Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-01-09

land rather TIL
swear allegiance to the Emperor Will
lam. Among them was an old soldier,
who told me the following story in
broken English that 1 will uot attempt
to transcribe.
"You are mistaken" said he, with
some vexation. 81 am not German.
Because l speak German, that does
not make German my heart. 1t is all
French. I'm an Alsatian. We Alsa-
tians are more French than the French
themselves, because from France we
long had brotherhood and equality and
freedom.
SIN the great war I was in the
French army. Did fight in many
battles? No, I did not fight at all.
But for all that was in six battles
under fire, and sometimes in worse
danger than the men who fought. In
the balloon corps Twas twice wounded.
"You think that was strange? You
think there was no danger in the re-
connaissance with balloons, Ell? But
if you saw how fast the Germans
shelled our balloons as soon as they
stopped in the airl
"Stopped-how stopped? Why,
stopped at thesend of the rope. You
don't suppose war balloons go loose,
do you?
''Well, if you saw how the Germans
fred at them, and how they brought
their long-range guns to bear on the
ground where the end of the balloon
rope was, then you would know whether
there was danger for the men of the
balloon corps.
81 do not speak of the officers that
went up in our balloons to view the
enemy's lines. Any one may under
stand the risks they ran, when rifle
balls and shells were screaming to
pierce the balloon and bring its car
tumbling down. No, I speak more of
the risks we privates had from the
German fire on our standing ground.
Gould they see us? No; but they
could see the balloon. They're not
fools, the Germans. When they could
see the balloon, they could quickly
calculate about where itsropes touched
the ground. Oh, that terrible Ger.
man artillery! Skrei-i-i-i! 1 think |
hear the shells shrieklng again. Often
we had to stay in one place for an
hour, two, three hours, losing more
by death and wounds than the same
number Of soldiers on outpost duty
But the most terrible of all was what
happened to me at the end.
''It was toward the latter part oI
August, ten days after the traitor
Bazaine, had cooped us up in the for
tification of Metz. The order came
from my squad to so out far, far TOWARD
the German lines, sendup our balloon
and get look at what the enemy wer,
doing
"For ten minutes after we had sen
up the balloon, there was no firing a
it. There it hoated thousand fee
high. 1t was pressed toward the Ger
man lines by the breeze, which
seemed stronger above.
81 stood near the cylinder, or drum
from which we had let out nearly al
the rope that held the balloon from
rising and blowing away. This rop,
slanted toward the Germans as i
went up.
81 had hold of this rope; nv two
hands were above my head grasping th,
rope. Twas resting like this, when all O
q sudden the German artillery opene,
fire.
''They had not calculated the bal
looms position very perfectly, bu
they got ours well. First, five she'll
flew over the woods at the balloon
= These were all timed to burst, as the,
did, Glmosttogether. But none'of thei-
9 fragments hit the balloon; they haC
burst too far behind and below it.
"While [ was watching these ex
? plosions, far bigger shell came curry
} ing over the wood, as if flung from
mortar. 1t fairly struck the aindlas
drum on which the rope was wound
burst the same moment, and seemed t,
: Kill or wound every member of tn
squad except me.
: Though I was not hit, was hal
stunned by the conclusion, and O
course should have been thrown t.
the ground if 1 had not held on by tn
rope. | did not know was holdin
on, you understand I was too nue.
: dazed to know what had happened o
J what I was doing. Iknew,I was alive
and that was about all. And / cluni
to rope as if it was to save me fror
drowning.
"When my full senses came back,
! felt that my feet were off the ground
l looked down. The earth was nun
dred feet below nc. Next moment
seemed neaser, and I saw why. Tn
balloon, carried swiftly by the wind
3 had already lifted me over the WOOD
| 1t was drifting toward the Germa
camp.
"All this occurred so quickly that
was more surprised than scared. Some
how, perhaps because 1 was lifted s
easily, l had a sort of confidence this