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About The Monmouth herald. (Monmouth, Or.) 1908-1969 | View Entire Issue (June 7, 1918)
MACHINE ' tYNOMIS. CHAPTER i-F1rTbr th mwi of th linking of th Lu.Msnls br 0rmn submarine, Arthur Guy Empy, an Amsrt M, Hirrt hit offlr la Jersey City and toM to Enland whers h soUsta In the British army. CHAPTER n-Aftr a Period of train- I 1.' I . A uru- ks and won flndi hlmwjlf In rut billet "somewhere In Franc,'' where b first malm the acquaints no of the ever-pree- : CHAPTER ni-Empoy attend! hli first church aenrtces at the front while a Ger man Fokker circle over the confregatloa. CHAPTER IV-Empey'i command foes Into th front-line trenchet and la unaer Are for the Brat Urn. CHAPTER V-Empey learns to adopt the motto of the Brtlsh Tommy, "If you are iroln to tret It, you'll let It. so never "CHAPTER VI Back n reel biinui, Em- orderly. CHAPTER VII-Empey learns how th British soldier are fed. CHAPTER TITT-Back In th front-line trench, Empey see hi first friend of the tranche "go West" CHAPTER IX Empty malt Ws first Malt to a dugout In "Suicide Ditch." CHAPTER X-Empey learn what con stitutes a "day's work" In th front-line trench. CHAPTER XI-Empey goes "Over th top" for th drat tiro In a charge on the German trenches and la wounded by a bayonet thru . R XIT-Empey Join Oie "sul as the bombing souad la called. CHAPTER Xuf-EacFTo'mmy tU an official bath. CHAPTER XIV-Empey helps dlf an advanced trench under German Are. CHAPTER XV-On "Ustenlnf post" tt No Man's Land.' - ' ' ' CHAPTER XVI-Two artillerymen "put one over" on Old Pepper, their regimental command . CHAPTER XVH-Empey 'hMijrrow - cape while, on pe-iroi ouiy m Chapter xvm-8ck hi ret wiiets ESv wrVd stacta farce comply. .. ten Ine Saxotis, and Immediately t vol- ' lev nf "TVinntt. nnfl RHtvbna" rnnuM be heard and It Was Fritz' turn to get a crick In his back from stooping, and the people in Berlin would dose tbelr windows, : r. Usually when an Irishman takes over a trench, just before "stand down" in the moraine, he sticks his rifle over the top, aimed In the direction of Ber lin, and engages In what is known as , firing fifteen shots in a minute. He It not aiming at anything In particular Just sends over each shot with a . prayer, hoping that one of his stray will get some poor unsuspecting Frits i .1. . i i . . . in ine nanper nunarens or vaniB oe- liind the lines. It generally does; that's ' the reason the Bocb.es hate the man "III UUU B 101C The Saxons, though better than the Prussians and Bavarians, have a nasty trait of treachery in their makeup. ', At one point of the line where the trenches "ere very close, a stake was 4.iven Into the ground midway be tween the hostile lines. At night when it was his turn, Tommy would crawl to this itake and attach some London papers to it, while at the foot he would f luce tins of bully beet, fags, sweets, and other delicacies that he had re ceived from Blighty in the ever looked for parcel Later on Fritz would come gut and get these luxuries. The next night Tommy would go out to see what Frlti put Into his stocking. The donation generally consisted of a paper from Berlin, telling who was winning the war, some tinned sausages, cigars, and occasionally a little beer, but a funny thing, Tommy never re turned with the beer unless it was In side of him. His p!atoon.got a whiff of his breath one night and the offending Tommy lost his Job, One night a young English sergeant crawled to the stake and as he tried to detach the German paper a bomb ex ploded and mangled blm horribly. Fritz hod set a trap and gained another vic tim which was only one more black mark against him in the book of this war. From that time on diplomatic re lations were severed. Returning to Tommy, I think his spirit is best shown in the questions he asks.' It Is never "who Is going to win" but always "bow long will it taker CHAPTER XX. , . ! "Chats With Fritz." Wft WAFA wf mmlnc In mnnnv fvstm ' ; " ' " ---""rj aaa UIVUI.J , UVUI the'recelpts of our theatrical venture, and had forgotten all about the war, when an order came through that our brigade would again take over their sector of the line. The day that these orders were la wt our captain assembled the jcoiri AiTAivimON50LPim WW WM AhTHllhtffl JWIUUKUUIUIFLI Om.BYM NANCE ' 'BY pany ana astea ror volunteers To go (o the Machine Gun school it St Omar. I volunteered and was accepted. Sixteen men from our brigade left for the course In machine gunnery. This course lasted two weeks and we rejoined our unit and were