North Carolina Newspapers

r "jr" PAGE FOUR. THE ASHEVILLE TBIES. SUNDAY, DEC 2, 191? HORSES FOR FRANCE MY FIRST SOUND OF THE GUNS By ARTTIUR GUY EMPEY Author of "Over the Top" It was 1914. and I My Chance the Great World's war was on, and here Way I in the Tnited States and neu tral. For 13 years I had been sol diering but had never been under fire. In my Imagination I could hear the At the head of the sanKplanki stood funs boontin on the western front. , the touKhest specimen of humanity 1 admit I a trifle afraid; never- have ever seen. He' looked like a theless I had a jrreat desire to Ret hupe uorilla, und had a big, crescent Into the mix-up. How could I get shaped livid scar, running from his over? I planned out many ways, but ieft ear under his chin up to hia.rinht none of them were .practical,.. eye. Every time he spoke the edi;es One day while walking down Green- 1 of the scar seemed to grow white. His Tvich street. New York. I passed an a....,!,, nine urtvir' SSt'lIMIIkT ill the face was a gieat flaring sittn. "Horses for France." Under this Men Wanted." Here was my chance, i Upon returning to my office I im-! mediately got in touch over the tele phone with two -prominent men in New York who I knew to be distinctly pro-Ally. After outlining liiy desire, an appointment was made for mo to f J ,.,,,., imn-t the Hotel Astor at 4 o'clock that afternoon. I met him. Ito introduced me to a Frenchman, At that time In my eyes n Frenchman was a hero, a man to . be looked up to, a man flprhting in - ; the i Great Cause. But now a French.- man to me is more than a hero. After being introduced I went up into the Frenchman's room and talked over the matter of horses for France for about 20 minutes. Unrm lea vine- the Frenchman I w:n M Z for L hirr . three Xv, In tor-" told to report to him three days later, at the same time and place. I left. bubbling over with enthusiasm and anticipation, During this interval of three days ' mapped out a story of my lifn to )-, sent to him upon our second, iuti ; ..View.: The eventful day at lust dan is v and once inore I was closeted wit! him. I started in to tell him i-i story. He interrupted nie by wavin his right hand to the right and left It reminded me of the butts on a tar get . range during rllle practice, when the man marking the target wigwai; a miss to the firing line. -.My heart sank. Then he spoke, and I was car ried from despondency to the great est height of expectation. His words: "Pardon me. . Monsieur, I already t know your life," arid- In 'an-amazingly-short time he told nie more than I knew about myself. I had been care? fully investigate il. yiy instructions received from him ' are confidential, so. I will not go into them. Anyway, he handed nie an en velope and told mo to follow out care fully all details as contained therein. : I immediately went back to my of fice, opened the envelope and on a typewritten sheet I read: "Report at Goldsmith's LCnipioymeiit agency, Xo. - Greenwich, street. Ship as en ordinary horseman and during voyage carefully - follow the verbal instruc- tions received by you during our in-1 xerview, matting uaroun noie ol an ii'-- tails immediately after happening. Be. cautious in doing this. Upon landing in France report to the prefecture of , tween a Chinaman and a Mexican. He police. Bordeaux, and to the letter -was thin, about six feet tall, and wore obey his instructions. Good luck." ' a huge sombrero. His skin was- tan I went home and put oil my oldest-ned the color of leather. Every time clothes; an old -black suit, olive drab he smiied 1 had the impression that shirt, a heavy pair of army shoes and the next minute he would plant a stil a woolen cap. f had let niy beard etto in my back. His name was l'i grow and certainly looked tough'. : j nero. .. His introduction to us was very In passing through City Hall nark. ' brief : "Get up -off of that blankety New York, one sees many derelicts . blank hatch and line up against the of the human race sitting on the : rail.'.' We did as ordered. Then he benches; I sat down between two of commanded: "All the niggers line these wrecks of humanity and en-i up alongside of the port rail." I guess . gaged .therti. in conversation, . trying i a lot of them did not know what he to blend into their atmosphere. About ; meant by the "port rail" because they ten minutes later a policeman came looked very much bewildered. With past and told the three of us to move j an oath he snapped out: "You blank on. I slouched aw.