The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1914-12-02
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1:f5 =. M.-But to get hack to
our shooting. The man I'm the
hole begins to talk through the
telephone again. He yells out
new numbers. Somewhere hid
den out there among the hills
several miles away. Ii an Austrian
officer who can see the first shell
struck. Evidently the range was
not what he wanted and he is
phoning from his hiding place a
new range and directions. Gun
No. 2 Is shifted and re-tiIted.
Within a minute its shell goes
along it's shrieking way. We wait
for more phone orders. They
come Immediately. The range
was perfect. Somewhere those
shells arc doing deadly work.
There wust he more of them. With
q giant burning OF explosions,
shrieks and swishes six shells go
ON their way. There Is more work
to be done but we don't know
what 1t is. All these men do Is
to load, shoot" ''load, shoot"
listen to the shrieking shells and
wonder what has happened.
Bury Cholera Victims.
1925 p. Non the other side
OF the road, half a mile away, is
Q second battery. We 60 over
there. On the way We find two
boys digging a hole in the field.
There are two men dead of
cholera in that house." they say.
land this is their grave" They
have wooden cross made rough
ly of two sticks on the ground be-
side the hole. These two boys
seem centuries old; they do not
smile or even appear interested
as | photographed them as boys
might have done.
2:05 p. M.-The second bat
terry is working like the first.
They are the same size howitzers.
Early this morning, before day
light, Russian shrapnel almost
found" them. They show us the
hole in the earth. 1t is four feet
deep and twelve feet in diameter.
For many feet around the ground
is plowed up by skipping pieces of
flying metal.
2:1O =. M.-We come to a
cholera hospital along the road.
1t is an old farm house. The
scene I'm the yard is indescriba-
BILE. l have my pencil and paper
I'm hand. hut don't know what to
write. All about the yard, lying
on straw under the trees through
which the sunshine filters are In
animate men, sick of cholera.
Here is soldier priest, wearing
his army shoes, a red cross band
on his arm, and heavy overcOat.
He wears gold cloth apron over
his coat. A soldier rises weakly
from the straw to his knees.
Priest Blesses Dying.
He folds his hands before him
and the priest bends over him.
This is absOlutiOn for the dying
that this priest is granting. This
muttering soldier who is still
strong enough to kneel upright
and to eros himself, probably will
he dead by night, surely by morn.
ing. And after the priest goes
the soldier falls back weakly on
the straw, pulls dirty blue hand.
kerchief from his pockets and
sObs out his misery. But the
Asiatic cholera will have its was
with him before many hours. The
priest goes to another man and
arOuses him. This man seems
stronger than the first. He gets
to his ieet and falls on his knees
and raises his face expectantly
and hopefully to the churchman
and takes his dissolution without
a sign of weakness.
The Red Cross doctors know
. when to call the priest. Four
hours usually see the finish of
the Asiatic cholera victim and the
priest can be called none too soon
after the first unfailing symptoms
is discovered. This symptom Is
a death sentence and these men
lying under the trees in the sun
shine, their faces greenish in hue
their eyes closed, are dying even
If some Of them have strength
enough left to kneel upright as
the priest blesses them.
Most PiteOus Sight.
l have seen men killed; I've
seen men hanged; I've seen men
executed at the wall, but this
sight I have happened upon by
accident in Galicia is one of the
most piteous that the sun could
ever shine upon or that a human
being could ever behold. I got
the picture with my camera, but
1t is burned into my mind more
clearly than any film can ever
show 1t. I'm going to put down
the exact words as I wrote them
at the moment while trying to
force my stunned mind to grasp
what I was seeing. They will
show how weak words can be:
Faces CHASTITY Green.
Army priest goes to side of
little white shack where three
men lie in straw in sunshine,
They struggle to their knees, fold
their hands as he bends over to
hear one confess. Other two
wait their turns with heads
bowed. Their faces are terribly
drawn and CHASTITY green. They'll
be dead by morning or the priest
would not have been called There