The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1916-07-06
WAR FEUD
in FRANCE
IS FIERCE
Letter From English Soldier Tells Strange
Tale Of the Personal Hatred Of
One Fighter for One Of
Enemy
by Wilbur S. Forrest,

kOnlleu ITtbS Otdll NOIISbpunuehI-J
London, June 27.-( (By mail. The
story of the Disgusting Face, or per
sonal feud in the trenches in northern
France, was told here today in a let
ter from a British officer The letter
is divided into three chapters as fol-
lows;
/. "The Disgusting Face, trimmed
with blond bristles, surmounted by a
grey, peaked forage cap which appear
ed to be more than half filled with
some edible matter then in process OF
mastication, stuck itself over the
German parapet in front of my obser
walton station two mornings ago.
= received the full shock Of its Ugli-
ness. There the brute stood, squhm-
ing his pudgy nose about in enjoyment
of the pure morning air and utterly
disfiguring the pretty landscape.
Il grabbed the infantry outlooks RI
file and pumped five shots at the face
as quickly as / could pull the trigger
and work the lever. The face With
drew.
2. Something like an hour later
l was again surveying the smiling val
ley The Disgusting Face was gone;
but in its place new arrangement of
sand bags on the trench parapet and
the presence Of sheet OF boiler plat
ing attracted my attention-very near
ly fatally.
"There was sort of wink from the
middle of the boiler plate, a sharp
crack and then my cap skidded from
my head and rolled in the mud at the
bottom of the trench.
Before had collected my thoughts
sufficiently to duck, something said
"Phew" right in my ear. Then | duck
ed smartly. got periscope and saw
something look over the top of the
boiler plate and down again, quick as
a lizard. The Face again.
3. Half an hour later the infantry
sentry's periscope was smashed. ] got
another place in the trench and tried
to get sight of the brute from that.
Within five minutes he had spotted me
and shot at me again. A pound or two
of gravel went down the back Of my
neck and / ducked again.
Later in the day he smashed anoth-
er periscope Then he out-Hunned
himself by potting the dog. The dog
was the mascot of the regiment-a
dirty, dusty, doormatty dog, but quite
gentlemanly old beast Lived on
bread and bacon and used to drink
tea out OF the mems dixies. For some
unknown reason he hoped over the
parapet and next minute "crack" went
the sniper's rifle and the poor old dog
was shot through the leg.
After the shooting of the dog some
thing had to be done. | hunted up a |
trench mortar officer and we arranged |
that he should put in four trench
bombs while l threw high explosive
and shrapnel alternately at ten second
intervals.
80 at 4:24 precisely and the
trench mortar fellow began. And we
avenged the poor old doormat. My
second H. Il. blew the sniper's boiler
plate to blazes; the trench bomb fol-
lowed almost on top and then l shrap-
nelled the whole trench for fifty yards
on either side. And the trench mortar,
by really glorious fiuke, dropped for
ty yards left of its target, right
through the roof of an unsuspecting
dug-out and sent the whole sky-high
occupants included.
Altogether the doormat, the peri
scopes and my hat were pretty well
avenged"