-y with the other ety blank idiots. The port rail is that two. Telling them that. 1 was. going . rail over there. Come on. .Move or 'out "panhandling," i took my leave, s I'll soon move you," . He looked well hut not before one of them made an aide to do this and the niggers appealing and successful touch for a promptly shuffled over to the place nickel. The method used by him in i designated. He quickly divided us Beouring that nickel would hive done into squads of 12 men.'-then ordered: credit to the greatest financiers in the, "All of you who are deserters from country in putting through a deal in-. the army or who have seen service Volving millions. in the cavalry step out in front," Four .' Going down Greenwich street. ! others besides myself stepped out. The '.slouching along,, looking at the: first man he came to he informed: I wound. I ran plump into a young lady ; "You're a straw boss, no you know I of my acquaintance. I had a feelingiWhat a straw boss is?" This man of affection for this particular young meekly answered. "No sir." With an iiady. but it soon died out upon hear-Other, oath, the second foreman said: lng her re marl; as I collided with her. ("All right, you're not a straw boss: "If you cannot look where you are j fall back." I got the cue immedi going, I will have you arrested." Of 'ately. . My turn came next, course, she did not recognize me and : "Do you know what a straw boss I took no pains to argue the matter! Is?" with her, I was glad enough to Slink by. I When I came to the agency, there; was a long line of bums, two and three deep, trying to ship as horsemen for I- ranee, It would be impossible to get a. rougher and more unkempt gathering of men. It looked as if some huge ;giant had taken a fine comb and c :fully combed the gutters of -New ; ( lone. ' i were the duties of a straw boss He i I fell into ibis line and waited my; had been over with horses before, and (turn. I'pnn arriving at the desk, in 1 told me that a straw boss meant to - jfront. of nie sat a little fat. greasy jbp in charge of the gang to feed the Jew. To describe his manner of hand-; horses and to dmw and keep careful Hug the men as being impolite would chock of the straw, hny oats and Jhe a great exaggeration. The way he: bran. Having served in the cavalry I handled that lino of hifman cattle ; this job, as I figured, would be regulur i would do the kaiser's heart good. j pie for me. It came my turn, and this conversa-, tion ensued: "What do you know about horses?" I answered: "Six years in the V. S. cavalry." The agent: "What regiments?" "Kleventh and Twelfth." "You're a liar. You never saw the cavalry." I felt like punching htm on tne nose i hut did not do so. I wanted to ship jas a horseman, l snowed hint my -was longing for the fresh air of the (discharges. He said: "They're faked. derk. A dirty bum, with tobacco What did you do, desert or were you : juice running out of the corner of ;Wcked out?" jhis mouth, turned to me and asked: ! I was getting sore and answered: ; "Do the gray backs bother you much, ("Deserted the Twelth, kicked out of! matey?" A shudder ran through me the Eleventh." las I answered: "Not much." But I "What's your name?" flburcd out that as soon as I got j "Arthur Guy Empey." them, which I knew in a very short I "You're a German.' j time would occur, they certainly ' This was too much even for me, ' would bother me, but I had to keep land I answered: "You're a damned a stiff upper lip If I wanted to retain I Jiar." I saw my chances of shipping their respect and my authority as i vanishing in smoke. straw boss. The Jew grinned and rubbed his One old fellow in my gang was a ! hands and said: "You're all right, trouble maker. He must have 'been ! Go into that room and get a card made about 40 years old and looked as S out, and come back at 2 o'clock." - hard as nails. He was having an ar t I received a curd nnd went to a gument with a pasty-faced looking boanery across the street and had a specimen of humanity, about 26 years i wonderful meal of corned beef hash, old. To me this man appenred to be 'muddy coffee and huge slices of bread, In the last stages of consumption. I : minus butter. This cost me 15 cents, told the old fellow to cut out his ar i At 2 o'clock I reported back, and gurnent and leave the other fellow , -with 72 others was herded like cattle, alone. Upon hearing this he squirted and in a long, straggling line, flanked Well-directed stream of tobacco by three of the employes of the agen- ! juice through his front teeth, which cy, we marched to the ferry nnd land- landed or, my shoe. I inwardly ad ed "somewhere in New Jersey." mired and respected his accuracy. I if, p i The ship, a huge saw my authority waning and knew ,. Un JJOaru three-stacker, was ly- thut I would have to answer this in ' ing nlongside. We were suit quickly. I took two or three shoved into single file, ready to go up quick steps forward and swung on his the gangplank. Then our real exam- i Jaw with my fist. His head went up : lnation took place. At the foot Of the against the iron bunk with a slcken (ganfplank were a group of men ing sound and he crumpled uo and I around a Ion table. They certainly put us through a third decree to find out if there was 'any Gorman blood in us. Several men were turned down. Luckily. 