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About The Stanford World (Stanford, Mont.) 1909-1920 | View This Issue
The Stanford World (Stanford, Mont.), 10 Oct. 1918, located at <http://montananewspapers.org/lccn/sn85053199/1918-10-10/ed-1/seq-3/>, image provided by MONTANA NEWSPAPERS, Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana.
• %I • 4 THE STANFORD WORLD a i lliiiiiimimmiiiimmiminimmillimmllimimumimmilimminiummiumnimilimilmninimmilimminniumiuminimmimmiiiiiiiiiiiiimmiuniiiim ALBERT N. DEPEW GUNNER DE E Ex -Gunner and Chief Petty Officer, U. S. Navy Member of the Foreign Legion of France Captain Gun Turret, French Battleship Cassard Winner of the Croix de Guerre Copyright. 1918, by Reilly and Britton Co.. Through Special Arrangement With the George Matthew Adama DEPEW IS WOUNDED IN FIERCE FIGHT WITH GERMANS AND GOES TO HOSPITAL Synopsis.—Albert N. Depew, author of the story, tells of his service in the United States navy, during which he attained the rank of chief petty officer, first-class gunner. The world war starts soon after he receives his honorable discharge from the navy, cond he leaves for France with a determination to enlist. He joins the Foreign Legion and is esigned to the dreadnaught Cessard, where his markmanship wins him high honors. Later he is transferred to the land forces and sent to the Flanders front. Ile gets his first experience in a front line trench at Dixtuude. He goes \over the top\ and gets his first German in a bayonet fight. While on runner sen ice, Depew is caught in a Zeppelin raid and has an exciting experience. s CHAPTER IX. —7— Laid Up for Repairs. One night, after I had been at Dix - *nude for about three weeks, we made a charge in the face of a very heavy ore. Our captain always stood at the parapet when we were going over, and snade the sign of the cross and shouted, ''For Ood and France.\ Then we would go over. Our officers always led us, but I hewe never seen a German officer lead a charge. They always were be- hind their men, driving instead of lead- ing. I do not believe they are as brave as they are said to be. Well, we went over this time, and the machine guns were certaloly going it strong. We were pretty sore about the chaplain and the Swiss and all that, and we put up an awful fight, but we could not make it and had to come back. Only one company reached the Ceche trenches and not a man of it canoe back who had not been wounded on the way and did not reach the trench. They were just wiped out. The captain was missing, too. We thought he was done for, but about two o'clock in the morning, he came back. He simply fell over into . the trench, all In. He had befn wounded four times, and had lain In a shell crater full of water for several hours. He would not go back for treatment then, and when daylight came, it was too late, because we were practically cut oft by artillery fire behind the front line trenches. When daylight Came, the artillery flre opened up right on us, and- the dGermans had advanced their lines Into some trenches formerly held by its and hardly forty-five yards away. We re- ceived bombs and shells right in our faces. A Tunisian in our- company got -crazy, and ran back over the parades. Me ran a few yards, then stopped and looked back at us. I think he was coming to his senses, and would have sitarted back to us. Then the spot where he had been wag empty, and a second later his body from the chest down fell not three yards from the varados. I do not know where the top part went. That same shell cut a groove in the low hilltop before it ex- goloded. He had been hit by a big -.shell, and absolutely cut in two. I *save seen this happen to four men, but elate was the only one in France. About seven o'clock, we received re- -enforeements, and poured fresh troops .over and retook the trench. No sooner had we entered it, however, than the Kiermans turned their artillery on us, mot even waiting for their own troops do a retire safely. They killed numbers .of Their own men in this way. But the For God and France, lire was se heavy that, when they coun- ter -attacked, we had to retire again, and this time they kept after us and drove us beyond the trench .we bad originally occupied. • We left them there, with our artil- lery taking care of them, and our ma- chine guns trying to enfilade them, and moved to the right. There was a bunch of trees there, about like a smell Woods. and as we passed the Germans concealed In it opened fire on us, and we retired to some 'reserve trenches. We were pretty-nmeh scattered by this time, and lustily cut up. We reformed there. and were Joined by other of our troobs, In small groups—what was lef of squads and platoons and singly Our captain had got it a fifth time meanwhile, but he would not leave us, as he was the ranking officer. He had a scalp wound, but the others were in his arms and shoulders. He could not move his hands at all. But he led our charge when we ran for the