HAPPENINGS
CURRENT
WEEK
Brief Resume Most Important
Daily News Items.
COMPILED FOR YOU
Events of Noted People, Governments
and Pacific Northwest and Other
Things Worth Knowing.
Turkish troops have occupied Tabriz,
next to Teheran the largest city in
Persia, according to a Turkish official
statement dated June 14.
Six submarines built for thc(Chilean
government in the United States ar
rived Sunday at the port of Ballenita,
Ecuador. They left an Atlantic port
in the United States May 25.
All new crops have been ordered
requisitioned by the Hungarian gov
ernment, according to a report from
Budapest. All flour mills have been
put under government supervision.
The entire estate in this country of
Mrs. Lily Busch, widow of Adolphus
Busch, late millionaire brewer, of St.
Louis, has been taken over by the gov
ernment under the alien property law.
Major General Leonard Wood' lost
his fight to go to France in command
of troops, temporarily at least, when
orders were issued Wednesday re
assigning him to traintroops at Camp
Funston, Kansas.
Award of the French cross of war to
Private W. J. Guyton as the first
American soldier to be killed on Ger
man soil, is announced by General Per
shing. Guyton belonged to the Amer
ican force operating in the Vosges.
Because of an unprecedented short
age of water in the Okanogan reclama
tion project in Northern Washington,
the department of the Interior has
asked congress for an appropriation of
$125,000 to pump water from a dis
tance. The senate by a vote of 61 to 11
adopted a house resolution authorizing
the erection in a public park in Wash
ington, D. C, of a statue of James
Buchanan. Senators opposing the
resolution attacked the loyalty of the
former President.
What is claimed to be the world's
record production of marketable pota
toes on one acre, 49,531 pounds, or 825
bushels, has been made on an acre
tract of land near Kanab, in the south
eastern section of Utah, just a few
miles from the Arizona state line.
E. P. Fry, a Goulding'Creek, Mont.,
farmer, has been sentenced to serve
six months in jail on his confession
that he sold seed wheat he obtained
from the county to assist him in spring
planting. Fry was arrested on com
plaint of his father, who knew of the
act.
A movement is afoot in Germany
for the organization of strikes because
of the decreased bread ration,, says a
dispatch to the Central News from
Amsterdam. I he situation, it is said,
is so serious that Socialist trade unions
have considered it necessary to wnrn
the workers, but the latter have taken
no notice of tho warning.
Arrested in Bethlehem, l a., on u
charge of violating the trading-with
the-enemy act by conspiring to smug
glo a mysterious message into Den
mark, Charles Strangeland, a widely
known political economist ami until re
cently second secretary of the Amer
ican embassy in I-ondon, was held in
$10,000 bail by the Federal authorities,
The capture of Jeremiah O'Leary,
Irish-American leader, under indict
ment in New York, on a chicken ranch
near Portland, Or., will be followed
soon by arrest of a number of other
Jrisn agitators in the united Males on
charges of treason or espionage. The
government hag considerable undis
closed evidence against O'Leary and
his companions, it is said.
William O. Russell, of Lubbock,
Tex., was found guilty of the murder
of Charles Qualey and sentenced to
10 years In the state penitentiary.
ItuHsell is a banker and cattle man of
Lubbock.
Ivan nradhurjr, a 14 year-old boy, of
linker Or., by reaching Nadie and
Manlcy Strayer, daughter and son of
Seoul. ir W. H. Btmvsr, with a raft
after they hail gone beyond their depth
In a slough whore thoy were bathing,
saved the lives of both children.
Sarah Ilornhardt, the actrees, has
arrived In Seattle to rest before her
engagement at Camp Lewis, Tacoma,
next week. According to her manager
she will stop In the city during the
week and make the 120 mile lo the
camp and back dally by automobile.
First Lieutenant Ray E. Schlckor,
quartermaster's department, V. 8. A.,
committed suicide In Chicago by shoot
ing. In his hand was a note addressed
tit Miss Evelyn Rao, Morrison hotel,
inicago.