1 got through and sitrned for the voyage, and went on board. note was broken and he had huce. Kt1!l PtTV AVPhl'rtttH . r. III TlUltH WJ a met. 'in on the rail of the ship. It looked like a ham. and inwardly I figured out what would happen to me if that ; ham-like fist ever came in contact with the point of my jaw. As we passed him he showered us with a few complimentary remarks, such as "Of all the lousy scum I have seen. '" " " ' ' rsi. ana "s is whnt they Rive me to take 13.00 horses Pordeaus." Later on h,"1' t,1,s 'dividual was foreman ot the lw,rse Pan- e were ordered aft and sat on the .after hatch. The fellow on my right was a huge, bluc-guninicil nepro. He was continually scratching himself. I unconsciously easec'. iway from him and bumped into the fellow sitting on niy left. After a good look at him I i eased hack aga!;v in the direction of ;mlu- mm i. .ininK mat no nna t,,ken a bath since escaping from the the negro. I don't think that ho had f 'radio. Kight then my uppermost thought Was how. I could duck this The second of a series of twelve articles by the author of "Over the Top." the best seller of the year. The re maining articles will give Mr. Empey's experiences during his 17 months in the first line trenches of the British army i:i France, the thrilling "great adventures" which hundreds of thousands of young Americans are soon to pass through. Mr. Empey is now lecturing to overflow houses throughout the country. Only a few can hear his lectures. This series gives to every reader of this paper the oppor tunity to live with Empey and feel ivith him the excite ment, the thrill, the hardship, the horror, and above all, the joy of sacrifice for love of country which every true soldier has experienced or will experience at the front. trip to Fj-ance, The general conversa tion among the horse gang was: "When do we. eat?". We must have sat there about 20 minutes, . when the second .foreman Clinae nft I took 1j guesses at his and at last came to the j nationality conclusion that he was a cross be- I said: He said boss." "Sure." "All right, you're a straw T had not the least lden of what he was talking about, hut made up my mind that it would not take me long to find out. Then he passed down the I"m a "Straw Boss' . line, picking out straw bosses. T nsk- eo one ol l ie men in mv o-mir wiv In about an hour and a half's time Tinero had selected his straw bosses and divided the men into gangs, and assigned us to our quarters on the ship. These quarters were between decks and very much crowded; the stench was awful. Iron bunks, three deep, with filthy and lousy mattresses on them, were set into the sides of ti.e ship. The atmosphere in that dirty hole turned my stomach tind I fell on the deck, the blood Pourine from the cut in his head. I felt sick and faint thinkln that he had been killed, but it would not do to show IhDGa Biirna nf n'onlinnES nn mv n:irt. mo without even niovinv toward him I ordered one of the men to look turn looking the foremun straight in the over and see if he was nil right. He eye, calmly replied: "He's dead." This soon came around. From that time j did not seem to fease the foreman in on he was the most faithful man in: the least and he bvilowed out: "How the section and greatly respected me. do you know he is dead?" The man The rest of the men prowled and , nnswered simply: I'm ".' a doctor." mumbled and 1 thought 1 was in for.Then the foreman once again rxplod- a terrible beating. Lying close at hand was an iron spike about is in ches ling. Grasping this, I turned I to thp 'p!"- trying to be as tough as I 1 pnssiiuy couui; "If any of the rest of you bums think they a boss around here, start something, and I will sink this into their head." Although I was quailing i underneath, still I got away with it. and from that time on I was boss of my section. any good. A' couple o' yon black Now everv man was smoking or I skun,is there (addressing two ne chewing tobacco. Prettv soon the groes w ho were almost blanched to hold became thick with smoke, and I; a bluish white and who were trem was gasping for. breath, when the b,"w nearby), get ahold of hint and voice of the foreman came down the" n t of the way." One of the companion way: -- negroes, with a leering g-rin, replied: "Turn out on deck and give a hand ! j shipped on this here: ship to han loading the horses. Look alive or I'll!"'"