HOOSIER SENDS
FIRST U. S. SHOT
INTO GERMANY
South Bend Man Is Hero of
Initial Action by the
Americans.
GEORGIAN GiVES THE ORDER
Indiana Sergeant Pulls the Lanyard
Which Starts Pershing's Attack
on the Kaiser's Armies ?
Americans All Eager
for Action.
American Field Headquarters in
Franee. ? Indiana and Georgia divide
the honor of having inaugurated Amer
ica's land warfare against the Ger
mans.
A sergeant from South Rend., Ind.,
pulled the lanyard to send the first
shell tearing across the valley in the
direction of the German positions.
A Georgia lieutenant gave the order
"fire r
The facts were established during
the first visit paid by a correspond
ent to the first American battle front.
The correspondent reached the
American position after a long motor ,
ride through shell-battered towns. '
Leaving the motor in one of the towns, :
he walked the rest of the way.
The first American battery was al
most walked upon before it was dis
covered. It was so well hidden under
the trees and with foliage about it on
a low-hung wire netting.
Gun of .75 Caliber Used.
Through the foliage in every direc
tion the ground was undulating. At
that moment there was a flash of flume
through the mist. It was the crack
of a .75 gun, and following it closely
came the noise of the shell rushing
through the air, becoming fainter and
fainter as the projectile went on its
way to the German position over the
crest of a hill farther away. The mud
digging artillerists continued their j
work without even looking up.
A lieutenant from Georgia emerged.
He was the officer who directed the
first shot. He led the way down the
slippery, muddy bill to a dugout cov
ered over with sandbags and logs.
There was met a lieutenant from Indi
ana of the same battery who directed
the first 18 shots of 'the war against
Germany from an observation point.
On the other side of the hill was
found the first gun fired. The muddy
gunners were hard at work-cleaning
their gun.
"This was the first gun fired in the
war," the jaunty lieutenant said. "The
sergeant inside the pit there fired it."
Looking into the pit, the lieutenant
said: "Sergeant, where are you from?"
He's From South Bend.
A husky voice replied: "I'm from
South Bend, Ind."
"Are you Irish?" asked the lieuten
ant.
"No, sir," the sergeant laughingly
replied.
At this time orders came for this
gun and others of the battery placed
in nearby hills in sicht and sound of
each other to commence firing. The
gun on the farthest hill went off with
a roar and a faint stream of smoke
was blown backward from the pit.
Inside the pit in which the corre
spondent stood a voice shouted out
the range figures and the lieutenant
repeated them. A voice inside the pit
a moment later yelled that the gunner
was ready to fire. The lieutenant gave
the command to the gunners: "Watch
your bubble."
The lieutenant, who was standing
?n a pile of mud which had been re
moved from the pit, cautioned those
about him to place their lingers la
their ears. This was done and thd
lieutenant shouted the word "Fire !"
The gnu harked quickly, the noise
being followed by a metallic dank and
the shell casf was ejected and the guu I
made ready for the next load. The
lieutenant told the correspondent the
story of the first shot of the war, punc
tuating the narrative throughout with :
the orders "ready to lire," and "fire," j
which each time was followed by the
report of the gun and the whizz of
I the shell.
"We came up the night before," the
lieutenant said, "and got into position
in u driving rain. Xo horses had ar- j
rived. I was anxious to get off the I
first gun and so were my men. I
asked them if they were willing to
haul the gun by hand to this place so
that we could get the first crack at the
Germans. They agreed unanimously,
so we set out across the fields until we
got over there at the base of that hill
you can just see in the haze.
Hours to Prepare Gun.
"We had a hard time getting the
gun, which we have not named yet,
over those shell craters. But we la- :
bored for many hours and finally '
reached the spot. Then I got permis
sion to fire.
"Strictly speaking, the first shot, ?
which was in the nature of a tryout
for the gun, simply went into Ger- 1
many. The sergeant put a high explo- ]
sive shell there at 6:15 o'clock In the
morning."
