The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1915-01-02
BULLET ENDED !
SOLDIERS PLAY.
Reckless Tommy SignaIed His
Position 10 German Gun.
ner; Head Is Pierced.
WRITES INTERESTING LITTER

London, Jan - The following ac-
count of lttr at the front ls from
correspoN uut who volunteered for
service nl the beginning Of the war,
and hns since been promoted tn tho
nnk of officer.
During the latest part Of No
renher the army In the trenches was
well-nigh perishlng with cold; since
early December II hns been the victim
" persistent rain and flood Night
after night whole companies ARE flood
ed ont NJ their trenches while re
arrangement Of the forces had made
II impossible to give the men their
former weekly three days " rest IN
the villages behind the lines All the
advanced forces will remain In their
trenches now for eighteen days, then
they hope To- have Il hrlrf relief
1t Is difficult 10 give al idea "
what rain means IN the trenches The
lines under frosty conditions seHIi
such al orderly, permanent, aud town
like series Of cubby holes thHt when
they all start to melt nway and cave
In under the influence Of thaw ana
rain II is as II one were trying 10
travel through a pitChdark London Tn
ruins Officers who were glOrylng In
fine new dug.outs equipped with nll
the trench comforts, suddenly found
themselves barred IN mass NJ col.
lapsed earth of the consistency ana
quality Of thick paint
Use Some Parapets,
The latest gossip here is that the
Indian division and the Germans were
NJ close 10 each other day or two
ago that they used the same pnrapct
for their trenches and took turns pt
firing through their mutual loophol"s.
That Of course is little exaggerated,
but serves Ia Illustrate the manner I'm
which the two armies keep continual
ly getting closer aud closer Hand
grenades and home. made bombs fash
Toned out Of biscuit tins can be used
adyantageuusly At many points
"Generally, however the front
trenches are about two hundred yards
apart I'm this section. That gives the
sharp shooters plenty NJ chance 10 get
In their fine work, and II Is danger,
GUS to push ones head above trench
even to sight rife. Many u the
sharp shooters are using perlscopes
much like those " the submarine, and
with these they can sight and shoot
accurately without coming anywhere
near the top " the trench The op-
posing shnrpshooters of course de
light In efforts to hit the tube of the
periscope. and frequently succeed.
Dig Men Out.
"Since the rains and floods came.
the communication trenches have
largely oozed away. Some Of them
are like rivers others are Knee deep
with pasty mud of exactly the same
same consistency az bakers dough.
A regiment which passed through
one such trench day or two ago LETT
three men behind and had to send
relief party back to dig them out
Under such circumstances, the la
bOr OF bringing up ammunition and
rations from the rear IL terrible, anu
the men assigned to this labor reach
their destination In state Of utter
fatigue: nevertheless they have ~
take their turn at sentry duty later
In the night
"The enemy IL very business like
and misses no chance 10 shoot any
man who exposes himself. Today, for
instance. All English soldier was m
IN n willow tree cutting wlthes. A
shot passed him aud he spOrtlyely
signAlled A miss; left A second shot
came, aud he signalled A miss right.
The enemy profited by his advice, and
the third shot passed straight through
his head
Reckless Private.
There are the strictest orders
against men exposing themselves but
some Of the careless ones ARE surprls
ingly disrega OF their safety
Yesterday a private who wus dragging
sack of coal walked slowly along
the top Of communicating trench for
considerable distance In full view
OF the enemy, merely because the bot
tom OF the trench was muddy ana
travelling down there IN safety would
have been somewhat more lah0rtous
than on the firm soil above, A hail
of bullets missed him, but he even
stopped TO light his pipe behind an
eighteen inch willow before he delib-
erately climbed back down into the
trench with his load.
"The whole army Is very tired OF
willow trees and poplars. II would be
q relief to know that we would never
have 10 see them again. Williw
stumps are particularly annoying be-
cause In the dark they look exactly
ike a crouching soldier, with perhaps
stray limb resembling leveled gun.
II was out scouting two nights ago,
and went farther ahead than | had
Intended. had no rifle with me.
About forty yards from the enemy's
trench suddenly saw what thought
was A German crouchlng down with
leyelled gun. My heart stopped, ana
7 hastily slgnaled for the rife OF
man behind me, only to find II not
loaded. Then looked again and
found the German was only willow
stump.
News Unreliable.
ION my way back, crawling cautious
", for these turnips crackle most
alarmingly under suddenly up
went one OF their star rockets, which
make the nelghborhood light as day
for mile around. l dropped down.
10 my horror, discovered that my
face was close alongside German
corpse, that had lain there since their
last unsuccessful Infantry attack six
weeks ago Another and another
rocket went up, and II was many min
utes before I could get away from
ihof sristv ahtacf 4 hra,ght hank HIS