-' hosses, and I don't allow, nohow come down there and rouse you out that it s my work to tote corpses pretty quick. Wo needed no second invitation and lined up on the deck. I looked over the rail. On the dock were hundreds I tile ran. on tot oocit -nere iiunuima j of the sorriest looking specimens of ! horse-flesh I have ever laid eyes on. I These horses were in groups of 10 or 12, being held by horsemen from the Xevv Jersey: stockyards. A. lot of the men who ; had shipped as horsemen had never led a horse in their life, and it was pitiful, to see their fear. The foreman let out a volley of oaths for them to move quickly, and they decided to accept the lesser evil and take a chaneo with the horses. Then! the work of . loading com menced. - . I have been in a cavalry regiment when hurry-up orders were received to entrain for the Mexican border and helped to load l,i)0 horses on trains. The confusion on that dock was. In describable. The horses were loaded by three, runways. My gang and I were detailed on the after runway. The foreman was leaning over the rail, glaring down upon us and now and hen giving instructions mixed with horrible oaths. Jie had a huge mnrlin-spike in his hand. .On the dock was the second foreman, in his large I snmtirero, a red neckerchief around his necK, wearing a blue shirt. ith the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and in his right hand a coiled lariat. It did one's heart good to see him rope the horses which broke loose. Upon watching his first performance I knew I was correct when I figured him as having Mexican blood in his veins. A bleary-eyed drunk was trying to lead a horse by the halter up our run. He was looking back at the horse, at the same time tugging and jerking on the halter. You eould see the white in the horse's eyes, and I knew right away, from my experience with horses, that this was a bad one, or, as we would term him in the cavalry, an "outlaw," The drunk was cursing and swearing nnd kicking up at the horse's head. The foreman saw this and directed his barrage at the of fender. "How In h 1 do you expert to lead a horse while looking at him? Turn your back to him, you lousy bum. You are blocking the whole run. Turn your back to him. I say. You cant lead him thut way. If I come down there to you. I'll soon show you now in nei nun annarn. i The bleary-eyed one became bewil-jthe dock is about the filthiest I've seen 1 12 dead horses that we could not get dered -nnd in his excitement lost hislin a long time. Now, just take a tipjot.it. footini' on the slippery runwav and fell underneath the horse, at the same time loosening his hold on the halter chain. The horse jerked his head ! loose, reared up, turned around and made a reak for the dock. The man on the gangway tried to scramble out of the way. The horse, in wheeling, let fly with both heels and caught him below the right ear with his near hind ; foot. With a piercing shriek the! drunk ciaspon: both hands to his head, fell over backward nnd rolled down to the, foot of the gangplank, and lay there in a crumpled heap, the blood pouring from his nose, mouth and the wound below his ear, Upon hearing this shriek several of tho men leading their horses in their fright turned them loose, nnd there was a mad stampede on the dock. The pasty-faced horseman, whom I had helped out a little while before In the argument about his bunk, was standing near the runway holding on to a horse. He turned his horse loose and rushed to the bloody mass which was twitching with convulsive shud ders. The foreman, on seeing this ac cident, snapped out a long string of. curses, wnicn almost froze my heart: "What did I tell you? Didn't I tell you not to look at him? I knew y.ou would get it, and a damned good Job, too; blocking that run with your fool tricks." Then he noticed the pasty-faced horseman stooping over the bleeding1 "Get 'Im by the heels, you cross be tween a corpse and mummy, and drag him out of the way. We've bloody well got to get this ship load ed to catch the tide." The pale-faced man kept on with his examination without paying any attention to the foreman's instruc tions. The foreman got blue in the face and bubbled over with rage. "Do you hear what I tell you? Get im out of the way. This ship has got to be loaded or'Iil go down there and pound some obedience into you." The man still paid no attention. . The foreman was speech less. In a few sec onds the stooping man Doctor straightened up, and eo: a doctor! lilawst my dead Mgrns. a doctor! Well, if