Newspapers / The Courier (Asheboro, N.C.) / May 9, 1918, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of The Courier (Asheboro, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
HE ASHEBORO COURIER, ASHEBORO, JCC Thursday, May 0, 1018 - ke went back t Ms tea. and Tommy armed himself with a pick and shovel) and started digging. He's been dig. Ore minutes with the old hnr. and when he returned the flow of language INSPGCTION MM rroornls lips would make a nmrry 6'" rver unce. "Of coarse we dug those trenches at might but it was hot work, what lth the rifle and machine-gun fire. The stretcher bearers worked harder than the diggers. "Those trenches, bloomln .ditches, I call them, were nightmares. They were only about five feet deep, and you" used orasn ror shame. "What I am going to tell yon la bow two of ospvt It over oa the old scamp, ana got away with It It was a risky thing, too. because Old Penner wnnldnt have been exactly mild with ns If he : - S . M-XfZl ZmiT cimrc iw -r MAMOI0N5 use xotnext to the came. "Me and my mate, a lad named Har ry uasaelL, bombardier in D 238 bat- WHO WENT AHUBfiDYDimr n i b Y : machine: ajNflm.OTG w mc Pace Two i s I IV On ... i . j CHAPTER XV. Listening Poet. It was six in the morning when we arrived at our rest billets, and we were allowed to sleep uutll noon; that Is, if we wanted to go without our break fast. For sixteen days we remained Entrance to a Dugout hi rest billets, digging: roads, drilling, and other fatigues, and then back Into ' the front-line trench. : Nothing happened that night, but the next afternoon I found out that a bomber Is general utility man in a sec tion. About five o'clock in the afternoon our lieutenant came down the trench - and stopping in front of a bunch of us n the fire step, with a broad grin on his face, asked : "Who Is going to volunteer for listen ing post tonight T I need two men." It Is needless to say no one volun teered, because It is anything but a cushy Job. I began to feel uncomfort able as I knew it was getting around for my turn. Sure enough, with another grin, be said : "Empey, you and Wheeler are due, so come down Into my dugont for ln structloas at six o'clock." Just as he left and was going around ! traverse, Fritz turned loose with a machine gun and the bullets ripped the .sandbags light over his head. It gave me great pleasure to see him duck against the parapet He was getting a taste of vhat we would get later out tn front Then, of course, It began to rtdn. I knew It was the forerunner of a mis erable night for us. Every time I had to go out In front, It Just naturally rained. Old Jupiter Pluvlus must have had It In for me. At six we reported for instructions. They were simple and easy. All we had to do was to crawl out into No Man's Land, lie on our bellies with our i can to the ground and. listen for the tap, tap of the German engineers or 1 sappers who might be tunneling undm No -Han's Land to establish a min- head beneath our trench. Of course, in our orders we were tolt not to be captured by German patrols er recorsiolterlng parties. Lots of breath Is wasted on the western front . giving silly cautions. ' . 'As soon It was dark; Wheeler and I crawled to our post which was about halfway between the lines. It , was raining bocketfula, the ground was a see pf sticky mud and clung to as like gm.-.jr.:.s -. - ' We took turns In listening with oar , ears, to the ground. I would listen for twenty, minutes while Wheeler would be on the qui vlve for German patrols. We each wore a wrlstwatch, and be ll ere me, neither one of us did over twenty minutes.1::, The rain soaked os to the skin and oar ears were full of -; . J. ... ' . . Every few minutes bullet would oniric overhead of ft machine gun would Inivorso back and forth, f , y Tlicn all firing suddenly censed j rcrcd to Wheeler, "Koep your eye f'innp'l, mnte; most likely Fits hns n r.itrol nt;t that's why the Boches ! Pffifpe.! firing.." , w , j v . r" rnch nrmed with a rifle nnd !. i l t',r-o Mills bomhs to be ' r r ' ' only. ' . ' ; i r li iht cnmiid. All of . t : 1 r.int, dull thuds, j v Vp I v. !!';i'rc(l 19(7 BY ARfHU. tUYCflPfYi "lank, that's a patrol and It's head lng our way. For God's sake keep still." I was as still as a mouse and was scared stiff. Hardly breathing nnd with eyes try ing to pierre the inky blackness, we waited. I would have given a thou sand pounds to have been safely in my dugout. Then we plainly hoard footsteps and our hearts stood