Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-10-08

word will have reached the German
big guns at the. back, and that every
piece capable Of flaltening out a
parapet and bury g them, r1angled
and broken, among their own cylind.
ers will be concentrated upon the
front line trench in which they stand.
Time! Over the top the jet-pipes
are flung, and then, simultaneously
along almost two miles OF trench,
there arises sibilant hiss, as of some
monstrous and veno-' Gus snake sud
denly aroused from slumber. Now the
gasmen are working frantically with
wheel and spanner and key, and the
hiss increases in shrillness and vol
ume. Outside the parapet the green
poison fog is already spreading like a
blanket over No Mans land. Carried
cesselessly forward it's outer edge is
rapidly approaching the German
trenches, into which it will presently
sink, spreading agony and death
among those who cannot escape.
"No rifle or machine gun fire has
been ordered this time, and from
either line scarcely a sound is heard
except the deadly hiss Of the escaping
fumes. The minutes pass in tense,
ominous quiet. Nature herself seems
to pause aghast to watch this latest
deviltry practiced by her children upon
one another.
y. Tanks Are Bombarded.
Behind their masks the gasmen be-
gin to breathe more freely, and then
suddenly, on the left, 'Crashr And
crash again, and yet again. This
time on the right, somewhere close at
hand. The men crouch lower over
their cylinders; the explosions follow
one another almost too rapidly to
count, and in any case their minds are
no longer fitted to count---or care.
Only the valves must be turned, and
the pipes must be watched, and the
sudden squirt of vapor which marks a
leak must be checked by the applica-
ton OF a handful OF mud, which the
gas itself Immediately freezes into an
iron-hard and impenetrable mass.
"In one of the bays the parapet
rocks suddenly and falls forward,
burying the men and their cylinders.
Almost Immediately the men scramble
out unhurt; but the pipes are broken,
and the gas Is filling the trench. With
spanner and mud the thing Is stopped,
new connections are rugged up, and
the death vapor Is again directed out
side what 10 left of the trench. But
one Of the men has had the mouth
piece Of his respirator broken, and
already he Is coughing and choking
painfully. I've got itp he gasps
hoarsely. and goes behind'the traverse
to suck an ammonia ampule and die
slowly.
Closing up timel Rapidly the
valves are shut down, the jet-pipes
withdrawn and plugged ard stacked
away. Fevcrishly the men work at
bagging up. their cylinders again.
lmperturbably sergeant. stalks down
the ruined and battered trench, shep-
herding his flock towards their dug
out. He Is an old-timer--a transfer
from the infantry--and he scarcely
quivers as a shell bursts behind q !
traverse he has just left. Quietly he
directs two OF the men to carry an
unconscious case to the nearest point
OF the communication trench where
stretcher- bearers may be found.
an the dugout, with the shells still
pounding overhead, the sections roll
Is called. Most Of the men answer to
their names. Some are answered by
comrades as wounded and for others
no one answers at all, Ias
But over in the German trenches
hundreds Of man are choking and
gasping in agony for an hour before
they can die. They have been made
to quaff their own medicine"