you're a a horse ship? You ought to be roll , oii.il in ii i hi c ,i ii'iiii on ing pills for the high-brows." The doctor never took his nierclnc look from the eye of the foreman. The ; foreman was now like an enraged i bull. Spitting nil over himself, he blustered out: "Well, if he's dead. : there is no doctor that can do him around, Just then the second 'foreman rushed over, gave the negro a push out of the way and, g-abbing the heels of the dead man, pulled him away from the run. I turned away, sick ened with disgust. The foreman then took an empty oat sack and spread it rer the bloody head. Just then the clanging bell of an : lbtilance was heard and a white- iothed doctor, followed by two men Vith a stretcher, pushed their way irough the crowd of horses anil horsemen. They were accompanied by a policeman. The body was put iiito the ambulance and taken away, vhile the police officer went on board " ho ship. The pasty-faced doctor was holding onto the rail of the runway nnd coughing. I thought each gasp would be his last. The second foreman was talking to him. Tiie doctor paid no attention. Going up behind the doc tor, the foreman coolly measured his distance and swung on the point of his j.-,w. The doctor crumpled up and fell on the dock. At this cowardly and dastardly act, T saw red and made a leap at the foreman.: , An onrush ing light flashed in front of me 'und a huge locomotive, Roh'ig' fiO miles an hour, hit me 'between the eyes; then blackness. When I came to, I was ly ing in my bunk in the bold. I had tin awful headache. Tnen everything came back to me with a f! :sh. I could hear the gurgling of water on the. ship's side and knew we were under way. Hight then 'nnd there I decided never again, especially while aboard ship, 10 interfere with -the foreman. Among that gang of human-wrecks and cutthroats it was every man for himself, and the survival of the fit test. I had two beautiful black eyes, and my nose felt like a football. I went up on deck. The moon and stars were out nnd - the twinkling lights of New York harbor were grad ually fading into the distance. Lean ing over the rail were the foreman and the veterinarian, "Doc" Casey, by name. The foreman was talking. Snatches of his conversation reached my cars: . "Load horses? Why, that bunch of scum they wished oil me couldn't load lump sugar, one lump at a time. How Brown expects me to deliver 1.300 horses into Bordeaux with this scur- vy outfit, 1 don t know. He re lucky I'm thinkin'. if 500 o' them don't die. Why, there's not one o' the blighters knows which cud. of a horse eats hay. I telj you, Doe. your work is cut out for you. If. in a few days, you don't have a couple of hundred cases of colic on your hands, then I'm a bloom in' liar." "Doc" Casey answered: "Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Goorty, this is my third trip over and I have seen some tough bunches, but this one is the limit, and I sure have a job on my hands. It's too bad that Vir.ero let out on that young fellow, because, in my mind, that was a pretty cowardly blow. He seemed to know how to handle horses. What do you say if 1 giv him the job rf assistant veter inarian? He's had six years' cavalry experience." The foreman answered: "Throw him over the side, if you want I don't care. But I guess you'll need someone to help you out, so go to it." I was overjoyed. Just then Tinero came aft. The horse doctor turned to him and said: "Look here, .Pinero, I've seen lots of dirty work in my inc. out tnut exhibition of vours on from me. That voting fellow from now on is working for me, and vou lay your hands off of him. If I find you mcddlimr with hint. I'll push that silly grin of yours down your throat until it chokes you. Now. that's all I got to say, lay off of him. Do you understand?" l'inero started to mumble excuses. but the doctor shut him up with, ' don't want to hoar any more. I' I any more. I'm off of you for life, but remember what I tell you. Steer clear from the two o' us, sabc?" I guess the second foremnn "sabied" all right, because he vouchsafed no answer. My heart warmed to "Doc" Casey and 1 slipped uway unob served. "Assistant Veterinarian1 The next morn ing the doctor fixed nie up with court plaster and I was stalled as assistant veterinarian at J30 for tho trip. I wus to sleep in "Doc" Casey's stateroom, where he had his medicine stock, but before entering the room "Doc" told me, "Take this bucket of water; put a few drops of creosote In it, and go aft on the hatch und take a good bath, and throw your underwear away." 1 asked htm what for. He answered: "When you take your shirt off. take a good look at it and you'll see why." l uegan