still. A dark form suddenly loomed up In front of me ; it looked as big as the Woolworth building. I could hear the blood rushing through my veins nnd it sounded as loud as Ningara falls. Forms seemed to emerge from the darkness. There were seven of them in all. I tried to wish thVm away. I never wished harder in my life. They muttered a few words In German and melted Into the blackness. I didn't stop wishing either. All of n sudden we heard a stumble, a muddy splash, nnd a muttered "Don nor nnd Blitzen." One of the Roches had tumbled into a shell hole. Neither of us laughed. At that time It didn't strike us as funny. About twenty minutes after the Ger mans had disappeared something from the rear grabbed me by the foot I nearly fainted with fright. Then a welcome whisper in a cockney accent. "I s'y, myte, we've come to relieve you." Wheeler and I crawled back to our trench; we looked like wet hens and felt worse. After a swig of rum we were soon fast asleep on the fire step in our wet clothes. The next morning I was as stiff as a poker and every Joint ached like a bad tooth, but I was still alive, so it ma not matter. CHAPTER XVI. Battery D 238. The day after this I received the glad tidings that I would occupy the machine gunners' dugout right near the advanced artillery observation post This dugout was a roomy affair, dry as tinder, and real cots In It. These cots had been made by the R. E-'s who had previously occupied the dugout I was the first to enter and promptly made a signboard with my name and number on it and sus pended It from the foot of the most comfortable cot therein. In the trenches It Is always "first come, first served," and this Is lived up to by all. Two It F. A. men (Royal Field ar tillery) from the nearby observation post were allowed the privilege of stopping In this dugout when off duty. One of these men. Bombardier Wil son by name, who belonged to Bat tery D 238, seemed to take a liking to me, and I returned this feeling. In two days' time we were pretty chummy, and he told me how his bat tery In the early days of the war had put over a- stunt on Old Pepper, and had gotten away with It I will endeaver to give the story as far as memory will permit in his own words : 1 came out with the first expedi tionary force, and, like all the rest, thought we would have the enemy licked in .Jig time, and be able to eat Christmas dinner at home. Well, so far, I have eaten two Christmas din ners in the trenches, and am liable to eat two more, the way things are pointing. That Is, If Fritz don't drop a Vhlzs-bang on me, and send me to Blighty. Sometimes X wish I would get hit because ifs no great picnic out here, and twenty-two months of it makes yoti fed up. x "It's fairly cushy now compared to what it; used to be, although I admit this trench Is a trifle rough. Now, we send over five shells to their .one. We are getting our own back but In the early days It was different Then you had to take everything without reply. In fact, we would get twenty shells in return for every one we sent over. Frits eemed to enjoy It, 'hut we British didn't; we were the suf ferers. Just one casualty, after an other. Sometimes , whole platoons would disappear especially. when a Jack. Johnson' plunked , Into ' their middle." It got so bad that ft fellow, when writing borne, wouldn't ask for ny cigarettes to be sent out bemuse he was afraid h wouldn't be there to receive them, ' ' v:'1- '' 1 v, "After p drive te Tarls was turied bock, trench warfaro started. Our general grabbed a map, drew a prncil across It sod said, lg bore.,. Then - 666 - GIVES QUICK RELIEF FOR GOLDS arid t r rx - " V'V vTV - t . : if,:?.: :'- S:: ! ' One of the Bi to get the backache from bending down. It wasn't exactly safe to stand upright, either, because as soon as your napper showed over the top a bullet would bounce off it, or else come so close It would make your hair stand. "We used to fill sandbags andstlck them on top of the parapet to make It higher, but no use; they would be there about an hour and then Fritz would turn loose and blow them to bits. My neck used to be sore -from ducking shells nnd bullets. "Where my battery was stationed a hasty trench had been dug, which the boys nicknamed 'Suicide ditch,' and, believe me, Yank, this was. the original 'Suicide ditch.' All the others are imitations. "When a fellow went Into that trench It was an even gamble that he would come out on a stretcher. At one time a Scotch battalion