the display had
continued for more than four hours
without spreading In any direction or
increasing or diminishing in volume
when night bid it from view.
A party of Investigation was formed
tonight and will proceed to the scene
of the disturbance tomorrow.
Mount Kanaka is 5000 feet high and
is situated one mile south of Mount
Bally.
Women Cremated in Scotch Castle,
GLASGOW, via London, Dec. 21
Three young women guests were burned
to death in Herbertshire Castle, a his
toric old feudal, building at Denny,
seven miles from Stirling, and owned
by C. W. Forbes, when it was destroyed
by fire today. Many valuable paint
ings were lost.
OF
Tine Orego
Every resident of Portland, the Columbia River Basin and Oregon
8hould secure a copy of the New Year's Edition of The Oregonian. It
should be the duty of every person interested in the welfare and devel
opment of the state to send a copy of this great edition to each of his
friends in other states.
The forthcoming number will be distinctive and unusually attrac
tive. Articles of compelling interest, statistics and illustrations com
pose a complete resume of progress in 1914. Without doubt it is the
greatest medium for advertising Oregon's development.
It will contain elaborate pictorial features, portraying the important
activities of the state.
It will feature Portland's maritime . growth and' harbor and river
improvement. Oregon's trade opportunities with foreign lands will ba
exhaustively treated.
This great edition will be on sale Friday, January 1, 1915. Single!
copy 5c; postage 5c.
SlU out blank form and Bend to Oregonian officeSixth and Alder Sta,
Name '. I Street I Town j State
m
I
,- ' ' m
THE OREGONIAN,
Portland, Oregon
Gentlemen : Enclosed
Year's Annual to each of
Sent by
(Duplicate blanks may
Circulation Department),
MR. LANE'S ACT SKIMPS
SECRETARY ASKED TO GO FURTHER
AND APPROPRIATE FUND.
Authority of Congress Not Required and
Mr. Chapman Sogseeta Stigma of
"Passing; Back' Remains.
fll "
While Oregonians generally were
gratified to learn that Secretary of the
Interior Lane had announced that he
would approve the appropriation of
$450,000 for irrigation work in Oregon
without the necessity of another J460.
000 appropriation on the part of the Leg.
islature, the prevailing opinion is that
he should go even farther than that if
he Is disposed to do the right thing by
Oregon.
, "It is not necessary for Secretary
Lane to await action by Congress to
insure Oregon that 4B0,OO0," said C. C.
Chapman, of the Commercial Club, last
night.
"That sum of money already has
been set aside for expenditure in the
State of Oregon and if Secretary Lane
but says the word it will be ready for
use tomorrow. In his statement Sat
urday he recognized the main principle
at issue and shows that he is willing to
compromise his previous stand, but if
he means to do the right thing he
should give Oregon the .benefit of the
funds immediately.
"Congress recently passed, a law
placing the Irrigation, funds on the
same basis with river and harbor im
provements which require the sanction
of Congress to recommendations by
departments for allotments. But this
law does not become effective until July
next and . In the' meantime Secretary
Lane is privileged to -make his allot
ments operative as In the past, especial
ly so in this case, in which the funds
actually were allotted, as the records
show, about a year and a half ago."
Others familiar with the situation
said yesterday that Secretary Lane's
changed front did not mean anything to
them unless to signify that ho intended
to "pass the buck" up to Congress and
refuse to reallot the $450,000 on his own
responsibility.
WAR PICTURESJ0 REMAIN
Hellig Will Show Movies ot Battle
Line for Another Week.
The Belgian war pictures, the first
authentic moving pictures from the
far-flung European battle line, will
continue to run this week at the Hellig
Theater from noon to 11 o'clock at
night. The Hellig Theater procured
the rights for an additional week as
soon as The Oregonian relinquished its
right, which was for one week, in the
interest of charity and Jointly in the
Interest of the Belgian Red Cross fund
of the Chicago Tribune.
The Heilig continues in the arrange
ment with the Chicago Tribune and a
share of the proceeds goes to the Red
Cross fund.
The pictures, which are the first au
thentic motion Alms from the Belgian
battle zone, show actual warfare, life
in the trenches, and the camera has
clicked in the . wake of the big sieg
find. ., for which mail The Oregonian 's New
the above addresses.' (Enclose 10c for each name.)
-
- ........a,
be had by calling, telephoning or writing to The Oregonian
guns and field artillery. The pictures
of the ruined cities are likewise vivid
and realistic.
One of the features of the films is
that they show the effective organiza
tion of the great fighting machines of
the nations involved.
WOMEN'S CAUSE IS AIDED
Mrs. Ii. W. Therkelsen Gives $100
to Congressional TJnion.
Among other gifts to the work of
gaining the Federal amendment for
woman suffrage, known as the Brietow.
Mondell resolution, was that of Mrs.
L. W. Therkelsen. of Portland, who Sat
urday gave $100 to the Congressional
Union, which is heading the campaign
for the passage of the bill. The gift
was made at the meeting of the sustain,
ing committee of the Portland branch
of the Congressional Union, at room 613
Eilers building.
This committee is composed of Dr.
Florence Manion, Mrs. E. 6. Gilbert.
Mrs. A. E. Borthwlck, Mrs. Therkelsen.
A Gala Week at
YE OBJECON GRILLE
The Christmas spirit of good cheer and merriment
prevails at this popular Grille.
Special Table cV Hote
Christmas Dinner
A royal old-fashioned Christmas feast with its bur
den of "goodies," Including a bottle ot fine old
Zinfandel wine, served from 5 to 8:30, l.50.
. Special Entertainment
All-Star Winter Garden Cabaret, with its bevy of
pretty girls and new "hits."
Marion 8. Bellamy, famous Silhouette Artist a
silhouette for every guest.
Reserve your tables now for
New Year's Eve. Phone or Mail.
e (Oregon rtlle
HOTEL OREGON, BROADWAY AT STARK '
Chas. Wright. . M. C. Dickinson.
Pres. Managing; Director.
When la Seattle, Stop at Hotel Seattle We O w n If
Mrs. Emma B. Carroll and Mrs. W. J
Hawkins. Miss Virginia Arnold is tha
union organizer in Portland.
PORTLAND FIGHTER WRITES
John li. Cricbton Tells of Learning
of Supposed Arrest After Landing,
Reading of his alleged capture on tha
high seas en route to Liverpool on hia
arrival In the port abroad was the ln-4
teresting experience of John R. Crlch-.
ton, ex-Portlander. according to a letter;
received from him recently by E. Hub-
bard, a carman residing s-t 1171 Berth
wick street.
Mr. Crlch ton, who for several year a
lived at 1061 Concord avenue, of this)
city, and was an employe of the Port-
land Railway, Light & Power Company,
sailed to his native country about Not
vember 1 in answer to a call for volun
teers to the army issued by the English)
government.
The first half pint of milk at a mllklnc
contained only 1.07 per cent of cream, while
the last haJf pint contained 10.86 per cent.
A
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