to teel itch v all over but minutely followed-his Instructions. Upon taking my shirt off, one look. was enough. It was alive, and over the rail it went. Doc loaned me a white suit and took charge of my out er clothing. Whnt he did with them I don't know, but that uftermion he returned them to me. They were shrunk a size smaller, but were clean. I was satisfied. Bo was Doc. Five days out wo ran into a squall and our work was cut out for us. We even had horses on the decks in wooden stalls. The ship was lurching and pitching, and huge seas would burst over, the gunwales. The Pastv ""V 1 1' aceti Several of the wooden stalls gave way, and the horses were loose on the deck. With every lurch of the ship a couple of horses would fall, and, kicking and snorting, would slide down the inclined deck, hitting against winches and the hatchway, scrnplnir -their hide off. It was worth a man's life to get into that mess. . Then I had more or less respect for the foreman and second foreman. Into the midst of that struggling and kicking bunch of horses they went, assisted by Doc Casey. Four of the j noreps rCrelved Iroke'n legs, and l'in of shooting "them, cut had nothing to do with the unloading j t"e Frenchman who had sent me over, with a sharp dagger he "f the horses. The French cavalry-I was yery c.mrteous and as 1 reach unen ciimo aboard with n hnnr-h nf : " ' 1 shako hands with him, he . ,.0 instead their throats curried. One of .the from tho Inw.r L-t.. cr.run1 t l,.. n,llh to. ,-,. ..;., f .,r u-j : n hiM fimrt ninnelinrl o ninut -u-hitn nndl tween gasps tie informed us that whole section of stalls, 24 in all. had carried away between decks, and that 'r lie imiM ii-u uo linn a the horses were loose. He said three negroes of his gang were caught in this stampede. The foreman mustered most of the men, and dividing them into three groups, In charge of himself, the sec- .mi., lumiuui umi ito nwy, uie.v went below. I followed, An awful mttiii iih-i lily e.ves. The ship was lurching in a horrible manner. All. I could See was, one minute a pile of kicking horses, sniashed-up planks and the three ne groes piled up in one corner of the i bend their forelegs and lie down on Several times later :! passed that compartment, nnd then, with a lurchithe dock; then try to roll over It ' s'Kn on Greenwich street, "Horses for of the ship, they would slide Into, the! was pitiful; some of them did not : France, Men Wanted," and the pic other. Nothing could be done by us. have the strength to turn over nnrt'ture of the second foreman dropping It was madness to attempt anything. The three negroes were dead. That night and the following day was a perfect hell on the ship for men and horses. The ship rode through the squall and when it became calm we all got busy. Out of the 24 horses between decks we had to shoot 17 on account of injuries. Beside the 1 7, three had dk-d from broken necks, The four remaining horses were still alive hut hardly had a square foot of hide left. Tlfby were a pitiful sight. The next day the three negroes were the brander shouting out what sound bnried at sea without a word of jed like "Bnttry Loo." As he yelled! prayer. I this, a French private would como For the next eounte of days nothing i over, get the horse which had been of importance happened. (branded, and lead it awav. I got in About four days out of Bordeaux; conversation with an interpreter and one of the large steam pipes in the j he informed mo that the average life tower hokl burst. In th's hold there ; were 64 horses. The engineer of the! ship tried to repair the break, but it had only left that Hell ship to go into was almost worth a man's life to go i a worse Hell of bursting shells and down there in that hissing and .scald-j cracking bullets. . . . : ing steam. The cries of the horses I. after passing a rigid examination went straight to my heart, All we,as to my nationality, and being issued could do was to turn . treams of cold a cattleman's passport. Inquired iny salt water from three pair of hose way to the -prefecture of police. I de into the hold, thus trying to keep the j livered to him a sealed envelope which heat down and save as many horses 1 1 had received in New York, Upon as possible. j opening it, he was very gracious to Why the engineer, did hot shut off me and I went into a rear room, where the steam T don't know. I noted this I an interpreter put me through a grill fact iii my report. After about four) ing examination. From there I was hours the steam was shut off and the taken to a hotel, and the next niorn two foremen. Doc Casey and myself. ! ing, in the company of a sergeant and followed- by 12 oher-.men, went mtoia