Unofficial estimates by naval ex
purls show that in excess of 600.000
tons of shipping sunk by submarines
may be re-floated as a result of sal
vage operations conducted by Great
Britain and the other allied govern
ments. American naval engineers are
to be sent to assist In this work, tak
Ing with then) a fleet of powerful
seagoing tugs, scows and other equip
meut
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: STATE NEWS
IN BRIEF. I
$
General crop conditions in Polk
county are bad and unless rain falls-
soon all harvests will be cut at least
one-half. Aphids have destroyed all
vetch and pea crops and have mater
ially damaged the wheat.
Fire, believed to be of incendiary
origin, completely wiped out the plant
of the Rice-Kinder Lumber company
at Lents, near Portland. The loss is
estimated at between $60,000 and
$70,000, covered by $15,000 insurance.
Physical connection between the
Oregon Electric and the Southern Pa
cific at somewhere near Jefferson
street in Portland is ordered by Re
gional Director Aishton in a letter to
the Public Service commission. Sim
ilar physical connection also is ordered
at Albany.
A. E. Shuster, the North Bend jus
tice of the peace who was convicted of
appropriating $800 of county and state
money to his own uses, was sentenced
by Judge John S. Coke, of the Circuit
court, to spend from one to seven
years in the state penitentiary and pay
a fine of $1300.
Although crops about Sheridan are
fairly good on an average this year,
the amount of rain for the spring sea,
son has been very small. At the pres,
ent time it is feared the grain will not
come up to the standard. Farmers
are cultivating the soil as much as
possible to keep the wet subsoil near
the roots of garden stuff.
So excellent has been the work of
the women, girls and boys who volun
teered to go into the berry fields near
Hood River that many of the growers
feel that the problem has been met to
their entire satisfaction and have de
clared their intentions to continue to
grow berries rather than plow up their
fields as planned in case their berry
crops were lost.
The sale of 4,190,000 feet of western
yellow pine and 380,000 feet of other
timber was authorized by District For
ester Cecil to the Baker White Pine
Lumber company, of Baker, Or. The
timber is located on the Burnt river
watershed, Whitman national forest,
in Eastern Oregon. The prices range
from $2.25 to $3 for the yellow pine to
50 cents per 1000 for the other species.
Indians from Warm Springs and
Celilo take the myriads of brown,
green and black aphids found sucking
the life from plants in gardens adjoin
ing the strawberry fields of Hood
River as a forewarning of the ap
proach of a severe winter. The warn
ings of the red men are having a bet
ter effect toward securing an advance
ordering of winter fuel than the olH
cial advice of the fuel administration.
A second order granting a franchise
has been granted to the Siuslaw Boom
compay covering a part of the Siuslaw
river and streams and tributaries in
Lane county. Under the new order
Knowles, Hadsell and Sweet creeks-
which were covered by the first order-
are eliminated. The order is also
amended to provide that the streams
covered by the franchise are navigable
to logs and provides that private oper
ators along the streams shall not in
terfere with the rights of the com
pany. The first order provided that
the company should not interfere with
the rights of private owners.
Portland's most novel demonstration
of what the Red Cross can do will be
furnished by the opening of a Red
Cross salvage bureau which will han
dle junk old Iron, old metals of every
possible description, rags, bones, pa
per, discarded material of all sorts
ranging from tubes that once held
shaving cream or tooth paste to the
remains of great pieces of machinery.
The posslblo construction of a rail
road by the federal government from
Yaqulna bay, through the Waldport
country and Into Lane county for the
purpose of reaching valuable spruce
tracts, is Indicated by the presence of
surveyors who aro working on the west
coust of Lane county near Heceta Head
lighthouse. The engineers have been
working between Yaqulna bay and
Waldport for several weeks.
