The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-10-18
RUIN FRANCE

A = - French soldiers were lounging around and
 saw a young British soldier standing erect in doorway. He had white leath-
 CT straps across his chest, and 1 as. sume that he was courier. Some dis
 tance further on, still following the edge
 of the forest, we came upon a beauti-
 ful chateau with artillery parked upor its lawn.
 Picks Up a Battered Helmet When we reached Chaudun. at 1:30, thu sound of firing had grown very loud. Ths
 town was filled with soldiers jumped cut to pick up battered helmet lyinl
 ii' the roadway. At this moment . group of soldiers surrounded us anf asked us if we had any tobacco. WheT
 We gave them each a package of cig, cites they made it clear to us thai
 they were as delighted to see us as any angels straight from heaven. They want.
 ed to pay for the tobacco, but we ex-
 piained to them that we had brought 2
 large supply for the express purpose oi giving it to the soldiers. They pointed out the way to Soissons, but 1t turned out that they directed us incorrectly for after slipping and sliding over bad ly cut up road for mile or so we be- came tangled up with a supply train that | NdS dQNdfCiuB tOWdiu SOiht OtHti poili | in the firing line. We were now con- rletely lost and our maps did not throw any light on our position. At this point we tobacconized a sergeant in the con voy and his attitude immediately changed | from that of a stolid soldier to that of about the most willing and communica- | tive person one ever saw He gave us all the information he could himself sup ply, and then called to an old peasant | md in, to get into the ear with us and show us the way. At all points along here the sound of the firing was noisy and inces- ] sant. Even when our motor was clat- | tering it's loudest we could feel the con cassioD of the big guns.
 | At length we got into the right road agin, dropped our old peasant. and sped 1 toward Soissons. All along we met sup l ply wagons and cassons coming out of | the firing zone The soldiers that we | passed along there seemed unusually quiet and did not seem to be talking among themselves at all. Perhaps each one had his own gloomy thoughts to brood over.
 Finds Americans in Trouble | Presently we reached the edge of a village. where a sign on wall an nouneed that we were at Courmeles three and a half kilometers from Sois- sons (about two miles). A sentry stopped us here and looked at our papers The streets were somewhat crowded with sol diers, but we managed to pass through at fair rate of speed. As we were go- ing by a group of soldiers near the center of the village I saw familiar. face among them-that of an American resi- dent of Paris whom 1 had known well for sometime. He saw me at the same time and called frantically for me to stop. We came to halt and l got out expect ing to shake hands, compare notes, and move on. Immediately another Ameri- can appeared whom I also knew. After exchanging saluta tions l moved back to- ward the machine, preparing to get in. Hold on,' they shouted, Were pris- oners of wari'
 'Prisoners of warl Whats the mat ter?r
 They explained that they had been brought there by an American who was driving an automobile in the service of the British army; that they had asked for permission to spend the preceding night In the little town which had been granted them upon condition that their friend would come and get them at o'clock in the morning. Their friend did not return at and they began to be looked upon with suspicion. At o'clock the gendarmes put them under arrest, dfla iiOW they NciC Dciile icfu AOi toHi - martial, so they supposed. One c. them had fine knowledge of the French Ian guage, but in type be- was rather Ger man-lookng. The other had lately co>-a to Paris and could not understand French we'll, and, as he could comprehend very Little that was going on. he was con siderably disturbed Moreover. night spent in a pile of hay listening to tho shrapnel exploding had not added to their repose. nor were their appetites satis- fled with one can of sardines in "A hours.
 I found the officer of gendarmes, who they said had been watching their every action, to be very courteous fellow. He said he regretted infinitely to have to detain these gentlemen against their wishes but they found themselves with in the zone du feu' without perrnission and consequently he would have to hold them until the commanding general should order them to be liberated, shot, or in some way removed from his keep ing He said that we could go at once to the generals headquarters, which was located in a chateau a short distance out side of the town, and he called guard to conduct the machine He refused, however. to let the prisoners budge a step, so 1t was arranged that the other members of my party should go to see the general, and that l should stay with the gendarme and his prisoners until their return. This gave me an opportunity to talk with the soldiers and examine the effect of the shell-fire on the little town, which I was exceedingly asxious to do. Later however, I rather regretted that I had not gone with the machine, for one of my friends said that while he was standing in front of the chateau, the atmosphere having cleared somewhat. he could see battery working several hum dred yards away.
 Gathering Point for Struggle
 Meantime I put in one of the most in teresting hours I have ever spent. The little town of Courmelles was being used as a gathering point for stragglers, men who had been lost from their commands, and men whose commands had been cut up by the Germans. The gendarmerie were in charge of this motley crew of wayfarers. who were evidently being held here until orders should be received for them to return to the front. If Detaille had been there he could have added an- other masterpiece to his gallery of war time pictures.
 A gendarme, in his liver-trimmed uni- form of blue, had just ridden into the town. He had backed his mud-bespat- tered horse under the portals of an en- trance that led to courtyard. He was standing there reading over his order book with French Algerian zOuave, a