woods. We carried some ma- chine guns with us as we went, and the gunners would run a piece, set up. fire while we opened up for them, and run on again. Some troops came Mit of a trench still farther to the right and helped us, and we drove the Ger- mans out of the woods and occupied it ourselves. From there, we had the Germans in our old trench almost directly from the rear, and we simply cleaned them out. I think all the vows were kept that day, or else the men who- made them died first. I was shot through the thigh some time or other after the captain got back. It felt just like a needle -prick at first, and then for a while my leg , was numb. A couple of hours after we took our trench back, I started out for the rear and hospital. The wound had been hurting for some time. They car- ried the captain out on a stfetcher about the seine time, but he died on - the way from loss of blood. Fresh trodps came up to relieve us, but our men refused to go, and though official- ly they were not there in the trench, they stayed unUI they took the cap- tain away. Then, back to billets—not bullets, this time. I belleVe that we re- ceived an army citation for that piece of work, but I do not know, as I was In the hospital for a short time after- ward. I do not remember much about going to the hospital except that the ambulance made an awful racket going over the stone -paved streets of Etaples, and that the bearer who picked up one end of my stretcher, had eyes like dead fish floating on water; also, that there were some civvies standing around the entrance as we were being carried in. The first thing they do in the hos- pital is to take off your old dirty band- ages and slide your stretcher under a big electric magnet. A doctor comes In and places his hand over your wound, and they let down the magnet over his hand and turn on the juice. If the shell fragment or bullet in you is more than seven centimeters deep, you cannot feel the pain. The first doctor reports to the chief how deep your wound is, and where it is situ- ated, and then a nurse comes up to you, where you lie, with your clothes still on, and asks you to take the \pressure.\ Then they Ilft you on a four -wheeled cart, and roll you to the operating the- ater. They take off your clothes there. I remember I liked to look at the nurses and surgeons; they looked so good in their clean white clothes: Then they stick hollow needles Into you, which hurt a good deal, and you take the pressure. After a while, they begin cutting away the bruised and maybe rotten flesh, removing the old cloth, pieces of dirt, and so forth, and scraping away the splinters of bone. You think for sure you are going to bleed to death. The blood rushes through you like lightning, and if you get a sight of yourself, you can feel yourself turning pale. Then they hurry you to your bed, and cover ydu over with biadkets and hot-water bottles. They raise your bed on Chairs, so the blood will runs up toward your head, and after a while, your eyes open and the doctor gays, \Out oul, II vivre,\ meaning that you still bad some time to spend before finally going west. The treatment we 4 got in the hospital was great. We received cigarettes, to- bacco, matches, magazines, and clean clothes. The men do not talk about their Wounds much, and everybody tries to be happy and show it. The food was fine, and there was lots of it. I do not think there were any doc- tors he the world better than ours, and they leeno always trying to make things easy for us. They did not rip the dressings oft your wounds like sonic of the butchers do In some of our dispensaries that I know? of, but took them off carefully. Everything was very clean and sanitary, and some of the hospitals had sun parlors, which were well used, you can be sure. Some of the men made toys and fancy articles, such as button hooks and paper knives. They made the handles from empty shell cases; or shrapnel, or pieces of Zeppelins, or anything else picked up along, the front. When they are getting well, the men learn harness making, mechanical drawing, telegraphy, gardening, poul- try raisIng, typewriting, bookkeeping and the men teach the durses how te make canes out of shell cases, and rings of aluminum, and slippers and gloves out of blankets. The nurses certainly work hard. They always have more to do than they ought to, but they never complain, and are always cheerful and ready to play games when they have the time, or read to some pont'. And their work is pretty dirty too: I would not like to have to do it. They say there were lots of French society ladies working as nurses, but you never heard. much *stout society, or any talk about Lord Helpers or Count Wheals, or pink teas or anything like that from these nurses. A few shells landed near our hos- pital, while Ievas there, but no patient was hit. They knocked a shrine of Our Lady to splinters, though, and bowled over a big crucifix. The kitchen was near by, and it was