assigned to the brigade machine gun company. It almost broke my heart to leavt my company mates, The gun we used wai the Tickers, Light .303, water cooled. I was still a member of the Suicide club, having Jumped from the frying pan Into the fire. I was assigned to section 1, gun No. 2, and the first time "lnH took position In the front-line trench. During the day our gun would be dismounted on the fire step ready for Instant use. We shared a dugout with the Lewis gunners. At "stand to" we wonld mount our gun on the parapet and go on watch beside It until "stnnd down" In the morning. Then the gun would be dismounted and again placed In readiness on the fire step. We did eight days In the front-line trench without anything unusual hap pening outside of the ordinary trench routine. On the night that we were to "carry out," a bombing raid against the German lines was pulled off. This raid ing party consisted of sixty company men, sixteen bombers, and four Lewis machine guns with their crews. ' The raid took the Booties by surprise and was a complete success, the party bringing back twenty-one prlsouers. The Germans must tare been awful ly sore, because tnef ' turned loose a barrage of shrapnel, with a few "Min nies" and "whizz bangs" intermixed. The shells were dropping Into, our front line like hailstones. - - ' To get even we could have left the prisoners In the fire trench, In charge of the men on guard and let them click Fritz's strafelng but Tommy does not treat prisoners that way. ? - Five of them were brought Into my dugout and turned over to me so that they would be safe from the German fire. In the candlelight, they looked very much shaken, nerves gone and chalky faces, with the exception of one, a great big fellow. He' looked very much at ease. I liked him from the start I got out the mm Jar and gave each a nip. and passed around some fags, the old reliable Woodbines. . The other prisoners looked their gratitude, but the big fellow said In English, "Thank you, sir, the rum is excellent and I ap preciate it also your kindness." ' He told me his name was Carl Schmidt of the Sixty-sixth Bavarian Light Infantry; that he bud lived six years In New York (knew the city bet ter than I did), had been to Conev Island and many of our ball games. He was a regular fan. I couldn't make him believe that Hans Wagner wasn't the best ball player In the world. From New York he bad gone to Lon don, where be worked as a waiter In the Hotel Russell. Just before the war be went home to Germany to see his parents, the wat came and he was con scripted. He told me he was very sorry to hear that London was In ruins from the Zeppelin raids. I could not con vince him otherwise, for hadn't he seen moving pictures in one of the German cities of St, Paul's cathedral In ruins. I changed the subject because he was so stubborn in bis belief, i It wn my Intention to try and pump him for Information as to the methods of the German snipers, who had been caus ing us trouble In the last few days. I broached the subject and he shut up like a clam. ' After a few mlurues he very Innocently said: "German snipers get paid rewards for killing the English." - - I eagerly asked, "What are theyf He answered : "For killing or wounding an English private, the sniper gets one mark. For killing or wounding an English officer he gets five marks, but if he kills a Red Cap or English general, the sniper gets twenty-one days tied to the wheel of a limber, as punishment for his careless ness." , Then he paused, waiting for me to bite, I suppose. I bit all right and asked him why the sniper was punished for killing an English general. With a smile be re plied; eii, yuu new, n u lira emgnun VH erals were killed, there would be no one left to make costly mistakes." I snut him tip, he was getting too freb for a prisoner. After a while ht winked at me and I winked bark, then the escort came to take the prisoners to th rear. I shook hands and wished him "The best of lurk and safe Jour ney to Blighty." I liked that prisoner, ha was tine fellow, had an Iron Croaa, too. I ad vised him to keep It out of sight or some Tommy would be sending It horns to his girl In Blighty as a souvenir. One dark and rainy night while on guard ws wars looking over the top from th fir step of our front-line trench, when ws heard a noise Imme diately In front of our barbed wire. The sentry next to ni challenged, "Halt who comes there r snd brought his rills to the aim. Ills challenge was answered In German. A captain Id the next traverse climbed upon th