The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1914-10-02

Haunts Him Yet.
A correspondent sends to the New
York Times from France this dramatic
story of the execution of two German
spies:
A soldier comes out from behind a
pine tree with rifle and fixed bayonet
lou allez-vous?" he says, stepping
before me.
''Je vais me promener," | reply, and
anticipate his next demand by display
ing my special permit.
Monsieur is re man that writes?
shake you by re hand with YER great
pleasure
He beckOns me back among the trees
Zone comes!' he says. SSH"
You see him. he asks a moment
later. sZere by re coulver' S-st'' :
We both bent forward. A hundred
yards down the narrow path, among
the pines, a man in a workman's blue
blouse is standing. looking in every
direction Suddenly he takes cOu.
pie of steps in among the trees.
Stalking the Enemy's Messenger.
The soldier begins to tiptoe down
among the trees, keeping a few PAGES
away from the path. l am following
AS we go down. a step at Il time. noise.
lessly on the pine needles, there sounds
very soft whistle below, which is
answered Immediately from some
where to the left and further down the
slope of the pine covered hill.
a fa1-
silence, then pause and listen. / hear
the sound now. soft and cautious
scraping of earth.
The sentry begins to go forward
again, and suddenly we open out a
vista, long and narrow, among the
trees. Seeming far away, perhaps 200.
perhaps $50 yards downhill, a figure is
lying on its stomach, its face close to
the earth. Near to the head there is
what appears at this distance to be a
small box
The sound of something scraping
softly at the earth continues. 1t is now
on our right front. and suddenly | see
the man we have already seen. He is
about forty yards away, kneeling down
He is lifting something which looks
like a narrow slab of stone. He is
STOPPING now into some cavity which
he has just laid open. He takes Il pair
of wire cutters from his pocket, and /
hear the Snick distinctly as he cuts
through something IN the cavity.
The sound catches the hearing of the
soldier, and he glances to his right
swiftly.
l hear the half Missed ''arrre" again
as he sees the second man. Then sud
denly he pushes his rifle forward
l thrill with a vague sickness. for l
know that l am going to see brief
glimpse of the war horror there among
the hushed sunlight and the shadow of
the tree boles.
What 1t All Meant
Far down the hillside. at the end of
the narrow vista among the trees. the
second man has suddenly risen. So ut
ter is the silence that | can hear him
plainly as he coughs. He begins to
haul on something, and | realize sud
denly the meaning of the whole Incl
dent that | am watching The two men
have located the underground private
They have been tapping it for any
news they might pick up, and now
they are removing a couple of hundred
meters of wire bodily. after which no
doubt they Will replace the slabs which
cover that roof in the underground
channel and smooth back the earth and
pine needles over the two disturbed
places.
The soldier is methodical. He takes
the distant man first. Kneeling there
behind him. | watch with a growing
thrill and tension of tragedy and sick
ness his sunburned cheek cuddlc
against the stock of his rifle.
"Cr-rack" comes the sharp swapping
bang of the weapon. and the man
down the vista of trees gives Il queer
little jump and then turns right around
quickly and looks behind him, and
thus looking and seemingly unaware
that he is the person who has been
shot his heart stops. and he rolls oveI
quite easily and gently on his side-a
merciful enough death, as these violent
deaths go.
And then, as l stare, the rifle goes
Cr-fack. again. ana L Jump, for !
am still looking at the silent figure
down the vista of trees.
But the soldier has been attending to
his business and has snapped off a
second shot Qess well aimed than the
first because of the sudden need for
hastel at the nearer man, for the man
has started to bolt. And because the
shot was hastily aimed the second
death is as cruel as the first was mer-
sifuf. | cannot go into details. but the
t0ldier has to use a third cartridge be-
fore the end comes
An examination of both bodies shows
that the men We're German spies in
possession OF "ciphered' information
Espionage is become YER difficile
profession in France. monsieur" says
the soldier as he rolls q cigarette.