Evening journal., 1914-12-02
NJ WILLIAM c. SHEPHERD,


PRzEMYSL. Austria. Oct. 29.-(By |
Mail TO New York, passed by CensorJ /
Napoleon never fought like the Aus /
trians and Russians are fighting on 1
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 this af- |
ternoon, and for 200 miles to the
right this same sort Of battle is going
on Here and there. along the front
today. the Russian infantry and the
Austrian infantry will come
into clashes as one or the
other tries to reach bat
terry of the enemy that seems
to have weakened. and then
you'll have the sort of bat
tie that Napoleon knew about
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 going on along the whole
vast line, just as the battery command
ant with whom we were talking here
knows all that is going on at the edge
Of his six gun fan. AS / look at ou-
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 Hoetzendorf, and as | talk
ed with him. tried to put myself in
his place-and failed Out here on
the firing line ! can understand more
fully than I could when I talked
with him what tremendous duties rest
on his shoulders and behind Won
Hoetzendorf is the Archduke Fred
erick who SAYS: do this" OF do
that" Hundreds of thousands Of men
are obeying orders at this moment
Just as these men at the battery are,
not knowing results but blindSy con-
fident in their faith in the Archduke
commander and Won Hoetzendorf.
lis p. m.-But to get back to our
shooting The man in the hole begins
to talk through the telephone again.
He yells out new numbers. SOme>
where, hidden out there among ths
| hills several miles away, is an Aus
| trian officer who can see where tho
first shell struck Evidently the range
was not what he wanted and he is
/
range and direction. Gun No. is
shifted and retilted. Within a minute
its shell goes along its shrieking 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 a giant burning
OF explosions, shrieks and swishes,
six shells 60 on their ways. And then
the next order tells us to turn the guns
I'm quite another direction and eleva-
ton There is evidently other worn
10 be done In other places among the
hills, but we don't know what it is
All these men do is Load, shoot,
LOAD, shoot" listen to the shriekins
shells and wonder what has happen.
ed
1.25.-On the other side Of the road
half mile away, is a second battery
We go over there On the way W.
: find two boys digging a hole in tn
! field. "There are two men dead il
that house. of cholera" they say, "an,
this is their grave" They have
wooden cross, made roughly of tw,
sticks on the ground beside the hole
These two boys seem centuries old
they do not smile or even appear in
terested as photograph them, as boy
might have done.
2.05.-The second battery is work
ing like the first. They are the sam
size howitzers. Early this morning
before daylight. a Russian shrapne
she'll almost found" them The
show us the hole in the earth. Il 1
!. four feet deep and twelve feet in diam
eter. For many feet around tn
ground is plowed up by skippin
pieces of flying metal
2.10-We come to a cholera hos
. pital along the road. It is an oil
: farmhouse. The scene in the var
is indescrihable. l have my penci
and paper in hand. but / don't kno'
. what to write. All about the yar(
lying on straw under the trees
through which the sunshine filter
are inanimate men, sick of choleri
Here is a soldier priest wearing arm
shoes, a Ress Cross band on his arr
and a heavy overcoat He wears
gold cloth apron over his coat.
soldier rises weakly from the stra'
to his knees. He folds his hands be
fore him, and the army priest bend
over him. This is absolution for th
, dying that this priest is granting. Thi
muttering soldier who is still stron
enough to kneel upright and to eros
himself, probably will be dead
night, surely by morning. And, a
ter the priest goes. the soldier fall
back weakly on the straw, pulls
dirty blue handkerchief from h
pocket and sobs out his misery. Bl
the Asiatic choler.. will have its wa
with him before many hours. TT
priest goes TO another man an
arouses him. This man seen
stronger than tho first He gets
his feet and falls on his knees ar
raises his face expectantly and hop
fully to the churchmen and takes h
absolution without a sign of wea
ness. But tho Red Cross docto
know when TO call the priest. Fol
hours usually see the finish OF u
Aslatic cholera victim and the prie
can be called none too soon after q
first unfailing symptom is discovere
This symptom is like a Death sen
ence and these men, lying under q
trees in the sunshine, their fac
greenish in hue, their eyes close
are dying. even though some of the
have strength enough left 10 kneel u
right as the priest blesses them.
have seen men killed; I've Sc
men hanged; I've seen men execut
al the wall. but this sight that ha
happened upon by accident IN Gallo
is one of the most piteous that I
H..