sand bagged parapet to Investigate brave but foolhardy deed "Crack" went a bullet and he tumbled bark Into the trench with a hole through his stomach and died a few minutes later. A lance corporal In the next platoon was so en raged at th captain's death that he chucked a Mills bomb In the direction of the noise with the snouted warning to us : "Duck your Dappers, my lurky lads." A sharp dynamite report a liar In front of us, and then silence. Ws Immediately sent np two star shells, and In their light could see two dark forms lying on the ground close to our wire, A sergeant and four stretcher-bearers went out In front and soon returned,1 carrying two limp bodies. Down In the dugout In the flickering light of three candles, ws saw that they were two German offi cers, one' a captain and the other an "unterofflzler," t rank one grade higher than a sergeant general, but below the grade of lieutenant The captain's face) had been almost completely torn away by the -bomb's explosion. The unterofflzler wns alive, breathing with difficulty. In a few min utes be opened his eyes and blinked in the glare ot the candles. The pair bad evidently been drink ing heavily, for the alcohol fumes were sickening and completely pervaded the dugout I turned away In disgust tinting to see a man cross the Oreat Di vide full of booze. , One of our officers could speak Ger man and he questioned the dying man. In a faint voice. Interrupted by fre quent hiccoughs, the unteroffliler told his story. There had been drinking bout among the officers (q ne of the Ger man dugouts, the maw beverage being champagie; With shrunken leer be Informed us that champagne was plen tiful on tbelr side and that It did not cost them anything either. About seven that night the conversation had turned to the "contemptible" English, and the captain bad made a wager that he would hang his can on the English barbed wire to show his contempt for the English sentries. The wager was accepted. At eLght o'clock the captain snd be had crept out Into No Man's Land to carry out this wager. They bad . gotten about halfway across when the drink took effect and the captain fell asleep. After about two hours of vain attempts the unter offliler had at last succeeded In wak ing the captain, reminded him of his bet, and warned blm that he would be the laughing stock of the officers' mess If be did not accomplish his object, but the captain was trembling all over and Insisted on returning to the German lines. In the darkness they lost their bearings and crawled toward the Eng lish trenches. They reached the barbed wire and were suddenly challenged by our sentry. Being too drunk to realize that the challenge was In English, the captain refused to crawl back. Finally the unterofflzler convinced his superior that they were In front of the English wire. Realizing this too late, the cap tain drew his revolver and with a mut tered curse flred blindly toward our trench. His bullet no doubt killed our captain. Then the bomb came over and there he was, dying and a good Job too, we thought The captain dead? Well, bis men wouldn't weep at the news. Without giving us any further Infor mation the unterofflzler died. . We searched the bodies for Identifi cation disks but tbey had left every thing behind before starting on their foolhardy errund.- . " Next afternoon we burled them In our little cemetery apart from the graves of the Tommies. If you ever go into that cemetery you will see two little wooden crosses In the corner of the cemetery set away from the rest They read: Captain German Army Died 1916 Unknown R. L P. i Unterofflzler , ! German Army I k - Died 1916 " i., ' Unknown , B. L P. Ch if i fen, ; About Turn. i.The next evenlnu we w.ere removed t tii uriKiKie, ami once agn'.n returned to rest Mitels. ln arriving at these billet we were given twenty four hours In which to rlemi up. I had Just finished getting the mini from my uniform when the orderly sergeant In formed me that my nnm wns In order to leave, and that I was to reiort to the orderly room In the morning for or dera, transportation and rations, i nenrly had a lit, hustled itmut parking up, tilling my pack with sou venir such a shell heads, dud ImiiiiIis, nose raps, shrapnel balls, and s Prus sian guardsman's helmet In fact, he fore I turned In that night I bnd every thing ready to report at the orderly room at nine the next morning. I was the envy nf th whole section, swanking around, telling nf th good time I was going to have, the places I would visit, and the real, o'd English