Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1914-09-25
Priest Tells of German Bray
cry in Charge, and of
British Pluck
GERMANS KIND TO
BRITISH WOUNDED
Gives Direct Lie to Charges of
German Atrocities and
Cruelty

James MalION, "A native Of Trenton. y.
j., who has been in New Zealand for
many years, arrived here today ON the
steamship Mauretania from Europe. Be
fore going to New Zealand, he lived in
San Francisco. Father Maloy spent
nineteen days ON the firing line with
British troops and probably knows
more about the actual fighting in
Europe than any one hitherto returning
to the United States He was in London
when war was declared
"On August II, - Father Mallov
told the United Press today, ~ was
invited to accompany the British ex-
petition as chaplain. We sailed August
is. ] was assigned to transport
carrying General Sir John French to
France.
Seventy two transports were re.
qulred to carry the expedition. We
landed at BOulogne. Three DAYS later
we went to Mon and became the left
wing of the French army moving
north to relieve and aid the Begians
and to prevent the capture of Nammr
and Brussels. We went into action
August %.
"The British left wing was com.
prised of crack British regiments and
totaled 100000 men. For the next two
days they fought continuously, both
day and night
A Forest of Men.
"The Germans seemed uncount.
able There seemed to be millions of
them. As they swept down on the
British they resembled moving for.
est-all gray green and hardly discern.
ibe until well within range. One
could well imagine that the entire
horizon was filled with swift.moving
mass.
90 As we advanced the German field
artillery shells kept exploding with
terrific concussion breaking great
holes in the atmosphere and making it
difficult to breathe. Their bands were
playing and the soldiers were singing
"Die Wacht Am Rhein'' and other
airs
1.-The Germans charged at top speed.
But the poor fellows never had
chance. The British were well en-
tIenched The enemy advanced i'm
mass formation. Our rifles were the
best in the world and the marksman-
ship of our troops could not be sur
passed. The Germans were doomed .
from the outset
''Steadying their rifles at the ton
of the trenches, the British fired at
will. They couldn't miss. Every bul.
let found at least two marks and some
times three or four. The poor fellows
fell like chaff before fire. Whole
companies fell together. The wounded
Squirmed from the masses of the dead
and tried to continue the charge. Ii
then became necessary to shoot them
again
Not War Just Slaughter.
1.-The sights Saw showed me con.
clnsively that this is not war. but a
terrible holocaust. Its cost in human
lives is almost impossible to compre.
hcnd.
"The rifle slaughter was varied with
slaughter by the bayOnet. The Ger
man attacks persisted and the British
charged them. 1t was the most des-
pcrate hand to hand fighting, but in.
variably the longer knife of the
British bayOnet prevailed.
While the British were succeeding,
the French were being defeated by the
Germans on our right. They were un.
able to hold the enemy, and their rifle
fire was almost as bad as that of the
Germans.
Finally the British were ordered
to retire in order to prevent being en-
veloped. When these orders came the
men almost rebelled. Stalwart Irish
and Scotch soldiers wept openly. At
inf H., II
actually leaped from the trenches and
charged the enemy in their eagerness
to emphasize the fact that British sol
diers should not retreat
"Their officers finally explained
that il was necessary to retreat and
trap the Germans.
Rifles Are Humane.
THE German shell fire was tire.
mend0us-almost indescribable. There
was a small hill with a company of
British soldiers entrenched there A
German aviator flew above, and sig
nailed the range. A number of shells
were dropped and the hill disappeared.
In its place was great hole filled
with dead.
I" A notable thing is the large pro-
portion of the wounded over the dead.
THE modern rifle is humane. r.
have seen many men wounded in what
are ordinarily called vital spots, taken
to hospitals and return to the front
within week.
After we reached Marne we began
to advance so rapidly that the Germans
were unable to cover their tracks. As
result we were able to. get an idea
of the terrible slaughter. The gronaj
was covered with British, French and
German dead. There was no time 10 :
bury them. We found hundreds of
wounded in houses.
81 want emphatically to deny stories
of German atrocities. They cared for