To have his right arm shot away
and suffer other serious Injuries while
ho slept In his bunkhnuse was the un
fortunate fate of It. T. Cornelius, an
employe of tho Pelican Bay Lumber
company, when a hlghpower rifle In
the hands of C. E. Lusk was accidental
ly discharged. Lusk was cleaning his
gun In the room adjacent to that of
Cornel Iub and It Is believed that the
muzzle of the gun was not over two
feet from the victim when it was dis
charged. Total fire loss In the state outside of
Portland for May Is estimated at $261,
000 by State Fire Marshal Wells, In his
monthly report. This Include ine
on 69 buildings. Including 33 dwell
ings, 24 mercantile buildings and
stocks, seven barns, four sawmills and
one school. Two of the fires were
from overheated atoves, three from ex
plosion of gasoline, six from the ex
plosion of lamps, six from electric
Irons and defective wiring, eight from
exposures, 21 from defective fluee, and
23 were Incendiary or of unknown
causes.
After L. O. McDonald, aliaa George
Thompson, alias George Van Buren, pa
role Violator, had been apprehended by
Dot Molues authorities and Oregon au
thorities were about to go after him
news reached Salem that Thompson
had been turned loose at Dea Molnee.
The recent hot day have caused a
steady rise of the Columbia river,
which now aland at the hlghrnt mark
this season. Bottom land gardens are
submerged. Trohably the greatest loss
will be to George U Davenport, of Port
land, who had hi foreman plant a
choice variety of potatoes In the land
north of the Moiler depot last week.
HI
I
I
Drive Extends From
Plateau of
Asiago to Sea in
Italy.
RESISTANCE STRONG
Advance Into Defensive Area Draws
Smashing Blows From Defend
ersAttack Seems Failure.
Rome. The Austrians began a great
offensive at 7 o'clock Saturday morn
ing on the front from the Asiago
Plateau to the sea.
This announcement was made in the
chamber of deputies by Premier Or
lando, who added:
"Our troops are everywhere resist
ing magnifioently.
"Nearly the whole of our front is
engaged, as the offensive extends with
extreme violence from Astico to the
Brenta, from the Brenta to the Plave
and along the Piave everywhere, in
volvlng the Astico Plateau, the Mount
Grappa sector and the Plain."
The Italian and allied armies are
bravely sustaining the weight of the
Austrian forces which are attacking
along the front of the Italian theater
from the northwest of the Asiago
plateau eastward to the Plave river
and thence along that stream to where
It joins the headwaters of the Adri
atic sea, a front of nearly 100 miles.
Thei Austrians are striving to de
bouch from the mountain passes and
cross the Piave river and gain the
Venetian plains.
In the initial struggli the enemy
succeeded in capturing several front
line positions in the mountain region
from the British and also in crossing
the Plave.
Counter 8'tacks, however, have re
stored all the positions in the moun
tains, including territory to a depth
of 1000 yards along a 2500-yard front
captured from the British.
At last accounts the allied troops
everywhere were strongly holding the
enemy and King Victor Emmanuel's
men were gallantly striving to throw
back the invaders across the Piave.
The Italians have taken more than
3000 Austrian prisoners, among them
89 officers.
The Vienna war office announces
that up to noon Sunday more than
10,000 Italian, English and French s.l-
diers and a considerable number of
guns bad been captured.
CREW 15 DAYS IN OPEN BOAT
Schooner Crescent, With Copra Cargo,
Burns in Mid-Ocean.
San Francisco. After having been
15 days at sea in a 24-foot boat, the
crew of the burned schooner Crescent,
12 men, with Captain T. Olson and his
wife, calmly tied their craft up at a
pier here late Sunday and climbed
stiffly up a ladder to shore and safety.
The crew had pulled at the oars
Bteadily since the burning Crescent
was abandoned at 3 a. m. June 1. Cap
tain Olson navigated, and Mrs. Olson
had portioned out their food stores
with Buch precision that two days' full
rations yet remained.
Not a craft was sighted, Captain Ol
son reported, from the tlnio they set
out In the small boat until they were
well Inside the Goldou Gate. This was
considered the more remarkable by
the seafaring men who took charge of
the party, because a steamship which
arrived here Juno 9 reported that It
had sighted tho still smouldering hulk
400 miles off Bhore on June 2, and had
kept a sharp lookout for survivors.
The Crescent, a five-masted wooden
vessel of 1443 tons, left Sidney, Aus
tralia, March 23, for San Francisco
with copra. A small fire which broke
out in the galley at 8:30 p. m. May 31
defied the efforts of the ship's com
pany to quench it, and seven hours
later Captain Olson ordered the ship
abandoned.
