The Dickson County herald. (Dickson, Tenn.) 1907-1979, 1916-06-09
Concealed Marksmen Deal Death
With Consistency, Rarely
Missing Victim.
DISGUISE BATTLES ENEMY
Remarkable ingenuity Displayed In
Methods Of conssslmsnt ADOPTED
A Seconds Pause In m Exposed
Section Of the Line SPELLS
Death 10 the solGisF.


bursting OF shells and the hand 'to-hand
combats make up to great extent the
picture of war. one OF the gravest dan
gers which tho soldiers face In the field
IL the bullet OF the sniper, They are
the clever mRrksmen who select some
position where they are almost invis.
lble 10 their opponents and send q well.
directed bullet at each target which 10
exposed for fraction Of minute.
Remarkable as examples OF the In
genuity OF these snipers are some OF
the stories OF their methods OF dis
guise which are related by tho soldiers
who return from the trenches, A
number of such stories were recently
compiled by an English newspaper and
give an insight into this method OF
~aTfare~an art which has been raised
90 high that moments forgetfulness.
O seconds pause In an exposed section
OF the line spells death to the soldier.
"A Tommy. recently returned home.
tells an extraordinary story OF the In
genuity and death OF q German sui
per- says the newspaper This par
ticuar Eniper was encountered on Hill
Seventy. When dawn broke the sol.
der was chilled TO the bone and weak
ened with loss of blood, as he had been
wounded the night before. Unable TO
move, he lay nat on his back and tried
TO get some sleep. The rest and the
warmth OF tho sun revived the soldier
and no raised up his head Another
wounded soldier started TO walk back
20 the trenches. A moment later he
pitched forward, sho, through the TEN.
pie by snlper.
Grass Arouses Suspicion.
Five minutes later another man
moved He started to get to his feet.
but seemed startled by something and
Jay down again quickly. The other
wounded man followed his example.
A moment later no saw the grass.
about twenty yards away. move In
peculiar manner. Instead OF moving
sideways a. II would from body pass.
ing through H. the grass itself ap-
pearcd to be coming forward
For u minute the movement OF tho
grass stopped and then It began again.
this time coming toward the wounded
soldier. Suspicion was now aroused
20 such an extent that the soldier final.
ly took aim at the moving tutt OF grass
and fred three volleys In rapid sue.
ccSSioa Crawling over to the spot
where she mound OF grass had sud.
denly stopped twitchlng. he found
dead German sniper Real sods OF
grass had been bound by cords TO q
waterproof sheet. which had been
strapped to tho snipers back. making
. perfect disguise for him"
Continuing It's anecdotes Of the
snipers, the newspaper quotes from
. long letter written by a soldier. In
which no explains the dangers present.
Cd to the men by tho shippers.
Along one stretch OF 'front.'" he
says. I'VE were much puzzled by the
angle at which the snipers bullets
were coming over On the left was q
line OF leafless pollard willows, hut No
could see that there was nobody be-
hind the trunks
Several OF our officers tried to find
. solution. but all 10 no purpose. AZ
last Captain N, who happened 10
b. familiar with tho ways OF old Will
Iowa. took charge and ordered three
men to fire few shots at each willow.
The sniping ceased Two OF the vii
lows were hollow and the Germans
had crept inside the trees and were
nriug through cracks In the steam with
automatic rcvolvers, For two days
there was no more sniping but On the
third the fro was resumed as brlskly
as before and with Just as deadly an
effect Fire was opened again on the
willows, but this time there was no re-
suit,
Steel Plate In Hollow Tree.
Captain N was Just AS SUSPECT.
GUS as over. and he instructed the
nearest battery TO make short work
OF the willows, This was done, and
the third 10 10 revealed the enemys
cunning Inside the villog Wa found
not only a German but a steel plate
which fitted outside him and inside
the willow, making q proof against rife
bullets.
while that was clever trick II
was little better than the work dono
with the Old door At one spot where
our trenches were not more than 100
yards apart an old door was lying
The top glass panels OF Il were broken.
the wood beneath them was broken
and over the woodwork a gaudy paper
had been pasted, Its only use was as
q test for our sights. which We got
by hitting the door knob or hr~aking
Oh . splinter OF glass
'One day however We were sur.
prised 20 md that when bullet struck
the glass Il left white streak and
brought no tinkle Hitting the wood,
work had the eaYue effect II brought