Another officer here took up the nar
rative. |
"I was in an observation point," he 1
said. "There was a fog as the first 1
shot went singing over. Suddenly the ,
fog lifted and I saw a group of Ger- ;
mans. I directed ray gun at them. The
shrapnel burst overhead and they took 1
a dive into the ground like so many
rabbits."
The lieutenant grinned broadly, '
shook the water off his shrapnel hel
met, and using both clinched fists to ;
punctuate his remarks, said expres
sively : "It was great."
From the artillery lines to the in
fantry trenches was a considerable
distance over more muddy hills. The
correspondent found the infantry in
side the trenches. There also were
many wires which ran into switch
boards, and American and French op
erators were sitting side by side di> i
recting operations.
Bell for Gas Attack.
A guide is necessary to reach the
first line, especially when some of the
trenches resemble irrigation ditches.
The trenches the Americans are occu
pying begin from a screened position.
On the way there shovels and tools
were piled high below a hill on which
there was a great bell for giving the !
alarm In case of a gas attack. There j
under cover were the company cooks |
busy warming up food that had been
brought up in wagons.
Following the guide, the way winds
in and out from left to right for many |
yards between interwoven branches
that have been placed on the sides of
the trenches.
The American privates in the front
splashed through without hesitating, '
sometimes getting a footing on step- 1
ping stones In the muddy water and j
sometimes not. The trench turns |
sharply to the right and a voice warns, !
"Keep your head down," and the rest j
of the way the walking is difficult.
Halting near a machine gun, the Ger- j
man positions directly opposite on a !
hill could be seen across the barbed i
wire of No Man's land. Lights ap- j
peared In a little town to the left.
There is a sort of a gentleman's j
agreement in this sector that towns I
over the line are not to be shelled. If j
one side violates the agreement the j
other side promptly fires shell for shell
into a hostile town.
General Sibert, who has just com- 1
pleted a tour of the trenches, was
asked how the morale of the Amerl- 1
cans in the trenches was. He replied : I
"Morale? How could the morale of
Americans be anything but good?" j
DEMONSTRATING USE 0? NEW "STORAGE VAULT"
Mrs. Schuyler F. Ilorron of Boston showing how to bank away potatoes
In the food conservation bureau's new "cold storage vault." The vault Is
huilt of layers of straw or rubbish and earth and covers the tubers safely
from <1 w . '' -
"KELLY*' U-BOAT
CHIEF IS JOKES
Commander of German Subma
rine Shows Vein of Un
German Humor.
IS h'ERG OF MANY STORIES
When Not Laying Mines He Pull#
Pranks That Amuse American Sea
men ? Pays Two-Days' Visit
at Dublin Hotel.
Base of American Flotilla in British
Waters. ? There is a German submarine
commander who is known throughout
the American flotilla as "Kelly." His
real name is something quite differ
ent, hut the American sailors promptly
dubhed him "Kelly of the Emerald
isle," and the name will stick in the
songs and stories of the navy as long
as the great war is talked about.
"Kelly" earned his name by his dis
play on various occasions of a rich
vein of quite un-Qerman humor. lie
has become the hero of numberless sto
ries told in forecastle and on quarter
deck. Not all of these stories are true,
and probably most of them have grown
in the telling.
"Kelly" Pranks Tantalizing.
"Kelly" commands n mine-laying U
boat which pays frequent visits to the
district patrolled by the American de
stroyers. When he has finished his
appointed task of distributing his
mines where they will do the most
harm he generally devotes a few min
utes to a prank of some kind. Some
times he contents himself with leaving
a note llying from a buoy scribbled in
schoolboy English and addressed to his
American enemy. On other occasions
he picks out a deserted bit of coast
line at night and goes ashore with a
squad of his men for a saunter on the
beach, leaving behind a placard or a
bit of German bunting as a reminder
of his presence.
