Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1914-12-20


and unceasing roar came from then
with regular rolls o. rthunderou
noise interrupted by sudden ana ter
rifle shocks, which shattered int
ones brain and shook ones body VIII
a kind Of disintegrating tumuit. IIisl
above this deep-toned concussio,
came the cry OF the shclls---that Ion,
carrying buzz---likea monstrous, an
cry bee rushing away from d burnIn,
hive--which rises into shrill singins
note before ending and bursting int,
the final boom winch scatters death.
But more awful was the noise q,
our own guns At Newport | stood
only q few hundred yards away from
the warships lying off the coast. Each
shell which they sent across the dunes
was like one of Jove's thunderbolts
and made ones body and soul quake
with the agony Of Its noise. The vi
bration WAS 80 great that IL made my
skull ache az though n had been ham,
mered. Long afterwards 1 found N.Y.
self trembling with those waves of
vibrating sound. h.
Worse stiils because sharper And
more piercing staccato, was my rxne-
rience close to a battery OF French
"cent-vingt." Each shen was fired
with a hard metallic crack. which
seemed TO knock a hole In my ear
drums suffered intolerably from
the noise, yct---so easy II is 70 laugh IN
the midst Of pain--I laughed aloud
when a friend Of mine, passing The
battery IN his motor car, raised his
head to one of the gunners and said,
I'm moment, sil vous plalt."
Wrecked Nervous Systems.
Some people get accustomed to the
noise, but others never. Every time
battery fired simultaneously one Of
the men who were with me, hard,
tough type of mechanic, shrunk and
ducked his head with an expression of
agonized horror He confessed TO me
that II knocked his nerves to pieces"
Three such men out Of six or seven
had to be invafided home In one week.
one of them had 'crise de ncrfs"
which nearly killed him. Yet II was
not fear which was the matter with
them. intellectually they were brave
men and coerced themselves into Join
ing many perilous adventures. II was
the intoierable strain upon the ner-
vous system that made wrecks of
them.i' -irItI.
Some men are attacked with a Kind
Of madness in the presence of shells.
II is what a French friend Of mine
called ia folie DIES obus.r II Is a |
kind Of spiritual exultation which
makes them lose self-consciousnes
and to be caught up, as It were. in
The delirium of these crashing things.
In the hottest quarter OF an hour mi
Dixmude one Of my friends paced
ibout aimlessly with a dreamy look in !
MS eyes. l am sure he had not the
slightest idea where he was or what
ne was doing. I believe he was ~out
'ide himself to use a good old fash
oned phrase. And at Antwerp. when
convoy OF British ambuiances es-
'aped with their wounded through n
TORN OF shells, one man who had
hown a strange laundering for the
leart OF the inferno, stepped off his
ar and said, Il must 20 back, I must
% back. These shells cali to me"
lie went back and has never been
eard Of again. hat
Greater than ones fear. more over
Is ones interest in this
he'll fire. II is frightfulIy interesting
D watch the shrapnel bursting near
odies of troops. to see the shells kick
ig up the earths nowiin this direction
nd now in that: to study great
uilding gradually losing its shape
nd falling into ruins: to see how
cath takes its toll in an indiscrimi-
ate way--smashing a human being
ito pulp few yards away ond leav-
* oneself alive. or scattering a road
Iay with bits Of raw flesh which
ago was team OF horses. or /
Ihipping the stones about a farm ]
ouse with shrapnel bullets which spit {
bout the crouching figures Of soldiers {
no stare at these pellets out Of sunk
n eyes. Ones interest holds on In
lie firing zone with a grip from which
ne's intelligence cannot escape,
hatevcr may be ones cowardice. 1t
the most satisfying thrill Of horror ]
the world. How foolish this death II
How 1t picks and chooses, taking ]
man here and leaving q man there !
Y just hairs breadth OF difference. !
is like looking into he'll and watch 4
Is the fury Of supernatural forces at \
lay with human bodies. tearing them !
pieces with great splinters of steel !
I'd burning them In the furnace fires :
sheli-stricken towns and in devil =
h way celebrating the image of hui :
anity IN welter OF blood :
There Is beauty In 1t, too, for the :
theticism OF Nero. Beautiful and !,
rrible were the fires Of those seven :,
elsian towns which I watched under :,
star-strewn sky not many days ago. :,
acre was pure golden glow, as of :,
luid metal. beneath the smoke col p
ms and the leaping tongues of p
tme. y
The Pageant Of Shell Fire. 4
And many coIors were used to 6,
int this picture of war. for the ene- s,
uses shells with different colored r
mes, by which am told they study +
G effect of their fire. Most vivid is u
0 ordinary shrapnel, which tears U
Mt through the black volumes of q
loke rolling over smouldering u
wn with a luminous sphere of elec- u
c blue. Then from the heavier W
ms come dense puff balls Of tawny "
ange, violet and heliotrope, followed W
fleccy little cumuli Of purestl
lilo