Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-01-26
AWAY,
BENNETT LEARNS
Former Moline Resident Returns to
Home After Visit to Belligerent
Countries.
AMERICA is WITHOUT FRIENDS
English Call Us Mere Note Writers, He
Says, and Germans FrOWn On
Munitions Shipments.

Munitions Shipments.
W. d. Bennett, Boston man, vice
president of the Jacobson Publishing
| company, and formerly of Moline,
son of Captain W. G. Bennett of that
I city, has just returned from a trip to
| Europe, where he visited all the bel
ligerent countries on the western
front. Mr.. Bennett declares that Amer
| leans are laughed at by the English,
who look upon US as mere note writ
ers who are afraid to fight; that we
are hated by the Germans because Of
the shipping of ammunition to the al
lies; that the wounded and furloughed
soldiers returning from the front de-
clare there is no hell on earth equal
pect of peace for at least year to
come; and that the Zeppelin raids on
London were more successful than
the British officials will admit. In Hol-
land Mr.. Bennett was captured as a
spy and interned on the isle of Urk
until he could prove his identity.
Europe is no place for an Ameri-
can; with Germany on one side and
England on the other, he is between
the devil and the deep sea-" said Mr..
Bennett in an interview in Boston, &C
cording to the Journal of that city.
THE British do not even take us SER
iously, despite the fact that we are
supplying them with ammunition and
declare that our position and attitude
on the submarine policy and on the
rights of neutrals is ridiculous; that
if there was any manhood in America
it would have asserted itself long ago
1.-The Germans on the other hand
hate US because it is sometimes our
bullet which has killed one dear tC
them. was told the following typical
case, wherein the Americans are
blamed: A little German family of the
peasantry was seated at supper one
night in silence, with their thoughts
following a father and brother at the
front. A neighbor returning home
from the latest posted death lis1
stopped in to tell them that the father
hod been killed The mother jumped
up and shouted Americans shot him
it was their bullet clinching her fist!
in hate. 1t was the first thought tina
came into her mind.
: Spends Night in Trenches.
t Il spent one night in the trenches
Y through special permit, and l hav,
talked to many soldiers returned from
the front. They all feel just like tn,
t French officers who said to me: Their
is no hell on earth as horrible as tn
trenches. Everybody is sick Of it, bu
:, none is willing to stop. In some of tn
= London hotels l saw ydlng unbeard
/ ed men, useless because of wounds
their backs bent, their faces draw
with wrinkles, and their hands shak
ing like paper in the wind. Usuall
!, their nerves are so shattered that the
f will never recover.
Some of the optimists in Englan
: declare that the war will not e
through another winter, but the offic
Gals tighten their lips and say tina
n peace cannot be hoped for until tn
: spring of 1917, anyhow. So far as
O could hear, both sides are still conf
4 dent of victory
: Il was in London at the time of on
J, of the air raids. There I met Mr.. an
v Mrs. Walter S. Keene, Jr., of Stone
n ham, who told me of the most awful
experiences when, in a previous raj
bombs had been dropped in the yer
street in which they were living. w
were staying at the Hotel Cecil in tn
Strand Mr.. Keene told me. On tn
night of Oct. 13 we were sitting quiet
ly in the lobby, when suddenly tn
sound of heavy firing was heard.
1--WE knew Immediately it was
Yep raid Inmates of the hote
rushed IN all directions, those in thei
rooms to the lobby, and some to tn
basement. Mrs. Keene and l ran OF
into the street with no thought {
danger Before we could get bac
about ten bombs fell in quick suce.
sion, and the shock of their explos
ion was terrific.
There was the sound of fallin
glass from windows for blocks aroun
the shouts of people rushing to an
fro, the crashing of walls and built
ings caving in, and the ceasele,
heavy cannonading above ALL
"'Across the heavens great shafts
light shot up and flashed across II
sky; shells from the guns burst his
in the air, casting a shower of liz
: about them. Just then we sighted tv
- huge ships sailing along like gre
I silver cigars. We could see the ty
cars, one at each end, for the ere,
The searchlights held them in view fl
miles and the guns continued to fir
but the range was too far
Bodies Blown to Pieces,
/ I'VE could not comprehend all tn
had happened until the police and no
pital ambulances began to carry aw;
the bodies of those who had been i
1ured. One bomb had fallen on a me
4 OrDuS full of paOpIa ,,d no,..