East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1914-12-02

Wy MAIL 10 NeH 1Ofh.) il RAISED Dy
Censor) )-Napoleon never fought like
the Austrians and Russians are fight
ing on this huge battle line.
He didn't have the telephone, and
Of guns that would carry six miles
he knew nothing. But for 200 miles
TO the left OF us and for 200 miles
TO the right this afternoon this same
sort OF battle is going on. Here and
there along the front today the Rus
sian infantry and the Austrian infan-
try will come into clashes as one or
the other tries TO reach a battery Of
the enemy that seems to have been
weakened and then you'll have the
sort Of battle that Napoleon knew
and fought-only a "battlet," in this
twentieth century
There is a man sitting $50 miles
away behind US who knows every
moment OF the time Just what is go
ing on along the whole vast line. just
as the battery commandant with us
when we were talking here knows all
that is going on at the edge OF his
six gun fan. AS look at our own
battery here and think OF how little
these men know of what they are
doing, my mind goes back to a week
ago when sat in the office Of this
man who knows everything, Count
Won Hertzendorf and as I talked to
him. tried to put myself in his place
and failed. out here on the firing
line I can understand more fully
than I could when / talked with him
what tremendous duties rest on his
shoulders and beyond Won Hertzen-
dorf is the chief who says do this
Or do that" Hundreds Of thou
sands OF men are obeying orders at
this moment just as these men at
the battery are, not knowing results.
but blindly confident in their faith
in the archduke commander and Won
Hertzendorf
1:15 D. m.-But to get back to our
shooting. The man in the hole be-
gins to talk through the telephone
again. He yells out new numbers
Somewhere hidden out there among
the hills several miles away, Is an
Austrian officer who can see where
the first she'll struck. Evidently the
range was not what he wanted and
he is phoning from his hiding place
new range and direction. Gun NO
is shifted and re-tllted. Within a
minute fits shell goes along its shrek
ing way. We wait for more phone
orders. They come Immediately. The
range was perfect Somewhere those
shells are doing deadly work. There
must be more OF them. With giant
burning Of explosives. shrieks and
swishes. six shells so on their way
There is more work to be done out
we don't know what It is. All these
men do is to load, shoot, load
shoot" listen to the shriehng sheiis
and wonder what has happened.
1:s5 D. m.-On the other side OF
the road. half mile away. is sec
ond battery. We go over there. oh
the way we find two boys digging a
hole in the field.
There are two men dead OF chol-
era in that house" they say, "and
this Is their grave" They have a
wooden cross made roughly OF Two
sticks on the ground beside the hole
These two boys seem centuries Ola
they do not smile or even appear in
terested as I photographed them as
boys might have done.
2.05 q m.-The second battery Is
working like the first. They are the
same size howitzers. Early this morn
ing before daylight, a Russian shrap
rel 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 fly-
ing metal.
2.1O D. m. We come 10 a cholera
hospital along the road. 1t Is an
old farmhouse. The scene in the yard
is indescribable. I have my pencil
and paper in hand but don't know
what to write, All about the yard
lying on straw under the trees
through which the sunshine filters
are inanimate men. sick of cholera
Here Is a soldier-priest, wearing his
army shoes. a red cross band on his
arm. and a heavy overcoat He
wears a gold cloth apron over his
coat. A soldier rises weakly from
the straw to his knees.
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 cross himself.
probably will be dead by night,
surely by morning. And after the
priest goes the soldier falls back
weakly on the straw, pulls a dirty
blue handkerchief from his pockets
and sobs out his misery. But the
Asiatic cholera will have its way
with him before many hours The
priest goes to another man and arous-
es him, This man seems stronger
than the first. He gets TO his feet
and falls on his knees and raises his
face expectantly and hopefully to the
a sign of weakness. But the |
Red Cross doctors know when to call
the priest Four hours usually sees
the finish of the Asiatlc cholera vic
tim and the priest can be called none
too soon after the first unfailing
is discovered, This symp-
tom is death sentence and these
men lying under the trees in the sum
shine, their faces greenish in hue.