Mine Point to Hun Plot
London. The British admiralty an
nounces that the area within five miles
of where the Dutch hospital ship Ko
ningln Regentes was sunk has been
searched and no mines have been
found. But between June 2 and 7 nine
newly moored German mines were
swept up In the track used only by
Dutch ships engaged In repatriating
British and German prisoners.
"It seems clear," say the statement
of the admiralty, "that the mines were
laid to catch repatriating vessels on
their pannage west"
Parla Bolster Defense.
Paris. General Gulllaumat, who has
been transferred from the post of com-mandcr-ln-chlcf
of the al led operations
In the Balkans to that of military gov
ernor In Paris, In succession to General
Duball, ha arrived here from Salonlkl
and ha taken up hi new duttea the
preparation of the defenses of Paris in
co-operation with tho newly organ I ted
defense committee. These defensive
mensurea. Premier Clemenccau ex
plained, are of a precautionary nature.
for the safeguarding of the capital.
Dutch Helped Boch, Charge.
I.ondon. The direct charge that the
Dutch government sheltered a German
vessel at a Dutch port to ave her from
being raptured by tho British I made
In a British dispatch which has just
been mado public. The ship wa the
Maria. 4000 tons, which entered the
harbor of Tandjonc Prink. Java. Dutch
Fast Indie. In May. 1916. She was
flying the German mercantile flag, but
Is believed to have been a cruiser.
in
GREA
OFFENSIVE
"OVER
By An American
SoldierWhoWent
EMPEY GETS INTO THE FRONT LINE TRENCH AND
WISHES HE WERE BACK IN JERSEY CITY.
Synopsis. Fired by the sinking of the Lusltanla, with the loss of
American lives, Arthur Guy Empey, an American living In Jersey City, .
goes to England and enlists as a private in the British army. After a
short experience as a recruiting officer in London, he is sent to train
ing quarters in France, where he first hears the sound of big guns
and makes the acquaintance of "cooties."
CHAPTER II. Continued.
The greatest shock a recruit gets
when he arrives at his battalion in
France is to see the men engaging in a
"cootie" hunt. With on air of con
tempt and disgust he avoids the com
pany of the older men, until a couple
of days later, in a torment of itching,
he also has to resort to a shirt hunt,
or spend many a sleepless night of
misery. During these hunts there are
lots of pertinent remarks bandied back
and forth among the explorers, such
as, "Say, Bill, I'll swap yon two little
ones for a big one," or, "I've got a
black one here that looks like Ealser
Bill."
One sunny day in the front-line
trench, I saw three officers sitting out
side of their dugout ("cooties" are no
respecters of rank ; I have even noticed
a suspicious uneasiness about a certain
well-known general), one of them was
a major, two of them were exploring
their shirts, paying no attention to the
occasional shells which passed over
head. The major was writing a letter ;
every now and then he would lay aside
his writing-pad, search his shirt for a
few minutes, get an inspiration, and
then resume writing. At last he fin
ished his letter and gave It to his "run
ner." I was curious to see whether he
was writing to an Insect firm, so when
the runner passed me I engaged him
In conversation and got a glimpse at
the address on the envelope. It was
addressed to Miss Alice Somebody, In
London. The "runner" informed me
that Miss Somebody was the major's
sweetheart and that he wrote to her
every day. Just imagine it, writing n
love letter during a "cootie" hunt J but
such is the creed of the trenches.
CHAPTER III.
I Go to Church.
Upon enlistment we had Identity
disks Issued to us. These were small
disks of red fiber worn around the neck
by means of a string. Most of the Tom
mies also used a little metal disk which
they wore around the left wrist by
means of a chain. They had previous
ly figured it put that if their heads
were blown off, the disk on the left
wrist would Identify them. If they lost
their left arm the disk around the neck
would serve the purpose, but if their
head and left arm were blown off, no
one would care who they were, so It
did not mntter. On one side of the
disk was inscribed your rank, name,
number and battalion, while on the
other was stamped your religion.