private, got into a little matchbox, the hold. X will never forget the sight compartment on the funniest looking as long as I live. Ncariy every one train 1 ever saw. The track seemed of the horses was dead, and those : to be about three feet wide; the which still remained alive had to be! wheels of the cars looked like huge' shot. Some of tlfeni were practically ' cogwheels on an engine minus the : boiled alive. The weather was hoi, j cogs. After bumping, stopping, and nnd it was not long before the rotting i sometimes sliding backwards, in 26 bodies of the horses made the stench ! hours we reached a little town. Sup-j on board unbearable. We had to get i plies were piled up as high as houses. : these bodies out. Long tackles were ; Officers and enlisted men were hurry-' rigged up, a chain around the neck j ing to and fro, and I could see long' of a dead horse, and. I worked the I trains of supply wagons and artillery' winch. The bodies were-snacked along) limbers always moving in the samel the passageways in the hold and up j direction. to the hatch. Some of the bodies! I was ushered into the presence of would not hold together, and it was a -a French olltcer, who, I later found' common s;ght to see a dead horse suspended in the air by his hind leg drop suddenly into the hold below, leaving his leg hanging to the tackle. Every horse sent to France s branded with a different brand. They have a system of indexing them. As ! each dead horse was snaked to the: upper deck. Doc had to stoop over ! and make a note of the brand before the horse was thrown overboard. As the dead horses were dropped over the side, a resounding splash ! could be heard and the water was churned into a foamy white as the body momentarily sank from view.! Then the bloated body of the horse would reappear and disappear in the wake of the ship, the sea gulls hover- i ing and screaming around it. j The grub on that ship was awful, and a day out of Bordeaux the tang' of horsemen refused to work. The foreman mustered them on the main deck, and standing on the bridge let out about 20 minutes of religion and advice in their direction. The whole gang immediately got religious and : returned to their duties. I was heartily sick and distrusted I with the rest of the trip because the stench was awful, thero being about Just outside of the entrance of the river leading to Bordeaux, a small, rakish boat, flying the tri-color of France, came alongside. Wc hove to and tip the gangplank came three French officers. Ttu y were closeted with the captain of t.'e ship and our foreman, and after about 20 minutes, left and we continued on our course. Going up tho river in France! some places the banks were only ahout 20 feet away. We could see the French wom en tilling their fields. As we went by these workers stopped and waved their hands in the air to us, and we waved back. It was my first sight or j-ranee, and l was not In any way disappointed. It lived up to my ex pectations. A little farther up the river we camo to a Inrge clock where ships were loading and unloading cargoes, and a thrill passed through me as I saw my first batch of German prisoners at work. These werb Immense fellows, nearly every one being sTx feet or over. They were guarded by little French soldiers, averaging about five feet five IncMes, with a long rifle, bayonet fixed. This rifle, in comparison with the Frenchman, looked like a telegraph pole. The soldiers had on the old blue overcoats, tails buttoned back, pat tern of 1871. As we passed the German prisoners they scowled at us, and We, feeling (lllite safe on the rtnel-. vnlln1 liunU l suits at them. One big Irishmnii, right near me, took great glee in jumping up ano aown on tno hatchway and running his flrfger across his throat. This seemed to enrngo the prisoners and they yelled something in German. The Irishman must have understood it because he let out a volley of curses in return. The French sentries seem ed to enjoy this barrage of Insults and did not in any way attempt to curtail the prisoners remarks. This, at the tlmo, struck me as depicting a remarkable scene of fairness, and later on. during my service on the western fron I found out that the I Frenchman in all his dealings U fair and Just. Pretty soon the prisoners faded out of sight and we came alongside the dock at Bordeaux. I was all eager- ness and strained my eyes so as not; to miss the least thing. The dock was full of French cavalrymen, hur rying to and fro. Huge turcos. black as the ace of spades, with white tur bans on their heads, were majestically striding about. After we warped into the dock end made fast, our work was over. "We men came aboard with a bunch 1 i i. . . ,.. " 4U " Mi" 11-1 s nanging over meir .IIIHS. 