El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-01-05
SAYS SNIPING
PLAIN MURDER
Oxford Professor Tells How
He Slipped Up on Four
to Shoot Them.
ny HERBERTI TEMPLE.

London, Eng, Jan 0.-SnlplnS IN the
trenches in Flanders is murder. says
an oxford university professor in a
letter home, which has just come into
my possession. He gives vivid ac-
count of the horrors Of warfare in
pine wood where the Germans can be
heard sapping 80 yards in front OF the
British line.
This professor of Greek and Latin
has been a master of scouts since Au-
gust He writes to his junior dean
from some place in the vicinity OF
Ypres His letter is as follows:
This Is the thirteenth day in the
trenches at least think so, but 1 can
hardly tell. We have been holding
trenches in a pine wood, at least II
was a pine wood, now 1t is match
wood. soaked, splintered and wet with
blood. There has been no hand to
hand fighting. 1t has all been done
by the shell and rifle fire, with pneu-
matte bombs
Trenches Close Together.
"The Germans main trench runs in
a line, whose nearest point is go ana
furthest 1900 yards from US. But in
between they have been burrowing up,
and in the last few days, when 1 have
been scoutmaster, 1 have discovered
subsidiary trenches, pits and dugouts
from within 100 to 30 yards OF our
line You can't see them because OF
the tangled woods, but you can hear
the men digging and hacking as soon
as you get five yards out
"This morning / shot at four men
in a pit at a range of five yards in
the weird light of a damp and frozen
November dawn. It was all like dream
seeing the phantom sp de rising and
falling behind q mound of damp EARTH
creeping up pistol in hand through
broken and small tree trunks, peeping
down into a six foot pit, sighting four
md rf
ating the whole Cry unreality with
four red pistol flashes.
Il didn't wait long. I may have hit
one or two, but The others had rifles
in their hands by this time and their
main line of dugOuts was only 20 yards
in front of me. I turned, called upon
the two scouts who were with me, and
fled. Shipping is little better than muir
der No one who hasn't seen this can
realize what it is like.
German Machine Kills Many.
1.-THE Germans have a machine which
has been brought into play against our
trenches in the last three days. Shot
from a distance of 800 yards, a two
foot long prOjectile, which one can
watch at all points in its flight, goes
high into the air and comes down al
most plumb at the point aimed at II
is called, 1 believe, a Minenwerfer-
zoe pounds Of she'll A special corner
OF our line-nOt our company section,
thank GOd-has been their special aim.
They put these Internal bombs into
circle of 80 yards radius They smash
in the trenches, Flow men to bits and
stupefy and poison others"
Oxford Has Many at the Front.
A census at Oxford shows that two
thirds Of the s. ients and faculty are
either now in the fighting or in train
ing camps. The oxford dons have
shown special enthusiasm. Every one
aged less than 60 years has responded
to the call, Your king and country
need you" The younger dons are com
missioned officers in the active forces,
while the older are enlisted for nome
defence.
Have More Foreigners Than English.
This has brought about the curious
situation that the British are III
minority at the university. The larger
part Of the student body consists Of
Indians, Americans and other foreign
ers. instruction at the university is
somewhat curtailed on account of the
Red Cross work being done in Oxford.
The examination schools, town hall
and Masonic building are military hos
pitfalls, while convalescents are using
the college gardens. The students
spend a part Of the day nursing.