just the chef's luck that he had walked over to our ward to see a pal of his, when a shell landed plumb in the center of the kitchen, and ell you could see all over the bar- racks was stew. That was a regular eattess day for us, until they rigged up bogies and got some more dixies, and mixed up some cornmeal for us. The chef made up for It the next day, though. The chef was a great little guy. He was it \biesse\ himself, nnd I guess his stom- ach sympathized with ours. There was a Frenchman in the bed next to me who had the whole side of- hls face, torn off, He told me he- had been next to a bomber, who had just lit a fuse andsdid not think, it was burning fast enough, so he blew oe it, It burned fast enough after that, ant, there he was. „... There was a Belgian In one at the other wards, wlunu I got to know pretty well, and he would often come over and visit -me. Ile asked many ques- tions about Dixinude, Or he had . had relatives...them though he load lost truck of them. He often tried te scribe.the house they had jived in, Ro that I might tellshirn whether. it was still standing or not, hut I could not remember the place he spoke of. Dur- ing our talks, he told me about many atrpcities. Some of the things he told me I had heard before, and some of them I heard of afterward. Here are some things that he either saw or heard of from victims: He said that when the Germans en- tered the town of St. Quentin, they started firing into the windows as they passed along. First, after they had oc- cupied the town, they bayoneted every workingman they could find. Then they took about half of the children that they could find, and killed them with their musket butts. After this, they marched the remainder of the chil- dren and the women to the square, where they had lined up a row of male citizens against a wall. The women and children were told that if they moved, they would all be shot. An- other file of men was brought up, and made to kneel in front of the other men against the wall. The women and children began to beg for the lives of the men, and many of them were knocked In the head tvith gun butts before they stopped. Then the Germans fired at the double rank of men. After three volleys, there were eighty-four dead and. twenty wounded. Most of the wounded they then killed with axes, but somehow, three or four escaped by biding under the bodies of others and playing dead, though the officers walked up and down thing their revolvers into the piles of bodies. The next day the Germans went through the wine cellars, and shot all the. Inhabitants they found hiding there. A lot of people, who had taken refuge in a factory over night, decided to come out with a white flag.' They were allowed to think that the white flag would be respected,- but no sooner Were they all out than they were seized and the women publicly violated in the square, after which the men were shot. A paralytic was shot as he sat In his arm -chair, and a boy — ciffourteen was taken by the legs and pulled apart. - At one place, a man was tied by the arms to the ceiling of his room and set afire. Hie trunk was completely car- bonized, but his head and arm& were unburned. At 'the same• philf; the body of a fifteen -year -old bog was found, pierced by more than twenty bayonet thrusts. Other dead were found with their hands still in the air, leaning up against walls. At atfother place the Germans shelled the town for a day, and then entered and sacked it. The women and children were turned loose, with- out being allowed to take anything with them, and forced to leave the town. .Nearly five hundred men were deported to Germany Three, who were almost exhausted by hunger, tried to escape. They were bayoneted and clubbed to death. Twelve men, who had taken refuge In a farm, were tied - together and shot in a mass. Another group of ahr were tied together and sks. after the Germans had put out asir eyes and tortured them with be'. snets. Three others were brought 1).!'ore their wives and children and so 'red. The Belgian told me he was at Na- mur when the Germans began shelling it. The bombardment lasted the whole of August 21 and 22, 1914. They cen- tered their•fire on the prison, the hos. pital, and the railway station. They entered the town at four o'clock In the afternoon of August 23. During the first twenty-four hours, they behaved themselves, but on the 24th they began Bram at miyone they pleased, and set fin' to different houses On five of the principal squares. Then they ordered every one to leave his house, and those who (11(1 not were shot. The others, about four hundred in all, were drawn up In front of the church, close to the river bank. The Belgian said he could never forget how they all looked. \I can remember just how it was,\ he said. \'Mere were eight men, whom I knew very well, standing in a row %%oh several priests. Next came two good friends of mine named Bnibau Women and Children Begged for the Lives of the - Men. and Guillaume, with 13albau'a severe teen-yessr-old son; then two men who lied taken refuge in a barn and had been discovered and blinded; then two other men whom I had never seen be- fore. \It was awful to see the way the women were crying—'Shoot me too, shoot me with my husband.