Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1916-08-25


young fellow whose name ! don't
know. / wish | did, for he was GER
tninly the nerviest mar ! ever saw.
No. z was hardly out of the officers
mouth before he had his dispatch and
vas on his way. About five minutes
later the signal came that the dis
patch had been delivered.
my officer told me afterward that
the French general to whom he had
handed the dispatch had taken the
Medallle Milltalre Off his W breast
and pinned It on that Of this young
dispatch rider. He was also later
awarded the Victoria Cross and given
n commission. 1t Is things like this
that make one proud to belong to
such an army"
Shipping a snlper.
After spending Christmas, 1914. In
the Ypres trenches, Robinson helped
a second lieutenant in the Royal Engi-
neers TO snipe o German sniper on the
! Dickebusch- Hollebeke road. AS they
rode over n wooden bridge n bullet
whistled. Neither spoke, but on the
way back, three hours later, the Off
Ger said: "That blasted snlper has
ported at me once too often. Wen
leave the road here and sneak down
opposite the hedge under cover of the
trees"
lettering their horses, they crept
near the bridge. waited until a wagon
passed and heard the sniper's shot
from behind. They crawled n hun
dred yards and waited. Soon they
heard the rifle crack again, not fan
away. Creeping n little further, they
waited again. watching the trees
They came so close To the sniper
without seeing him, that next time he
fired they heard the %ejector fly back
and the bolt snap. Then they spotted
him. He was well up n tree, with his
rifle fitted on n tripod, so that when
ever he heard anyone on the woodeT
brldg, he had only to pull the trig
ger. But he had ended his sniping
The lieutenant and Private Robinson
fred together. and "NIr. Sniper cam
down like n thousand of bricks"
The British Tommy" Of those days
according to William j., was a 'grea
gambler" as well as a great fighter
One OF his forms Of gambling was
kind Of %tontlne, known as n "trencl
pool"
About ten fellows got together
and each put ten francs IN a pool JUS
before they went into action. The.
left this money with someone benin,
the lines, for they would he in actIoI
anywhere from six days TO tire
weeks. The idea Of the pool was this
Those who lived to get back woulu
take the money and split 1t event,
among themselves. If only n live
he wOulG have the whole lot.
Daredevil officer.
The Tommies kept canarles, rats
/ mice. dogs. cats, goats, and even pigs
as pets, and would go hungry befor
! the pet hungered.
The biggest daredevil" that Robin
son heard OF was known as the MA
p Mnjor"-an artillery officer who kep
his own %aeroplane for range hndin
purposes. When he wanted TO col
rect q range he just flew over an
] dropped smoke bombs on the particU
! lar spot he wanted his guns to hi
Then he went back and set the gun
TO work. One day, being annOye
. with a German l7-lnch hOwitzer, h
flew over with a 1OO-pound bomb, nos
lived to within 400 feet, dropped IN
bomb and blew the howitzer to ntom.
s He returned with his planes riddle
. with bullets.
Mr.. Robinson indicates In a FEY
words what happened to two men.
e woman and two children when
g Tnube dropped a bomb in the squnT
at PoperInghe. II Is enough here
$ say that they we're killed. and tn,
the bicycle one OF the men was ri,
e Inc wns found twisted and bent O
n lamppost about fifty yards avn.
He also describes briefly the KILN
a OF two officers In n mOtorcar by
I German 15-inch shell on the road <
y ing into Ypres. The driver escape
G but was sent nearly mad by the shoe
e His nerve was gone and he had to |
= discharged.
This was during the second bait
OF Ypres. when the city was beiT
n destroyed by shell fire and the housl
a were burning.