Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-01-11

uninterrupted succession of flashes
from the French trench. But the fire
seemed to be directed more upon the
ruined houses than upon our field
positions. Now and then one of the
bullets hit one Of the shields. the
ringing metal reminding us Of whore
we were.
"A careful survey of the country
without, through one of the loop
holes, brought some corDses into
view. The bodies were wrapped In
blue coats and the heads were COW
cred with black -hair. our men would
have gladly buried the fallen enemies
but II was impossible to leave the
trenches One has but to show the
point of the helmet, or attempt to
stretch the cramped and stln limbs
to draw hail of iron.
"A yellow mud floated about in the
trench and ran down the sides And
in this our soldiers stand day and
night They are heroes. No doubt
this term has often been misapplied
but it certainly is due the men who
after long and dreary weeks of this
still know how to smile and crack a
joke
For eight hours the men leaned
against the wet sides of the trench
Then the relief force creeps along to
give the others chance to live for
sixteen hours in a damp cellar. To
guide the men at night white ribbons
and pieces of paper are fastened here
and there. Like beings of another
world these men light no fires and
speak no word.
"As we returned | noticed num-
Der Of broken chairs and other pieces
Of furniture and was told that these
We're danger signals marking points
at walls where the enemy could see
what passed beyond. Death lurked
, everywhere.
Shell Fire Begins
so we went back through the tun-
mel, through the houses and cellars
and across the yards. and finally
came to the narrow street which had
to be crossed at Jump. Evidently the
| French had seen MS slip across the
open place. and having probably OBJ
served the automobile at Eessen,
they must have concluded that some
members of the staff were making
an inspection Of the position at Dix
nude. AT O'Clock in the afternoon
they began to shell the place.
zone shell after another hit the
ruins about the market place and re-
duced the debris to still smaller di-
mensions. Standing in doorway
| close TO the scene, | was impressed
! by the terrific noise Of the lombard
ment as 4 sort of sublime spectacle.
"a shell fen in our street! and the
major ordered us into his cellar. But
we. found it hard to leave the iron
concert which whistled and sang,
crashed and rolled through the ruins
| in a thousand keys
"Of a sudden | was thrown against
the corporal who had been standing
by my side and the two of us flew
to the ground. A shell had struck the
ground thirty-siX feet away from us
and the airWaVe of the explosion mao
knocked us over.
After that we followed the major
willingly enough to his room in the
cellar. IT was very still there and the
dreary Pickering flame of a candle
seemed to make it more so. But above
our heads the detonations continued.
Whenever one of the shells hit close
enough to the house to shake it to
its foundation. the major would say
+" Now"
For a while that was the only
sound among those who sat about
the ome-made table in the cellar.
Later somebody tried to master the
peculiar excitement which held us all
in its grip by telling funny stories.
But in spite of the stories and the
cigarettes, the excitement. caused by
the uncertainty where the next shell
would strike, held on"
I When the bonn bardment had sub
sided the correspondents made their
way back to their automobiles con-
tending en- route with two unfriendly
elements-mud and more shells and
shrapnel.