\ 'The men were lined up on the edge of the hollow which runs from the high road to the bottom of the village. One of them was leaning on the shoul- ders of an old priest, and he was cry. lug, 'I am too young—I can't face death bravely.' \I couldn't bear the sight any longer. I turned my back to the road and coy- ered my eyes. I heard the volley and the bodies falling. Then some one cried, 'Look, they're all down.' But a few escaped.\ This Belgian had escaped by hiding —he could not remember how many ilays—in an old cart filled with manure and rubbisS. He had chewed old hides for food, had swam across the river, and hid in a mud bank for almost a week longer, and finally got to France. Ile took it very hard when we talked about DIxnunie, and I told him that the old church was just shot to pieces. He asked about a painting called the \Adoration of the Magi,\ and one of the other prisoners told us it had been paved and transported to Germany. If that is true, and they ,do not destroy It meanwhile, we will get it back, don't worry I My wound was just a clean gunshot wound and not very serious, so, al- though it was not completely healed, they let me go after three weeks. But before I went, I saw something that no man of us will ever forget. Some of them took vows just like the men of the legion I have told about. One of the patients was a German Meter, who bad been picked deo' In NO Man's Land, very seriously wounded. Ile was given the same treatment as any of us, that Is, the very best, but inallY. the doctors gave him up. They bought he would die slowly, and that t might take several weeks. White In. the hospital Depew witnesses a scene that con. vincea him that It is not only the kaiser and his system, nut the German soldiers them- selves, that are responsible for niech of the frightfulness that has marked the war. Read about this' scene In the next in. staliment. (TO BE CONTINUED.) Experiments with powdered peat for fuel have been so successful In Sweden that a plant for its production on a large scale has been established. SAVE MAN LABOR BY USING MORE HORSES, LARGER IMPLEMENTS AND POWER MACHINES INCREASED EFFICIENCY OF FARM WORK WITH HORSES. (Preparea by the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture In solving fitrusluhor difficulties, none horses, huger implements and lower machinery play tin Important art, If two hormes, which have been ',riven singly by two men, ure cone Aped into a team driven by one man, :he eflieleney of the horses Is as great w greeter than before, end line man's - tine Is saved. The two -horse turning 310W IS In COMMIS USe 111 nil parts of ite country but except on small farms t nearly always will he profitable to re - ;dace the two -horse plow by a larger me. Four horses can pull It two -hot - bra plow as easily as tutu can pull a ;Ingle bottom of corresponding size. The two -bottom plow enables it farm- er to do whet is generally the heav- iest work of the year wills half the help that would be required If single - bottom plows were used. In hot weath- er or where the plowing is Mad, five or even six horses will sometimes be necessary to keep the plow moving etendily und at a good rate oflipeed. Plowing With Tractors. Experienced tractor usere say they can do JUSt as good plowing with a tractor its they did with horses, or even better, and a three or four -plow tractor ennbles it farnwr who hilts more plowing than catt be done with the largest horse-drawn plow further to increase the n'mount of work which one mun can dn. One man with a three - plow traetor usually covers a little more ground a day „than three men with single'plows, and one man with a SELECTION OF SEED CORN IS IMPORTANT Prepare for Bigger Yields by Preserving Supply. - — Proper Way Is to Choose From Stand - Inc) Stalks Before First Hard Freeze --Avoid Large Errs on Stalks. (From the United States Department of Agriculture.) Selection of seed corn now from the standing stalks is one way, and a very easy one, to increase the yields next year. Shortage of good seed corn in many parts of the northern states last spring emphasizes the importance of being prepared next year. Preparation Field of Corn Showing Good Method of Selecting Seed—The Men Are Searching for Plants That Have Pro- duced Heavily Under Average Condi. tons and In Close Competition With Lees Productive Plants In the Same and Adjacent Hills. Ahould begin now, for the only proper way to select seed corn is from the standing stalks as soon as the corn matures and peforo the first hard freeze. Select plenty of seed— enough for 'your town needs, for . replanting If necessary and to supply your less thrifty neighbors who may wait until