His most audacious exploit, how
ever ? if the legends of the forecastle
are to be believed ? was a trip which
he made several months ago to Dublin,
where he stayed two days at a leading
hotel, afterward joining his U-boat
somewhere up the west coast. He Is
said to have informed the British of
his exploit by leaving his receipted bill
attached to one of their buoys.
Still another of "Kelly's" more re
cent stunts was to plant the German
flag on an eminence on the coast line.
It was the first time that the British
and Americans knew just where he
and his men had set foot and they i
shared the excitement of the village
folk, who awoke one morning to find
a new kind of flag flying from their na
tive soil. At first they could not make
out just what it was.
Fishermen Burn German Flag.
But when they made sure that it was
the German colors they were furious,
for it so happened, so the story goes,
that the fisherman along this partic
ular strip of coast had suffered much
from submarine raids. U-boats had
shelled their boats, Germans had sto
len their fish ? their only means of live
lihood ? and left them empty handed
after a week's hard catch of mackerel.
These poor fisher folk were in no mood
for this latest display of German hu
mor, so they, according to report,,
promptly burned the flag and set a
watch for "Kelly."
FREE AFTER 12 ATTEMPTS
Russian War Prisoner Spent Many
Weeks on the Road in
Germany.
WInstersyr, Netherlands. ? The rec
ord in escape from war captivity would
neera to be held by a Russian prisoner
of war who has crossed the frontier
near Winsterswyk. This was his
twelfth attempt at escape.
Three times ho fled in the direction
of Luxemburg, twice he made for
Switzerland, on several occasions he
took the road to Poland and again to
Denmark, but in every case without
success. n
This was the first time he had tried
his luck in the direction of the Nether
lands frontier, and after being two
months and twenty days on the road
success crowned his perseverance.
| PARENTS SHOULD HAVE f
t TWO NAMES FOR BABIES ?
+ ? i
Indianapolis, Ind. ? Because T
parents haven't always got a 4*
name for their baby when It is J
born, the state of Indiana is
spending $150 a month moro
than necessary, according to Dr. ??
J. N. Hurty of the state board
of health. T
"The state is spending about
* $150 a month in writing to
homes, from which physicians
X have sent in reports of births
j without the names of the babies
4. attached.
+ "Parents ought to have two *
names ready, one^ for a boy and *
j one for a girl. Sometimes both 4
5 can be usfcd." I
England Needs Roads.
London. ? It will require approxi
mately $150,000,000 to reconstru-t or
strengthen 15,000 miles of roads In
Great Britain after the war in order
to enable them to carry the growing
motor traffic, says an olficial estimate.
Dollar Day
Bargains
November 28th, 1917
8 Arrow Collars for it $1.00
4 Pair Knox Knit Men's 1-2 Hose r, $1.00
4 Pair Interwoven 1-2 Hose, Sizes 9 and 9 1-2 $1.00
4 Pair Men's Suspenders, 35c Grade &1.00
8 Pair Heavy Ribbed Hose $1.00
3 Men's Ties, 50c Grade $1.00
100 Pair Men's Fine Dress Shoes, Small Sizes Old Prices
100 Women's Shoes, $3.00 Grade, One Day Only $2.00
2 Dozen Men's Wool Shirts, $1.25 and $1.50 Grade $1.00
10 Dozen Men's Work Shirts, One Day Only .75
2 Dozen Men's Scrivens Drawers, $1.50 Grade $1.00
' I
4 Children's Hats, 50c Grade $1.00
50 Men's Hats, $1.25 and $1.50 Grade $1.00
25 Style-Plus Suits at Old Price $17.00
2 Dozen Stetson Hats $4.00 and $4.50 Grade (one day only) $3.00
2 Pair Men's Silk 1-2 Hose, 65 and 75c Grade $1.00
Hundreds of Other Things Reduced for One Day Onjy. Please Give Us a Call.
N. B. GRANTHAM I
Smithfield, N. C. jj
u