East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1915-12-29
BY MILLIAM Q. sHEPHERp.

BY w LILLIAN IL SltEt iit4lN'-
Omitted Press staff Correspondent
MONASTIR. Serbia, Dec 2.-tBy
Man) Comitadjis are supposed to
be the toughest. killingest men in the
Balkans, perhaps in the world.
They're the border fighters OF the va
rious Balkan states; Texas rangers
are gentle alongside them; north
western mounted police, gentlemen.
At last I've had a talk with real
live comitadji OF the Serbian breed
one part Of his conversation went
like this.
I'VE went up to a house the other
night in which there We're ~ Bulgar-
ian comltadjis The fired at us and
refused to surrender so one OF us
threw a bomb, just like this one
holding out an iron bomb the size Of a
cake OF soap-"and blew up tine
place It killed 2s and wounded the
rest Another part Of his converse
ton ran:
Did YOU read ToIstoy's prediction
Of this great ware He pulled a
soiled clipping from mis- pocket and
read what Tolstoy had written in
lgl2-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 ending the war do you know
who l thought this great man might
be? Roosevelt. He writes, you
know But 1915 is almost over
He was a man of contrasts, this
Serbian comitadji. with his rifle. his
revolver, his bag OF deadly bombs.
each one Of which could blow up a
house, he talked to me about the
dangers of typhus and other Serbian
diseases.
Il drink all the water that come,
my way. 1t can't hurt ME. don
believe in sickness you know Ina d
Christian Scientist
Have you ever been in the Unitel
states?"
"Oh, yes. I've Travelled everywhere.
He told me about the comitadji!
he lived with
"Comitadjis aren't regular sol
diers," he said. They're volunteer
who guard the frontier A goo'
many Of them are men tired of eN
erything else in life and who are to,
cowardly to commit suicide For IN
stance. in our company of twenu
men there is a young fellow fron
Nish. six years ago he fell In low
with girl there and she told hin
she would marry him If he woul,
20 to the states and bring back som
money. So he went to Portland, ore
and saved two thousand dollars Il
five years That's a little fortune il
Serbia. He hurried back to Nish
When he reached home he found tn
girl had married. iIe spent all hi
money drinking in the cafes an
when he was broke he joined tn
comitadjis. Fellows like him ar
tough fighters; they don't care wha
happens to them"
what do comitadjis do in thl
great war;
whatever the army doesn't dc
Scouting, patrolling, entering village
before the army and mountain an
forest fighting. We have some goo
times. too. The other night we'd bee
ON duty all day and when night cam
on it was raining. We were near
village where some Bulgarian comlt
adjis were supposed 10 be so a few q
us went into the village while the 9th
ere remained on the outskirts Prett
soon we heard about fifty shots, the
the shooting stopped. We hustle
into town, We found that the patrf
had killed nothing but one big sheer
But that sheep was skinned in te
minutes The fellows ran around 10
wood. Where they got it don
know but before long we had bi
fire going and one Of our fellows VIII
used TO be a cook in a Belgrade cat
stuck "A pole through the shee
lengthwise and put it over the fire |
about an hour It was ready and wit
plenty of pepper and salt and blac
bread and coffee we had bette
meal than / ever bought in Ne
York Then. about II O'Clock "
stretched out with fun stomach
with our big loaves OF bread for pi
lows and / had the best sleep "
ever had in my life, oh, yes, we kno
e how to make ourselves comfortable
i've seen some Of these soldle