New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-01-24
French in the Trenches
Near Verdun Play Trick
on Enemy.
NOT POINCARE TILE,
AS WAS SUPPOSED
Joker Causes Loss of Three Gals.
sons and Counts Days Work
a Good One.

Near Nerdun, Jan. 7.-"Adieu. Be-
delia'' sang out dozen chauffeu at
the army automobile camp one morn
ing this week. No. Bedelia is not one
of our sweethearts. It's a car. One
Of those low, two-seated affairs, one
seat in front of the other, the driver
in the rear. On good roads around
Paris one can get forty-fve TO fifty
miles an hour out of Bedelia, but on
the highways in the neighborhood OF
Nerdun one hundred miles at fair
speed will put such car out Of bust
ness. That makes Bedelia useless in
our camp, and therefore we decided 10
sacrifice her 70 the cause, and explains
why the men bid her "adieu," instead
Of Eau revor."
The part Bedelia played in this story
will probably not be stated in the Off
cial communicate, which as usual will
simply say that "in the region OF
Nerdun three of the enemy's heavy
guns were destroyed" but Bedelia,
having given her life for her country,
must be given some credit.
A few days ago the tn Infantry
intrenched sixteen miles out Of Yer
dun-you see, the Germans are not
there yet-was being pretty well sprin-
killed. with lead by the Germans, also
intrenched a few hundred yards of,
when a white flag showed above the
enemy's earthworks. The firing stopped,
and a German captain, long, thin and
solemn, advanced in the open space.
| The French colonel went out 70 meet
him, and, much to his chagrin, was
asked to surrender. The colonel thought
| il would be just the other way. The
enemy argued that in two hours ne
would have a battery OF six-lnch guns
| in position TO wipe us and everything
behind US, off the face of the earth,
and that. for humanity's sake, ne
would give US a chance:
For humanity's sake the colonel gave
the German three minutes 70 get back
/ 10 his trenches, and, being a poor
sprinter, the man barely made II, en-
couraged, however, by our men, VINO
shouted: Happy New Year TO willy
and his son." also offered pills II MS
| bronchitis was no better
This is where Bedelia comes in. also
Jacques. Jacques is an electrician III u,
| time of peace and nuisance at all
| times, having the habit or whlstilng
/ continually through his teeth. lie is
the man who, being sent 70 Eerdun OF
an errand, brought back with him
dilapidated silk hat, picked up in some
s,arbaoa can. and the next day had one
/ Of our interpreters megaphone 70 tne
| Germans across the way that PRESIDENT
/ Poincare would that very afternoon IN
spect our trenches-he was no coward
while no one ever saw the halser'
Sure enough, few hours ia'er the
/ German. heard shouts OF 1--WE rom
carel" from the French trenches, wnlls
iust above the earthworks the TOP OF
q silk hat could be seen promenadinR
from one end Of the ditch to the other
rising slightly every once IN whiIe II
acknowledgment of "Nive lie fresi,
dent" For fifteen minutes several
hundred Germans shot at that nat un'
til the remnants OF IL were litted trl
umphantly above our trenches at tne
end of a long pole, and the roar OF
laughter from our men ended the waste
Of ammunition.
Auto Suited for Ride in Woods.
After the Germans visit the colonel
called Jacques aside, and both pondered
for a while over a chart OF the sur
roundings, and soon Jacques rushed to
the automobile camp, collared me and
also Bedelia, which being only two and
a half feet wide and rising only as
much from the ground, was especially
suited for a ride through the woods
where she would probably stay. A huge
coil of insulated wire, an electric bat
tery and dozen small sausages in rub
Der castings, which Jacques took along,
excited my curiosity until he warned
me that if I Spilled" him the Germans
would have to gather up the pieces with
a shovel. Through a mile Of woods
half dozen turns, clearing and we
stoned behind a clump OF bushes a
fow rods from a roadway, which
through a queer coincidence led, fur
Their on, just past the German trenches
which an hour before had been in front
/ of US.
One hundred yards of, the helmets
j