The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1915-12-28
BOMB THROWING
BORDER FIGHTERS
Perform Scouting and Patrol Service e
in Mountain and Forest; Tough
Men Injured to Life Of
Hardships
BY WILLIAM G. SHEPHERD,
u. p. staff correspondent.

u. p staff correspondent
MONASTIR, Serbia, Dec. 2.-(By
mail) Comitadjis are supposed to be
the toughest, killingest men in the
Balkans, perhaps in the world. They're
the border fighters of, the various
Balkan states; Texas rangers are
gentle alongside them Northwestern
mounted police. gentlemen. At last
I've had talk with a real live comi-
tadji of the Serbian breed. One part
OF his conversation went like this
1--WE went up to house the olner
night in which there were forty-two
Bulgarian comitadjis. They fired at US
and refused to surrender, so one of ue
threw a bomb, just like this one
holding out an iron box the size OF
a cake of soap-"and blew up the
place. 1t killed twenty-eight and
wounded the rest" Another part OF
his conversation ran:
did you read Tolstoys prediction
of this great war;" He pulled soiled
clipping from his pocket and read
what Tolstoy had written in 1912
there would be great war. in Europe
and a writing man from the north
would arise and hold the world in his
grip for the next ten years, after end
ing the war. DO you know who 4
thought this great man might be?
Roosevelt. He writes, you know.
But 1915 Is almost over
He was man of contrasts. this
Serbian comitadji. With his rifle, his
revolver his bag Of bombs. each OF
which could blow up house, he
talked to me about the dangers of
typhus and other Serbian diseases.
Il drink all the water that comes
my way. 1t can't hurt me. don't
believe in sickness, you know. I'm
Christian scientist"
Have you ever been in the United
States?"
"oh. yes I've travelled every
where"
He told me about the comitadjis he
lived with.
'Comitadjis aren't regular soldiers.
he said. They're volunteers who
guard the frontiers. A good many OF
them are men tired of everything else
in life and who are too cowardly to
commit suicide. For instance, in cur
company OF twenty men there's a
young fellow from Nish Six years
ago he fell in love with girl there
and she told him she would marry him
il he would go to the states ana bring
back some money. So he went to
Portland, Oregon and saved two thou
sand dollars in five years. That's a
little fortune in Serbia. He hurried
back to Nish When he reached home
he found the girl had married. He
spent all his money drinking in the
cafes and when he was broke he
Joined the comitadjis. Fellows like
him are tough fighters; they don't
care what happens to them"
"what do comitadjis do in the great
war;"
whatever the army doesn't do.
Scouting patrolling, entering villages
before the army and mountain and
forest fighting. We have some good
times, too. The other night we'd been
on duty all day and when night came
On il was raining. We were near a
village where some Bulgarian comitad-
lis were supposed to be, so a few Of
us went into the village while the
others remained on the outskirts.
Pretty soon we heard about fifty
shots. and then the shooting stopped.
We hustled into the town. We found
that the patrol had killed nothing but
one big sheep. That sheep was
skinned in ten minutes. The fellows
ran around for wood. Where they
got ii | don't know. but before long
we had great big fire going and vne
Of our fellows who used to be a cook
in Belgrade cafe stuck a pole