Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-11-20
POSTBAG FROM
BATTLE FRONT
First-hand Accounts of Land
and Sea Conflicts Told by
the Fighting Soldiers and
Sailors Themselves.

tThe real todr correspondents Of the
present European STRUGGLE are the
men IN the trenches aud the men on
the quoVter deck. Professional torit-
crs ure' not permitted at the front.
Al then krotU is tUhdt they cat CLEAN
from the i1ounded occupants OF am
balances taken to the rear The
EUening Ledger Wut print from time
TO time the oHiU intimate side Of the
tDdr-the reflections Of soldiers aud
sailors IN their letters home. German
letters, tUhon obtdindble, as tocH as
those of the Allies, t0iH be printed.l
The story Of the capture OF a German
SPY and his bold but unsuccessful break
for liberty is told as follows in letter
written by II. c. Hutton, a sapper in a
British regiment of engineers:
I'VE had been intrenched two days
when a German spy was captured He
spoke English as we'll as | do. and
shouted to U.S. I surrender, 1 surrender;
take me prisoner. He was placed in a
corner Of the trench, seven feet deep,
and was guarded. He soon began to
chatter and told us his history In such a
plausible manner that we believed him.
He told us he had been in private service
as butler In Surrey and Sussex, and
also a waiter in hotels at Brighton
Liverpool and Manchester He actually
cried when he pulled out of his pocket
the photo of n girl he said he intended
making his wife when the war was over
IL he was spared, and begged we would
not take II away from him. He said
she was a Lancashire lassie-he could
put on the North Country dialect all
right-and read portions Of a letter she
wrote him when he was called up.
THE traitor gave us lot of supposed
information about the Germans. and
pretended to be as wild as a march hare
when we spoke of their officers. They
were everything that was bad. / must
admit 1 thought the fellow was genu-
inc. and I gave him some OF my rations,
but several of the others had their
doubts. He had been with us three days
when he showed himself In his true col
ors 1t was pitch dark and raining cats
and dogs. He jumped out of the trench
and made dash for the German
trenches, but he did not get 30 yards
away before he was brought down. The
next morning We saw his body lying
where he fell. We went through his
pockets. | got 'pocketbook and his
girls photo. 1 am going to write to her,
as her address is on the photo"
A thrilling incident in the retreat of
the British, from Mons, Is described by
Sapper Wells of the Royal Engineers,
who passes lightly over his own part in
an extraordinary act of heroism.
"Our officer asked for a man to go
with him to blow UP a bridge, so that
the Germans could not follow us, and I
went with him." Wells writes.
well, to blow a bridge up we use
guncotton and wire fuse. 1t is safe
enough II you take your wire we'll away,
but this time 1t would not work. Our
men In running back had stepped on the
wire so we had to go nearer to the bridge
and try again. Even then 1t would not
act, SO the officer said to me, Get out of
the way, Wells. 1 said, No, I'll go with
you We were the only two on the bridge
and the Germans were shooting at us, but
our luck was in. Well, we both lay down
and 1 fired 10 rounds at the guncotton
with my rifle. and he did the same with a
pistol. but It wouldn't work II It had
we should both have gone with It. SO YOU
see what a shave we had. We made a
dive back and got some more guncotton,
and were making to have another go
when an officer ordered us back, saying
1t was no use trying"
Two French captains of the General
STAFF are responsible for a gallant ac-
ton during the earlier part of the war.