Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1915-02-04
Amazons Are Carefully Drilled
and Trained in Use of
the Rifle.
TO HELP REGULAR MILITARY
In Case Of German Invasion the Re-
serve viii Direct Flight Of Women
and Children From Scene Of
Fighting and If Necessary
Shoulder Rifles.
BY PHILLIP EVERETT.


Hondon.-We read in dispatches
that at least fifty German women.
fighting In the trenches In mems cloth.
ing, have been taken captive by the
Russians near Warsaw. II the Ger
mans ever invade Great Britain and
the situation becomes desperate they
will be faced by an army OF English
Amazons, carefully drilled and
trained to the use of the rifle COM
pared to which these Teutonic women
warriors are mere bagatelle.
When first heard of the Women's
volunteer reserve. thought 1t was a
joke or rather a new ebullition Of the
suffragette class. but after a visit to
Old Bedford college and a view Of
the determined women perspiring
through their military drills. must
confess that my feelings have
changed
1T is not to be concluded that the
women will rush to the coast and fight
the moment the Germans make a
landing. They will take up the rife
only when Great Britain is in desper.
ate straits. Till such an unhappy
time the reserve will simply act as a
disciplined body Of women, skilled in
first aid. cooking. dispatch riding on
motorcycles, ;ignaling and the care
OF horses.
AT the same time the riff is not
being neglected" said Viscountess
Castlereagh. the colonel in chief OF
the women's emergency CORPS. "All
the women are spending time in the
private rifle ranges and there are some
astonishingly good shots among them.
There Is no reason in the world why
woman cannot be as good a marks
man as a man."
1t was also pointed out to me by one
of the officers OF the women's reserve
that women bear certain forms OF
hardship better than men. It is a we'll
known physiological fact that women
are less suspectible to cold and wet
than the stronger sex. Their bodies
are better protected by fatty tissue.
This is seen on the bathing beach
where women are able to enjoy them
selves on chilly days when most Of
tho men seek the clubhouse. The
same condition should be true in wet,
damp trenches. 1t is also accepted
that a woman, once her nervousness
is over, and her determination is In
spired, can stand more physical pain
than man.
''In fact" said my woman informer,
the only way the women would be
inferior to man soldiers would be in
the long marches"
At Old Bedford college, which is the
headquarters Of the Women's emer-
gency corps, l found Col. Viscountess
Castlereagh and Hon. Eveline Haver-
field, honorary colonel, hard at work
with their recruits. Mrs. Hcverfeld
Is remembered for her carefully or
ganized remount camp. y'hich she
built up at the time Of the Boer war.
Go Through Infantry Drill.
Nearly a hundred women were go
ing through the regular army infan-
try drill They were not women Of
leisure either. Most Of them had put
through a days toll already in an Of
Zee or along ONE professional line.
Several regular army officer: in uni
form were present to assist in the
WORK. The war officers at first took
contemptuous attitude towards this
movement but they have come to see
the value Of II Just a. the lsefulnefs