The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-11-30
PLAYING TAG AT
DEAD MANS CART
soldiers Are Hardened and DO Not
pay Any Serious Attention to
Death Any More.
rRy VIM. Philip Simms. United Press
STAFF CORRESPONDENT

rBy VIM. Ph1lip Sums, OAi.cu 0
Staff Correspondent
WITH THE FRENCH ARMY IN
CHAMPAGNE. Oct. %. (By mafD-
GLOW can they stand 1t! should
think the soldiers living with death
and the dead about them all the time
would 20 insane" One frequently
hears that The answer is easy. The
men very quickly get used to it. Take
this example:
Az our party returned to the mo-
tors today at shutdown, after walking
oyer the Champagne battlefield, two
I rarts pushed quickly past US. On a
4 canvas stretched beneath the horse
ahoe axel of each, lay soldier, fully
clothed.
'Wounded?" someone asked.
''Yes." said an officer and changed
the subject. But the soldiers pushing
the carts were strangely careless
With the wounded men. They walked
rapidly and took no pains to keep
the wheels out of the smaller she'll
holes. The forms rocked and pitched
and swayed. The odd attitude Of one
Of them fascinated me; he was on his
back, his arms crossed before, but
not touching his face nor touching
each other. With every lurch OF the
cart, his arms waved about rigidly
and stuck just where they were. The
irst threw clod at the second and
the second replied with f1inging his
metal helmet at the first. There was
a burst of laughter and as the carts
stopped to permit the pushers to mop
their perspiring brows, the two
youngste-s-tlley were about twenty
began to chase each other round
and round the stretchers.
Meantime we drew up to the little
PROFESSIONS. The soldier still lay
with his arms crossed as though
! warding off blow. The soldiers on
the stretchers of course, were dead;
killed the night before in the front
trenches and now under cover of the
twilight llnze. mixture Of purple va
pors and cannon smoke, their four fell
! lows were taking the bodies to one
Of the new Champagne cemeteries at
the rear. Lifting the torn cap from the
face Of the soldier with the crossed
arms some one asked In hushed
voice:
How did 1t happen?'
STRAY bullet the cart-pusher re-
J sponded laconically. '4Whew! It's
pretty hot today"
The stiff armed soldiers death had
been instantaneous He stiffened as
he had fallen, his arms before his
face. He had been very young
man. A small moustache, flaxen
light, was on his upper lip. The cap
was replaced and we went our way,
leaving the living and dead to so
theirs.
Now don't misunderstood. These
four men escorting their dead COM
rades to the graveyard were not I'M
feeling nor pitiless In the ordinary
sense. Taken from refined homes,
probably. where the sight Of pain
hurt them deeply, and from an en-
vlronment where the presence Of the
dead was depressing and awesome,
1ney were suddenly plunged into war
and slaughter and agony and death
until their senses were deadened.
Their power Of appreciation had been
nullifed. Dead men no longer awel
'nem, blood no longer sfckened them.
Nature, makes men fight and mutt
late and kill each other, had fur
alshed it's own antidote; otherwise
these men, instead Of kidding" each
idiots.
one man-his wife and little girl
i've In Paris-after, serving through
me battle OF Champagne, had to be
sent to special hospital. He was