held It nnd when they heard the betting .was even money that they'd come out 10a stretchers, they grabbed all the bets In sight Like a lot of bally idiots, sev eral of the battery men fell for their game, and put up real money. ' The 'Jocks' suffered a lot of casualties, and the prospects looked bright for the battery men to collect some ' easy money. So when the battalion was re lieved the. gamblers lined up. Several 'Jocks' got their money for emerging safely, but the ones who clicked it weren't there to pay. The artillery men had never thought It out that way. Those Scottles were bound to be sure winners, no matter how the wind bew. So take a tip from me, never bet with a Scottle, 'cause yoaH lose money. "At one part of our trench where a communication trench Joined the front line a Tommy had stuck up-a wooden signpost with three hands or arms on It One of the hands, point ing to the Gerhjan lines, read, To Ber lin;' the one pointing down the eon munlcation trench read, To Blighty, while the other said, 'Suicide Ditch, Change Here for Stretchers.' "Farther down from this guide post the trench ran through an old orchard. On the edge of this orchard ourbat- tery had constructed aa advanced ob servation post The trees screened It from the enemy airmen and the roof was turfed. It wasn't cushy like oars, no timber or concrete! re-enforcement Just walls of sandbags. From- it. a splendid view of the German lines could be obtained.- This post wasn't exactly safe. It was hot corner, sheila plunking all around, . and the bullets catting leaves off the trees. .Many a time when' relieving the sig naler at the phone, I had to crawl on my belly like a worm to keep from being hit- ' , ,;-v' .;. ; . ..rv ,. "It was an observation post I sure enough. That's all the use It was. Just observe all day, bnt never a message back for our battery to open up. Too see, at this point vt the line there were strict orders hot to fire ft- shell, unless specially ordered to do so from brigade headquarters. : BUme me. If anyone disobeyed that command, oui 'general yefc, It "was . Old : Pepper I would have court-martialed the whole expeditionary force, .Nobody went out of their way to disobey Old Pepper Id those' days, -because he couldn't bf called ft parson; he was. more like a pirate.' If at any time the devil should feel lonely and sigh for ft proper mate, Old Pepper would -got the first call Facing the Germans wasn't half bad compared with ad Interview with 'that old firebrand, 1 y.r-' .; ' "If ft' company of battalion should give way a few yards against n nn perior force of Bochefl, Old reir-r would send for tlie commanding on cer. , In obout half an lmr the ofHc-r would come tack with his faeo V color of ft brick, end In a few hntn whnt wns left of his command v. be holding their original por,!'J 'i. 0 Guns Barking. tery, or lance corporal, as you call It in the Infantry, used to relieve the telephonists. We would do two hours on and fouf off. I would be on duty in the advanced observation nost. while he would .be at the other end of the wire in the battery dugout signal ing station. We were supposed to send through orders for the battery to fire wnen ordered to do so by the observa tion officer In the advanced post But very few messages were sent. It wns only in case of an actual attack that we would get a chance to earn our two and six' a day. Ton see, Old Pep per had issued orders not to fire ex cept when the orders came from him. And with Old Pepper orders Is orders, and made to obey. "The Germans must have known about these orders, for even In the day their transports and troops used to expose themselves as If they were on parade. This sure sot nn our nose. sitting there day after day, with fine targets In front of us but unable to sena over a sneii. we heartily cussed Old Pepper, his orders, the govern ment; the people at home, and every thing in general. But the Boches didn't mind cussing, and got very care less. Bllme me, they were bally In sulting. Used to, when using a certain road, throw their caps into the air as a taunt at our helplessness. "Cassell had been a telegrapher In civil life and Joined up when war was declared. As for me, I knew Morse, learned it at the signalers' school back in ivw. with an officer In the obser vation post we could not carry on the xina or conversation that s usual be tween two mates, so we used the Morse code! To send, one of us would tap the transmitter with his finger nails, and