beer I Intended to guiale, Brt of rubbed It Into them, because they all do It, and now that It was my turn, I took pains to get my own bark. At nln I reported to th captain, re ceiving my travel order and pass. He asked m how much money I wanted to draw, I glibly answered, Three liunilml francs, air;" he Just as glibly handed me one hundred, ' Reporting at brigade headquarters, villi my park weighing a ton, I waited, with forty other, for the adjutant to Inspect os. After an hour's wait, he came out ; must hav been sort because he wasn't going with us. The quartermaster sergeant Issued us two days' rations. In a tittle whit canvas ration bag, which w tied to our belts. Then two motor lorries ram along and we piled In, laughing, joking, and In the best of spirits. We even loved the Germans, we wer feeling so happy. Our Journey to seven days' bliss In Blighty had commented. Th ride In th lorry lasted about two hours; by this time we wer cov ered with fine, white dust from the road, but didn't mind, even If we wer nearly choking. At th railroad station at T w reported to an officer, who had s white band around his arm, which read "It T. O." (Royal Transportation Offlrer), To us this officer waa Santa Cuius. . The sergeant In charge showed him our orders; he glanced through thera and said: "Make yourselves comfort able on the ulatf-m and dou'l leajre: y 1 Trains into Monmouth ' L've Portland 71.5, a in, Gerllnger 10:20, InoVpend'ce 10.32, Monm'th 10:50 Salem .!, " " " " " " "" - " 1.40, pm ....Dallas 2 ;45 J:I0 ,8.45, " Gerlinger 4:24, Independence 4 :S7, Monmouth 4:55 " " 6.00, " " 1 8:45, . " 6:57, " 7:10 " .Portland 180. Connect with above " Corvallit 6.45, a m Independence 7;.V..., Arrive Monmouth 7:45 " , " 1.16,'pm, " 2:14 2:30 " Dallas 7.00, a m, Arrive Monmouth 7:25 Airlie 8.30, s m and 3:45, pm. Arrives Monmouth9:05 a m and 4:13 p m Leave Independence, 6.50 am, 7.35, 8.45, 10.35, 12.20, t.30, p m, 2.20, 3 50, 4.40, 7.00 Trains out of Monmouth L've Monmouth 7:05 a m. Independence 7:35, Gerlinger 7:49, Ar Salem 8:30 , " Same as abovs . .' Portland 11.10 " Monmouth 1:45, pm, " 2:14. " 2:27, Salem 3:10 ' " Sam as above Portland 5:50 " Monmouth 4:05, " . 4:40, " 4:55. Salem 5:30 " ' 85, am Dallas 10:00 llrtX) " " 4;30, p tn ' 4:45, " 5:35 " ". ;05, a m, Independence 10:32, f'orvallis 11:20 " 4;55,pm, " 6:57, " 7:45 " " . 7;25 s m and 3;10 p m. Arrives Airlie 8 a m and 3;40 pm Leave Monmouth 7.06, k m, 8.15 9.06, 10.50, 12.30, M, 1,45, p m, 2.35, 4.15, 4.65, 7.10 If you have pride in the farm that gives you a home and a living why not show it by naming the farm and doing your corresponding' on printed stationery? Ask us about it Good Printing is the Product of the Herald Print Shop ,I-H..I,I,,III 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 till H t-M-lMM't-l-I-1 111 ld First National Bank Monmouth, Oregon Paid Capital, ' $30,000.00 Surplus & Undivided Profits, $18,000.00 Established ... - 1889. Ira C. Powell, President; J. B. V. Bltler, Vice Pres. Emma M. Parker, Assistant Cashier We are prepared to take care of your ' banking business and Solicit your account. Interest paid on time deposits. DIRECTORS J. B. V. BUTLER, Chairman ; I. M. SIMPSON, WM. - - IRA." C. 4-1 n 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 me train is iiarti to os siong in nvs minutes or flvs hours." It came In fir hours, airing of eleven match boles on big, high wheels, drawn by a dinky Utile engln with th "con." The match boxes wer cntlls cars, on th sides of which waa painted ths old familiar sign, "Homines 40, Chevaux 8." Tb It T. 0. stuck us all luto on car. W didn't car; It waa as good as a Pullman to us. Two days w spent on that train, bumping, stopping, Jerking atirud, and sometimes sliding back. At Hire sta tions w stopped long enough to uiaks some tea, but wers unable to wash, ao when w arrived at H , where ws were to embark for Blighty, ws wer ss blsck ss Turcos snd, with our un shaven fscea, w looked Ilk a lot of tramps. Though tired oot ws wers happy. We had parked up, preparatory to detraining, when a R. T. O. held up hi hand for us to stop where ws wer and ram over. This Is whst be suld : vgrSj j 0sd Bodies lvrywhr. "Boys, I'm sorry, but orders have Just been received cancelling all leave. If you had Iteen three houra earlier you would have gotten away. Just stay In tbnt.troln. as It Is goiiigjiack. jtp'yts. RIDDELL, ROBERT STEELE 1 POWELL 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 H 1 1 1 1 1 1 III 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 .