Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1914-09-17

1s <AiGAul1GtI IOWSi., special wal
correspondent for the Chicago Tribune,
come the dean of war photographers"
He is an American, and a kansan, and
was first encountered by Powell in the
American consulate at Ostend.
h dean, who is a small man, wore
a British officers breeches, French
puttees, and a Seaforth Highlander's
helmet. The camera he carried was
the size of a parlor monograph.
He announced that his name was
Donald G. Thompson, photographer
from Topeka, KAN" writes PoWel
Europe is chockablock with war pho
tographers but Thompson is the only
one l have come across who has seen
war and actually photographed it..
No one but an American could have
accomplished what he has done, and no
American but a kansan.
The little man is built like Harry
Lauder. He is hard as nails, tough as
rawhide, and his face is tanned to the
color of a we'll smoked meerschaum.
His face is pe%rpetually wreathed in
what he calls his 'sunflower' SMILE
Arrives on Tramp Steamer.
Thompson reached Europe on a
tramp steamer with an overcoat, a
toothbrush, two clean handkerchiefs,
and three of the largest sized cameras
made. He expected to have some of
tlGIl SllldSneQ, ne explained, So ne
brought along three as a matter of pre-
caution.
by using q big camera, no one can
possibly accuse me of being a spy, ne
said.
His papers consist of an American
passport, a certificate of membership
in the Elks, and a letter from Sam
Hughes, Canadian minister of militia,
authorizing him to take pictures of the
Canadian troops. These md his II
mitigated nerve have taken him where
no other civilian has been.
Arrested Nine Times.
Thompson made nine attempts to
get from Paris to the front, was ar
rested nine times and spent nine nights
in prison. Each time he vas taken be-
fore a military tribunal.
utterly ignoring subordinate Off
GERS he would demand to see the Off
GER commanding. He would grasp the
astonished official by the hand and
nearly wiring it off, meanwhile inquir-
ing solicitously after the generals
health and that of his family.
"HoW many languages do you
speak?' 1 asked.
Three said he. English, Ameri-
can, and Kansan.'
ION one occasion he Communicated
q motorcycle standing outside a cafe
and rode it until the gasoline gave out.
On another occasion he explained to a
French officer, who arrested him. that
he was in search of his wife and daugh-
ter. who were dying somewhere on the
Belgian frontier.
pathos of the story that he wept on
Thompson's neck and sent him forward
in a Red Cross automobile. Whenever
he was stopped by patrols he would
flourish his letter from the Canadian
minister of militia and say he was try
S,,fr tN- -ort I-n thn u - ID - ,, .np,N
viva Canada the French would
shout. 'Hurrah for our brave allies
and permit him to proceed. He did not
think it necessary to inform them that
the nearest Canadian troops We're at
(name of the place censored).
Threatened With Death.
"When he was within the sound of
the German gums he was arrested for
the ninth time. tried by q military
tribunal, and told he would be shot if
he were not out of France in "a hours.
He was sent back to Paris in a motor
guarded by two gendar1nes, who ac-
companied him to the station and saw
him buy a ticket to London. He
dropped off the train, however, at
Amiens.
Shortly after midnight a train of fiat
cars, loaded With wounded, pulled into
the station. Thompson climbed on the
top of an American refuge train stand
ing on the next track and made a flash
light picture. A panic ensued in the
station, as every one thought a Ger
man bomb had exploded.
"ThompSon was pulled down and
roughly handled, but the British sold
iers interferred and aid he belonged to
their regiment. SO he was released.
Shortly afterwards a train loaded
with artillery being rushed to the front
pulled into the station. Thompson
crawled under the tarpulin covering of
a field gun and fell asleep. When he
awoke next morning he was at Mons.
Goes Into Trenches.
ga regiment of H~ighlanders was
passing. He borrowed a helmet and fell
in with them. He marched four hours
under a scorching sun and then went
into the trenches with the soldiers.
"All through. that terrible day
Thompson piled his trade as the sold
iers did theirs. Men We're shot dead on
either side of him. The British were
so hard pressed he was di%sregarded. so
he dashed forward n lay down i'm
mediately in the rear of the British
guns. He said that the German fire
was wonderfully accurate and rapid.
The Teutons would concentrate their
entire fire on one battery n when
that was out of action woul turn to
another.
"When the British retired before the
German onset he remained in the
trenches, so as to get pictures of the
charging Germans at close quarters. He
snapped pictures until the Germans
We're within 100 yards of the aband-
oned trenches. and then ran for life.
He said the storm of bullets was so
thick he was afraid the Kansas under
taker would never get the job of bury
ing him. He said the British behaved
with the greatest gallantry and retired
in perfect order, but they would have
been wiped out if they had remained.
Fed BY the French.
THAT night he ~blvouacked with a
French line regiment, the men giving
him food and a blanket. The mex
morning he was arrested for the 10th
time and taken before the general
commanding the division and stripped
and searched and sent to Amiens un-
der guard with orders to leave imrne-
diately for England.
.As the train for Boulogne was pull
ing out. packed to the doors with ref
ugees, he noticed a first class compart-
ment marked reserved" and occupied
only by a young oma
The train was moving, but Thomp-