the one on the other end would get It through the receiver. Many an hour was whlled away In this manner passing compliments back and forth. . "In the observation post the officer used to sit for hoars with, a powerful pair of .field glasses to his eyes. Through cleverly concealed loophole he would scan the ground behind the German trenches, looking for targets nd finding many. .. This officer, Cap tain A-: by name, had ft habltof talking oat loud to himself. Some times he would vent his opinion, same as ft common private does when he's wrought up. Once upon ft time the captain bad been on Old Pepper's staff, so be could cuss and blind In the most approved style. Got to be sort of a habit with him.- .: ; , ' V. . f "About six thousand yards from us, behind the German lines, wis road In nlaln vtnw nf m mrf' f -" vim ywn . VI UiU tmi . three days Frits had brought compa- I me or troops flown this road In broad daylight ; , They "were never-shelled. I Whenever this happened the captain ! would froth at the-month and let out a ' volume of Old Pepperl religion i which used to make me iqve him. -" hJTtTerjF battery has ft rangechart on which distinctive landmarks are noted, ith' the range for each. These land marks are Called targets, and are Num bered. , On ur battery's chart, that road was-called Tnrtet 17. T?Bnn ,6000, 8 degrees 80 minutes left D 238 oaltery consisted of ,our '4.0' howlt sers, and fired a 35-pound H. H shell As yon. know, H, E. means "high x pl0B!ve.,. I don't like bumming up my own battery, but we had a record In the division for direct hits, and our boys .were Just fining away for a chance to exhibit their, skill In the eyes of Frltr, ;, ; "On tlitf afternoon of the fourth day of Frit contemptuous use of the road mentioned the captain snd 1 were at our pofils os UHtinI.-Frlla wns slrnfe Ing us pretty rouch, JukI like he's doing now. The Plielis were playing lonp fmst oil through that orclinrd. -. j "I WOU cnrrjln nn a ronvi rmiHori in cur 'lap' codn vllh C'r - :i ct !' n rr t n l. It r n f " . ".' t ! " - '' LIQUIDS AND PASTES. FOR BLACK, WHITE, TAN, DARK DROWN OR OX-BLOOD SHOES. PRESERVE THE LEATHER. r , TW F. F. DAUET COlTOUnOHS. Hjlu4li ltwVlttHH CHEERY, whole-hearted, Southern hospitality it's ; almost a magic phrase to many. But really it stands for honest friendship cordiality and (yarim guessed it) lots of delicious goodies. Luzianne Coffee is always .in cluded in Southern hospitality because it tastes so good. Fra grant hot coffee for people who knowwhafs good that's Luzianne. Good old Luzianne flavor um-m-m 1 better try some quick. Your grocer has it and if you aren't satisfied, heU give back every cent honest I f- "Whan It Pours, An Ambition and THS0U11IEI!UAIV . .a THE needs of the South are Identical with the needs t th Somber atDwtyi tWfrawtk n4 hiii al eae Tin Ik adMlldlkf el Ik Mko. . Tb Soodwn SaOwt Mka wcorded to otben. TW ubhlea of Ik fcxcWm Idhny Ciif ! to m that mlqrafiMciwilkui kon of eu fimim kmutm lb nbik u4 " "' ' -.Ti-. r m of nUroaa, wfciek kwfu tko rHin fofcmcMal mdeii to rolls ttiitirtniHif nl li ml mHik will nihil H to obttU tko 4lttloMl Molal ojuliS for lUMoMiSa of bKraii4 oolarr4 hdlltiet lacUast to tb 4m4 lor 1 oil ill! Mai b-wt wirkoi and. finally To ttk tn alcko l Am WJ of wk Mber crat IndunWi, wbk toon. rvaa tat gul oosormkiol. ( The Southern Serves A. I li "i I tul ""' w ' m n m ii,t .nrs. -vi .. r . V An Early Bank V 0ne fre rUe,t " founded t Venice In 1188." Thftf is over 760 years at And yet there are lota of people wbo ner er avail themselves of the advantage of a bank. bank Ws ponslblllty wd knowa tetegrity. And yet there aTehundred, wople who dally take chances keep their money at home-bse ft by robbery lose it by fire, lose tt la one of fcwdrrSS oeSt'ttJt Ui"7 miQ7 SOLUTB SAFETX la ti 1 BANK OF RAMSEUR "il: 'RAilSEUR; c.:: :&Z;& 1 rrw f?8?) rpn fw fpm f?wi fpm f muwi rr frw rr rr rfi rrm Usjii li iMkii ks ui4i H H. CAFE O , ; . We run a clean, up-to-date cafe and endeavor Sy to Berve the public conscientiously.' Give U3 a trial 9 UmTTEO, BUFFALO, X. T. - ' : ' It Relm" ;,co;ifauy a Record SdrDefc M lb Sostb oa4io of oaoml Uboitk. eqal the South.' 2r i i i i i j i I '--''i- 1 - - 1- t i i V . :'-. ' .O .' - y- X ' 3. w. iinnwni, S fc. sr t t i i u i r f.' ... '. "I hnvfi nei-n nn ( ' 7 r n r f r r who v
The Courier (Asheboro, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 9, 1918, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75