New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-10-31

Paris. Oct. l9-The writer OF these
notes. a highly placed officer IN the
French army, has been following the
march of the allied army corps IN va
rious capacities, which have allowed
him TO witness and sometimes take part
in the vast drama being played before
the world in the beautiful plains OF the
Marine and throughout the fertile val
levs extending northward through
Picardy and into Flanders.
Six o'clock in the morning, and ] am
: only thirty miles from Amiens, which
/ left at midnight. Am driving car
with which / am unfamiliar. My old
machine is lying IN a ditch some sixty
miles away-no bones broken, but a
nasty shaking up and cut nose and
lin. Ran all night without headlights;
they are prohibited within the fighting
lines. For miles on both sides of the
road the men Of the TIL Army Corps
are busy taking the crimps out OF their
/ limbs, stiffened by the nights rain. No
tents, the men have "bivouacked," but
the fear Of Taubes and Zeppelns has
prevented the lighting oil campiires.
Less than a mile away are the Ger
mans. For ten hours, | am told, not a
shot has been fired. Ny work is done.
Getting ont of my car and handing my
papers 10 an orderly, | go 10 beg Il
can Of coffee from group of Noroc-
cans Theirs is better coffee. The
Frenchmen nearby, ParisIanS, evi-
IDENTIFY, jolly me. Isn't their coffee good
enough? The conversation goes no
further. Over our heads the "whirr'
Of a motor coming from the north
About thousand feet above our head
flying slowly what nerve!-comes a
Taube. A bomb drops fifty yards from
my car in a newly ploughed field. /
doesn't explode. The men all idu y 3.
then shout From the east a Ere n
monoplane at full speed bears straig t
for the German. The German sees him;
up he goes 5000 feet. Up follows the
Trenchman, climbing faster. With
glasses one can almost see the pilots
Both want to fight, and neither makes
an effort 10 get away.
The French machine, a Farman, rises
over the German. We hear its quick
firer quite plainly, but the German
circles away, and for quarter of an
hour hundred thousand pairs Of eyes
follow the chase 5000 feet in the air.
With glasses one can see the Ger
mans standing out of their trenches,
and not single Frenchman thinks of
firing a sho, at the exposed enemy.
Again the German allows himself 70
be approached and the quick-firers
crack again. The Frenchman lurches,
slips on one wing, falls few hundred
feet, straightens up and climbs again.
The French troops around me 30 wild,
embrace each other, dance, shout. Then
a long silence. The whirr of motors
cannot be heard, but sound of the shots
comes to US plainly.
The Frenchman is above the German
and firing nearly perpendicularly. A
CAPTAIN orders US to get under cover,
the bullets from our man above BENZ
just as dangerous for US as for the
German. No one pays any attention
to the officer, who is too busy watch
ing the duel above TO insist.
The quick frers rattle still faster,
and suddenly the German seems TO
shudder. stands still and begins 10
drop, circling in splrals. tail III the
air. He strikes 500 yards away, in a
/ marshy land.
/ In spite Of shouted orders, a thou
sand men rush to the spot. | am in
water up TO my ankles. The machine
is a wreck. The motor is half buried
in the mud. The wings are smashed.
A few yards away is the pilot dead,
his head SO buried into his shoulders
that only his eyes, wide open, are yisi-
bic.
Under the motor, which has caught
fire, the body of the observer" lies,
caught by the legs. The heat Is so
intense we cannot approach. The mans
hands, white and soft, they seemed TO
me, he is evidently a young officer,
shake in the air convulsively, then grip
the ground around him in an effort TO
release his legs. His eyes turn toward
us, but we are helpless. The hands
move again once or twice and the suf-
ferlng ends.
During those few minutes not one Of
us looked upon the dying man as an
enemy We all had a great feeling of
pity for a man who had fought good
battle and lost.
Ten minutes after an automobile
rolls up to the edge of the marsh. The
general and staff commanding the army
corps have followed the duel and come
20 see the loser. Then come two young
soldiers. privates. The general en-
braces both. They are the victors who
had landed after their rival had
dropped. Everyone shakes hands. An
old woman. peasant who lives in a
nearby farm and has refused TO leave
her home to the Germans. gathers a
few flowers in a field and brings them
to our two heroes.
"You have just earned the Legion of
Honor" GAYS the general to the avia-
tors you'll get it; count on me-"
shell screams over our heads; the
Germans have started the dance
Every one rushes Off. The tragedy
ends and a new one begins.