C. of E., meaning Church of Eng
land; R. C, Romnn Catholic; W., Wes
leyan; P., Presbyterian; but if you
happened to be an atheist they left It
blank, and just handed you a pick and
shovel. On my disk was stamped C. of
E. This is how I got It : The lieuten
ant who enlisted me asked my religion
I was not sure of the religion of the
British army, so I answered, "Oh, any
old thing," and he promptly put down
C. of E.
Now, Just Imagine my hard luck. Out
of five religions I was unlucky enough
to pick the only one where church
parade was compulsory I
The next morning was Sunday. I
was sitting In the billet writing home
to my sister telling her of my wonder
ful exploits while under fire all re
cruits do this. The sergennt major put
his head In the door of the billet and
shouted : "C. of E. outside for church
parade I"
I kept on writing. Turning to me, In
COMMUNICmcrij
TRENCH ...&jSpilgTTAVERSfe
3 toS FT.TNJrviofSSST V KSJjS
WA U'Vn SSfcrSS
WWi .MMMrw4 lJOlL
Diagram Shewing Typical Front-Lin
THE
Arthur Guy Empey
Machine Gunner, Serving in France
CopyrlcM HIT, tj Arthur Qui ESJJ
a loud voice, he asked, "Empey, aren't
you C. of E.?"
I answered, "Yep."
In an angry tone, he commanded,
"Don't you 'yep me. Say, 'Yes, ser
geant major.' "
"I did so. Somewhat mollified, he
ordered, "Outside for church parade."
I looked up and answered, "I am
not going to church this morning."
He said, "Oh, yes, you are I"
I answered, "Oh, no, I'm not!" But
I went.
We. lined np outside with rifles and
bayonets, 120 rounds et ammunition,
wearing our tin. hats, and the march
to church began. After inarching about
five kilos, we turned off the road Into
an open field. At one end of this field
the chaplnin was stnndlng in a limber.
We formed a semicircle around him.
Overhead there was a Wack speck cir
cling round and round in the sky. This
was a German Fokker. The chaplain
had a book in his left hand left eye
on the book right eye on the airplane.
We Tommies were lucky, we had no
books, so had both eyes on the air
plane. After church parade we were
marched back to our billets, and played
football all afternoon.
CHAPTER IV. ! '
1 t -
"Into the Trench."
The next morning the draft was In
spected by our general, and we were
assigned to different companies. The
boys In the brigade hod nicknamed
this general Old Pepper, and he cer
tainly earned the sobriquet. I was as
signed to B company with another
American named Stewart
For the next ten days we "rested,"
repairing roads for the Frenchles, drill
ing, and digging bombing trenches.
One morning we were Informed that
we were going up the line, and our
march began.
It took us three days to reach re
serve billets each day's march bring
ing the sound of the guns nearer and
nearer. At night, way off In the dis
tance we could see their flashes, which
lighted up the sky with a red glare.
Against the horizon we could see
numerous observation balloons or "sau
sages" as they are called.
On the afternoon of the third day's
march I witnessed my first airplane
being shelled. A thrill ran through me
and I gazed in awe. The airplane was
making wide circles in the air, while
little puffs of white smoke were burst
ing all around it These puffs appeared
like tiny balls of cotton while after
each burst could be heard a dull
"plop." The sergeant of my platoon
Informed us that it was a German air
plane and I wondered how he could tell
from such a distance because the plane
seemed like a little black speck in the
sky. I expressed my doubt as to
whether It was English, French1 or Ger
man. With a look of contempt he fur
ther Informed us that the allied anti
aircraft shells when exploding emitted
white smoke while the German shells
gave forth black smoke, and, as he ex
pressed it, "It must be an Ailemand be
cause our pom-poms are shelling, and
I know our batteries are not off their
bully nnppers and are certainly not
strafelng our own planes, and another
piece of advice don't chuck your
weight about until you've been up the
line and learnt something.''
I Immediately quit "chucking my
weight about from that time on.