1 I unloaded. The condition of the he ' ,.nv hxii.T m.yi nuiiin condition of the horses was pitiful. They could hardly bend ....... , .. - . . I v" , , , 1 s Ir" simness. iney wouui i hn,,b .own the gangplank and stand trembling on the dock. In about a minute or so they would stretch their necks way up into the air and seem to be taking long breaths of. the pure air.: Then they started : to whinny. Tbev were rnllinc. hnntcwnrit nnH fr- ward to each other. Even though I am not understand horse lnnguuge I knew exactly what they were saying. They were thanking their horse God for their deliverance from that Hel! ship, and were looking forward to green pastures and a good roll in the rlirt T'rottv tnnn vnn oMilrY ena th,.,n they feeblv kicked. Prettv. soon ' the! the pasty-tacca doctor wouta loom oe whole dock was a mass "of rolling c'es- 1 ? not know to this horses, the Frenchmen jumping day what became of that nervy wreck around, gesticulating and jabbering.,- humanity, who had the temerity After getting the horses up. they to tell our foreman where he got off were .iK-iHe.i ini M,. uio nwnv,iino tn at..- I know he did not make the pass- ; their height and weight. Then each ; . horse was led into a -ring chalked outi on the dock and the army inspectors j (examined it. Very few were rejected." j From this ring of chalk they were led 1 j Into a portable stall and branded. ! You could hear the sinir-sonsr voice of of these horses in the French army was tbi ie rbtVH. so tliee nnur linnaiw out, was a brigadier general of the EUROPEAN MODERN A choice hotel in a choice location. The leading commercial hotel in the Carolinas. 200 Rooms of solid comfort GUY S. LAVENDER, Mgr. HERALD SQUARE HOTEL 34th St. 7 lb. Avf. and r FOLLOW 125 75 1 5 0 Club THE l u ARROW The House of Taylor HOTEL 1ST (00 Bathi SOO.floorm F Mb a! h mm II Quartermaster corps. I could hear Uirtutui vui'iiiiiift, aim uiuii uill I lS found out that it was the guns of France, striving to hold back the Qei man invauers. i iiTinnieu an over wit h excitement, and 'a feeling that I cannot describe rushed over me. I was listening to my first sound of the guns on the western front. n . Two days afterward ome, lHlt r again readied Boi- Dis-i.itistipd ". an" shipped to UlbAailalieu Kpw York on the French Liner Hochambeaux. Upon "rrivinK '" 'ew York I reported to of;ctl 0,,t i" snaKC nanus Trim mm, he tihmrxt Iwtfh hunilH- nn niv HlmiiMnra " ." ;' .. " "r 11 .'U1. . .V.: cheek. 1 was dumbfounded, blushed all over, and after receiving tho pay thut was due me, I left. I think I could have borne another trip across with horses, but that be ing kissed upon my return completely got my goat. I went back to the routine of my office, but everything hud lost color and appeared monotonous. I believe. I had left my heart In Franco, and I felt mean and small, eating three square meals a day and sleeping on a soft bed, when the armies on the other ide were making the world's history. Sometimes when sleeping I would have a horrible nightmare; I could see those horses being boiled ; alive in I StCllll age with us. nn I flllR Rj T U Ms 1 MUv .-:' '''" .Hi Hi I 11 iM lllJ Ul" "'V '. Tokio. Oct.' 20. ( By Mail.) I There'll be no more tips on Japanese ' ,vi i ) rn:i ilu The I'lU'prntilpnt bus de creed it. But not out of mere regard for tho traveller. The government holds tips injure the health of the receiver. . It is claimed that "passenger boys" receive far too much money for lads, of their years. It leads them Into temptations which undermine the morals and tl health: So their wages will be raised as high as the government thinks healthy. But no more tips. JEWEL "Coal Saver" RANGES Naturally, a coal saving Range saves you money. Then why not let us put a JKWEIi RANGE in your home. CIIAS. L. SLUDER CO., 20 S. Pack Sq'. : Phone 1500 FIREPROOF -Broadway NEW YORK wiit or J EVERY comfort r.:id convenience. On J,, . i; f-. -ii do c. . vi. wi iiuuij iivJt 1 uu 1, IV. otaiioni tear lines iron a! ernes. 1 wo ..unites Walk to the finest shops and theatres. Fireproof Modern- ROOMS: with privilege of bath $1.50pMd.F with private shower bath 2.00irtdiy with private bath 2.0C udup Bremkfait 30c up . Special Lu-cheon 60c Dinner t la cute at moderate price J.'FRED. SAVERS, MiMginj Director MARTINIQUE Broadway, 32d St, New York On Block frmn Pennsylvania Station Equal!? Convenient for Amoamcnu Shopping or Binrlnr . Pleasant Rooms, with Private Bath $2.50 PER DAY 57 Excellent Rooms, with Private Beta, facing- street, southern exposure, $3.00 PER DAY v Also Attractive Rooms from 11.80, The Restaurant Prior Are Most MotVrmte.