The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1914-11-14
DARING EXPLOITS OF
AUTOMOBILE DRIVERS
20
They Are Called Upon for Hazardous
Duty in the Great War-Fate of
Jean R

/, PARIS, Nov. IA Correspondence of
The Associated Press The exploits of
the daring automobile drivers who whiz
along the fringe of the shell-torn battle
front, and sometimes into it, on missions
of military duty that have cost many a
fe, are as remarkable as the aerial dashes
IN this war
Thousands of luxurious touring cars and
imousines that once graced the boulevards
Of Paris are now employed in this service
and many of them are driven by their
wealthy owners who rank as privates and
are comrades with professional chauffeurs
They wear uniforms marked with an "A"
on the arm. Little is heard of their indi-
yldual deeds, which led the Figaro to say
their service was "obscured" In reply
the Figaro printed on its first page let
ter from one of these daring drivers, a
Paris lawyer, that speaks for itself 1t
follows -
" Obscured'! The word is quickly said
There is too much 'obscured' And one
has reason for being so who is forced to
remain far from the front Thus the
automobile service Is obscuTed But the
Figaro ought to say that in their obscur-
| ity the automobilists know how to die
and that numerous indeed have been those
who already have fallen
IF. at the beginning of war. one saw
automobiles enjoying a ride in the woods
or with their cars stationed before fash
/ ionahle restaurants, that time has passed
That should be known
The automobile squad to which | be-
long is submitted to the most rigid mill
tary discipline. We have three roll calls
a day We do not sleep. at home No
one quits the garage during hours of ser
vice - -
The other day, about nine in the morn
ling, the quartermaster entered the garage
Everyone was at his post The machines
were all equipped, tanks filled, provisions
in the hampers, carbnes ready-every
thing there to show that we don't Just
merely make run around the lake
They want a cart! cried the quarter
master. Who can COZ
Every man answered, T.
One of our comrades Jean R. was
chosen. A turn Of the crank and the car
was gone. Where? No one asked On,
is too much accustomed to seeing these
machines depart to put the question
They go, remain absent-many days, som,
times.
; And RI went this time, like Others
btlOlC iiiti- flllS- DIS sun 9LileIS Will ltllON
him, each day
In the evening the machine returned
I to the garage. All its windows were brok
! en-. Bullets had riddled its panels Jeal
e R. was not with it, His comrade. tear
$ in his eyes, had brought the car. bacl
a alone. Jean R had been killed during
e the trip. His body was on the grount
4 back there, somewhere in the North
They had not been able to bring it back
; Some English soldiers had arrived in tim
J. to save the survivors Of this mission Of
n which the poor chauffeur had left so JOY
o ously in the morning.
Some hours later in the garage wher
a each evening they call the roll. to tn
name of Jean R the quartermaster al
swered
. Dead on the field of honor
The men, in two ranks, raised the han
: to their caps.
/" A day or two later, one could see, on
, morning, some soldiers marching wit
j. measured tread toward a church A
! wore on the left arm that letter "A tn;
+ is ieered at They were the comrades
d the obscnred one They were going
e have a mass celebrated for him who ha
been killed by German bullets