Just before reaching reserve billets
and Communication Trench,
we were marching along, laughing, and
singing one of Tommy's trench ditties :
I want to go home, I want to so home,
I don't want to go to the trenches no
more
Where sausages and whlzs-bangs are ga
lore. Take me over the sea, Where the Aile
mand can't get at me,
Oh, my, I don't want to die,
I want to go home"
when overhead came a "swish" through
the air, rapidly followed by three oth
ers. Then about two hundred yards to
our left In a large field, four columns
of black earth and smoke rose into the
air, and the ground trembled from the
report the explosion of four German
five-nine's, or "coalboxes." A sharp
whistle blast, immediately followed by
two short ones, rang out from the head
of our column. This was to take up
"artillery formation." We divided Into
small squads and went into the fields
on the right and left of the road, and
crouched on the ground. No other
shells followed this salvo. It was our
first baptism by shell fire. From the
waist up I was all enthusiasm, but from
there down, everything was missing. I
thought I should die with fright.
After awhile, we reformed Into col
umns of fours, and proceeded on our
way.
About five that night, we reached the
ruined village of H , and I got my
first sight of the awful destruction
caused by German Kultur.
Marching down the mnln street we
came to the heart of the village, and
took up quarters in shellproof cellars
(shellproof until hit by a shell). Shells
were constantly whistling over the vil
lage and bursting in our rear, search
ing for our artillery.
These cellars were cold, damp and
smelly, and overrun with large rats
big black fellows. Most of the Tom
mies slept with their overcoats over
their faces. I did not. In the middle
of the night I woke up In terror. The
cold, clammy feet of a rat had passed
over my face. I immediately smoth
ered myself in my overcoat, but could
not sleep for the rest of that night.
Next evening, we took over our sec
tor of the line. In single file we wend
ed our way through a zigzag com
munication trench, six inches deep
with mud. This trench was called
"Whisky street." On our way up to
the front line an occasional flare of
bursting shrapnel would light up the
sky and we could hear the fragments
slapping the ground above us on our
right and left. Then a Fritz would
traverse back and forth with his "type
writer" or mnchlne gun. The bullets
made a sharp cracking noise overhead.
The boy in front of me named Pren-.
tlce crumpled up without a word. A
piece of shell had gone through his
shrapnel-proof helmet I felt sick and
weak.
In about thirty minutes we reached
the front line. It was dark as pitch.
Every now and then a German star
shell would pierce the blackness out
in front with Its silvery light. I was
trembling all over, and felt very lonely
and afraid. All orders were given In
whispers. The company we relieved
filed past lis and disappeared Into the
blackness of the communication trench
leading to the rear. As they passed us,
they whispered, '"The best o' luck
mates."
I sat on the fire step of the trench
with the rest of the men. In each
traverse two of the older men bad been
put on guard with their heads sticking
over the top, and with their eyes try
ing to pierce the blackness in "No
Man's Land." In tills trench there
were only two dugouts, and these were
used by Lewis and Vlckers machine
gunners, so It was the fire step for
ours. Pretty soon It started to rain.
We put on our "macks," but they were
not much protection. The rain trickled
down our backs, and It was not long
before we were wet and cold. How I
pnssed that night I will never know,
but without any unusual occurrence,
dawn arrived.
The word "stand down" was passed
along the line, and the sentries got
down off the fire step. Pretty soon the
rum Issue came along, and It was a
Godsend. It warmed our chilled bodies
and put new life Into lis. Then from
the communication trenches came
dixies or iron pots, filled with steam
ing tea, which had two wooden stake
through their handles, and were car
ried by two men. I filled my canteen
and drank the hot tea without taking
It from my lips. It was not long be
fore I was asleep In the mud on the
fire step.
My ambition had been attained I I
was In front-line trench on the west
ern front and oh, how I wished I were
back In Jersey City.
Empey takes hi first turn en
th firing itep of the trtneh
while the machine gun bullet
whit ever hi head. H toon
learna why Tommy ha adopted
th motto, "If you're going to
get It, you'll get It, o never
worry." Don't ml th next
Installment
tTO BE CONTINUED.)
No one can kill time In these strenu
ous day without aura slaying his own
opportunities. .