Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-08-15


big squeeze began discussion or
British gas attack was strictly prohi-
bited but now the taboo has been lift
cd, and a British gasmnn'' has been
allowed TO write graphic account OF
the work of his own special corps
whose business IL is. ne says, TO doc
tor the Germans with their own medi-
cine" 49,.
Behind our lines he writes, the
sun set in blaze of glory. A glance
over the parapet shows the green and
scarlet of the popped Nc-Man's lana
already merging into the gray mists
of twilight: but $50 yards away, like
a brown earth shadow among the
grays, hangs the rusty barbed wire
Of the enemy and just beyond a white,
chalky upthrow marks his front line
trench. The gasmen stare across the
silent shadows at that white line and
for a moment they think of the choky,
gurgling cosgh of the men who die
by gas 1t is not pleasant to die by
gas. 3 q. ..-.. ~ r.
Connect up!" ~
Connect up The order comes
down the line from one bay Of the
trench to another, and the gasmen
Immediately get busy. The front rows
o. neatly piled sandbags of which each
fre-step is apparently solidly built are
pulled out and disclose a cavity In
which show, black and ominous, the
cowled heads of row OF iron cylin-
ders. They are sunk in pits well
.. thnrr TNno
sible crack or puncture by flying frsg.
ment or ricochetting bullet. Each
cylinder weighs about $50 pounds and
contains sufficient compressed gas, II
II could be used without waste. to put
an entire company out of action.
"On top of the cylinders lies tan
gle of flexible connecting pipes, three
and four way joints, spigots, and
screw-jet, and upon these, with span.
ner and key, the gasmen start work
The cylinders are all connected up in
series, acknowledgements but to throw
the jets over the top of the parapet
and open the valves In order to re-
lease the deadly fumes.
but something is required to carry
the gas over to the German lfnes-a
favoring breeze-ard never did sailor
scan the sky more intently than the
gasmen watch their little, inoonspicu-
Gus wind gauges, fixed to the edge
OF trench. They must have wind
Of certain direction. and they prefer
it Of certain strength. On this occa-
sion, the direction is satisfactory
enough, but the breeze shows signs
of weakness, and occasionally falls to
mere, almost imperceptible zephyr
Danger o. Leakage.
when not watching the wind, the
gasmen are watching their pipes; re-
peatedly feeling and testing every
inch of tube and Joint; for none know
better than they the danger Of leak
age and of the escape of gas into their
own trenches. ePersistentiy an ofticer
passes down tn elipe casting rapid
though keen glances. as he goes at
each set Of cylinders land their con-
meeting pipes. And in Severy bay he
panses and whispers two words to the
corporal in charge. Eleven o'clock.
But the wind, without which the gas
will not reach the enemy,s trench and
90 its deadly work among its occu-
pants, begins to peter out.
AT ten-fifty the gasmen don thoir
special respffators. which in the dim
light give the wearers a strange al.
nost irlhurnan appearance. Masked
and goggled, with weird, trunk-hke
pieces Of hose running from the mouth
niece to the box OF air-purffying chem
icals strapped to their chests; they
look like some Of the unearthiy beings
who people the books of Mr.. II. g..
Wells.
"But not breath disturbs the still
air. The feeble breeze has died COM
pletely. Hurriedly the order runs
down the line: Cancel, and stand by.
Behind their masks the gasmen grunt
disgustedly. But suddenly - crack!
crack.t rat.a,ta. rat-artattat!! The
orders to the infantry have not been
countermanded, and the quiet Of the
right is roughly shattered by a long
line of viciously cracking rifles and
Lewis guns to which the Germans re
ply. D.. d
No Security in Trenches.
The gasmen move about uneasily.
II is not for themselves they fear, but
for those pipes and cylinder heads
lying bare and exposed to the hail OF
fiying fragments. Well they know
the danger of bursts and of trenches
filed with gas and no. wind to move
il. But they cannot bag up without
orders, and so they detail one of. their
number in each bay to watch the cyiin-
ders while the rest gather behind the
traverse, as being a slightly safer
spot. ~ As
when day breaks q fair wind is
blowing, straight towards the German