spring to take their chances of getting good seed from the crib. Well-chosen, home-grown seed of varieties of proven worth In the com- munity, properly dried Immediately af- ter it has been gathered and carefully preserved until planting time, produces the best yields. An soon as the crop ripens, go through the field with seed -picking bags, and husk the ears front the stalks flint have produced the best•corn with- out having had special advantagss such vs space, nieleture, or fertility. Avoid four -plow trateor does more Mali two men with two-bottont horse-drawn plows. The tractor works just , as well lit lote weneser, and it desired can Iii' worked 21 Moms a (lay with two or three shifts Of Iliell—n big advan- tage over horse -tit - s ewn outfits. The spike -emits barrow is an imple- ment of comperatively light draft, and sometimes It is possible to put an ex- tra section on the avertoge harrow, thereloy increasing considerably thus grouse! esivs‘red without the ouldition of any horses to the teem. Out farms where two two -lee -se harrows sire used It is frequently isssible to combine the two harnevs, illicit the four horses as omit' team and operate It wit h one man, thereby releasing the second Man for other work. Use of Disk Harrow. The disk harrow, both single and double, is found in ii wide range of widths, end for from two to eight horses. The use sir it disk harrow drawn by two horses is not advisable unless only two horses are available n 4' power and the amount of diskli;it lit lie done is small. A fouishorose disk sloes 1 wire its work tui it two - hum -se disk, ultimo( lite same expendi- ture of man labor. litit' Of it gang plow drawn by four or more horses, and of big Im- plements for 1111171mlug, rolling and dragging, enables 'one nein to prepare for planting In a given Gine practically twice as numb land as would he possi- ble if he used the traditional two- . horse method. • the large ears on stalks standing singly with an unusual untount of sluice around them. Preference should be given the plants that lisVe preduced most heavily in eompetition with is full stand of less produesive plisses. Late. maturing plants with ears which are heavy because of an excessive amount of sap should be ignored, Sappiness greatly inerenaes the weight and is likely to destroy the quality. In the centrist anti southern states; all other things being equal, short, thick mike are preferable. Short Walks tire not so easily blown down and permit thicker planting. Thick Mullis lire not no easily broken down, mid in general ere more productive than Mender ones. The tendency for corn to produce suck-' era is hereditary. Other things being equal, Seed should be taken from stow that have no suckers. Immediately after the seed Corn to gathered the husked ears should he put in a dry place where there In free circulation of air and placed In such a manner that the ears do not touch eath other. This is the only safe pro- cedure. Good seed In repeatedly ruined because it 18 thought to be al- ready dry enough when gathered, Many farmers believe that their au- tumns are so dry that such care 19 un- necessary. Seed corn in every local- ity gathered at ripening time will be benefited by drying as suggested. II left in the husk long after ripening 11 may sprout or mildew during warm. wet weather or become infested with weevils. The vitality of seed is often reduced by leaving it In a sack or in it pile for even a day after gathering. During warm weather, with some mois- ture In the cobs and kernels, the ears heat or mildew In a remarkably short time. The best possible treatment limed!. ntely after gathering is tp string the ears. Ordinarily the hest place tc hang strings of ears is In an open shed or loft. Wire racks are more conven. fent and In the end cheaper titan bind. or twine, Such racks may be made from electrically welded lawn fencing. The cutting of the fencing -into seed. corn racks is done without any waste Only during unusually damp weath- er at seed -gathering time will fire be necessary to dry the seed. If heat is employed in a poorly -ventilated room ' It will do the seed ears more Injury than good. If used, the fire should be slow, long continued, and below the seed ears, with good ventilation above them. After hanging in the shed or lying on the racks for two months the seed ears should be as dry as a bone and contale less than 1, per cent of mois- ture. They can remain where they tinted er be stored In mouse -proof bar- rels, boxes or crates during the win- ter, but In either case they, must not .be exposed to n damp atmosphere, for they will absorb moisture and he in - Aired. Some farmers place the thor- oughly dried Reed ears in the center of a wheat bin and fill the bin with loose, dry wheat. Hay Supply for Calf. When the calf Is two weeks oho ground grain or prepared meal and bright clean hay should bi) offered; the quentity fed should be Increased as the calf's appetite demands •
