Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1915-08-28
A SHELL THAT HIT
Graphic Description Penned by
Frederick Palmer.
One Successful Shell Out Of q Thou.
sand; the One Supposed TO Make
Waste Of Other 99s Worth
While.
BY FREDERICK PALMER.
international News service.)

international News Servlce.D
British Headquarters, France
There are points along the British
front which see nothing but desultory
shell Are and sniping for weeks and
months on end: points where neither
side has made an attack through the
winter and spring. These are known
as quiet corners. A practical stale
mate exists. Neither Briton nor Ger
man finds any object In trying for
gain. Troops who have been In the
thick OF 1t elsewhere are sometimes
sent to these regions for rest and q
change.
Other points--points which stick
out, as 1t were-are known as hot
corners" where the guns and rifles
seem always busy. Such has been
the La Bassee region.
A visitor may see about 40 much OF
what IL going on in La Bassee as an
ant can see OF the surrounding land
scape when promenading In the grass.
The guns of both sides seem en-
gagged In kind of savage, vindictive,
blind mans buff sparring. or course.
the gunners have point on the map
OF which they are aiming They have
information In one way or another
that there 10 something Mt this point
worth Smelling. II may be house:
and OF course, every house 10 down
on q large scale map Troops may be
In the house: or II they are not. and
you destroy the house, you have de-
stroyed shelter for troops and made
the enemy nervous. AT least, theo-
retically, you have made him so;
nothing seems to be able to make the
British soldier actually 30. or the
French peasant either.
We had left our car to 90 forward
on foot. We were coming into the
zone where the inhabitants had been
ordered to vacate their homes. This
Is an unfailing sign that whatever the
condition of your health you are be-
coming q poorer risk every minute
for a life insurance company. A
shell may get q group Of soldiers In
house or In n dugout. Houses are
not safe shelter In hot corners where
the visitor, instead OF looking for
houses which have been damaged by
shell fire. looks for the anomalous one
that has not.
There was one such ON an adjoining
road--an estaminet, which 10 O pub
lie drinking place or cafe.
A stretcher was being borne into
the door OF this estaminet and above
the doorway of the estaminet was
chalked some lettering which indicst-
ed that 1t was q first clearing station
for the wounded. Lying ON stretchers
on the floor were some wounded men.
They looked little stunned, which
was only natural when you have been
as close as they had to q burst of q
shell-a shell that made o hit The
conclusion was bound to have this
effect.
A third man was the best illustra-
ton OF shell destructiveness. Bullets
make only holes. Shells make gouges.
fractures and pulp. He too had band.
aged head, and had been hit In sew
eral places; but the worst wound was
In the leg, where an artery had been
cut, causing loss OF blood. He was
weak with sort of Where am II"
look in his eyes. II that fragment
which had hit his leg had hit his head
or his neck or his abdomen he would
have been killed instantly. He waa
an illustration OF how hard II 10 to
kill a man with several shell frag-
ments unless some OF them strike In
the right place. For he was going to
live; the surgeon had whispered that
fact In his ear, that one important
fact.
And 1t was the one successful she'll
out of the thousand; that one which
was supposed to make the waste of
the other nine hundred and ninety
nine worth while.
Returning by the same road by
which we came, an automobile passed
swiftly by. We had a glimpse of the
big, painted red cross on an am
bulance side and, at the rear where
the curtains were rolled up for VEN
tilation, of four pair OF soldier boot
soles at the end Of four stretchers
which had been slid noiselessly into
place at the estaminet by the sturdy.
kindly. experienced medical corps
men.
AS we walked along, one OF our
guns of a battery near by smoked again
In the course of q desultory cannon
ade,' seeking to pay back in kind for
injuries which the four PROSTATE fig
ures In the ambulance had received.