The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1916-03-04

the circumstances. Finally the range
was shortened and the shells began
dropping in the first trench, where !
was. | saw a dozen men mangled by
one about fifty feet from me and |
was stunned myself. Right then the
Germans stopped their artillery fire
and charged.
"Our regiment was commended at-
terward for the fight we put up in the
next twenty-four hours. We drove
back the Germans in hand to hand
fighting three times, and when the
dawn of the third day came | looked
about mi and 1t seemed that everyone
| knew lay lead or wounded. OF a
battalion of 1900 men Just 100 re-
NAMED. / had not been wounded, al
though | had bayonet thrusts In my
clothes and a neat round hole through
my ping pong hat. which is a mighty
fiat built creation.
Il afterward learned a great many
of our men we're killed by our OWE
artillery, our observers having made a
mistake in distance, with the result
that scores of our own lyddite shells
we're thrown into the trenches from
the rear. II the men had known that
there would have been all kinds Of con-
fusion, but as 1t was we were in a
frenzy of excitement and viciousness
and where shells came from or where
they went was the least of our trou.
bles. We we're busy killing Germans
individually.
Piled High With Dead.
well we were told to retire, but
the trenches were piled so high with
the dead and badly wounded that we
could not make our way through the
intersectional trenches. footed my
way among the bodies of ONE of the
finest boys | will ever know, and saw
others gasping their last breath. There
was nothing to do for them.
Even after the engagement two or
three lyddite shells from our own ar
tillery dropped into the outer end of
the trench, and Captain Joe Davis, who
later died next to me in action, saw
them. He jumped up and tried to get
into communication with the artillery
but finding the wires ineffective dashed
back, deliberately exposing himself tc
the Germans. and told the artillery
chief that his range was short.
THAT is the kind of men we had In
the Rifles. When there was something
to be done | never saw a man shirB
for an instant.
well we were ordered, what wal
left of us, back to Richebourg, and tina
was another trick of fate which helC
turned to the identical spot to find that
two companies of men who had beer
there had been annihilated, with the
exception of one man, Rodney McDer
mott. The Prussian guard had swep'
over in the night, and there were NJ
re-enforcements to back the boys up
knew how they must have waited fol
them, for We were always hearing o
relief and it always seemed hour!
before it came.
1--WE would be crouching in a trench
{ knowing from the observers reports
that we were outnumbered twenty Il
one, and We would be told that the re
llCl "ao NOlllh5 up within al hOuA
Two hours would pass and we all tn,
time waiting for the creeping figure
of the lei of the re-enforcements t
( come into the dim light of the night
And her when they did come sneak
ing along in single file through the in
tersectional trenches it would b
mighty good to heal the first one say
Northumberland FusiIeers; have yol
: been waiting long?' Just %silhouettes
but the most welcome shadows in tn,
world.
/ Sent on a Scouting Trip.
. 81 had an interesting experience a
= Neuve Chapelle on October 20. 70
r have no idea how little a man in tn
ranks knows about what is going o
t around him or whether his army is de-
ing we'll or i'll, l was sent with tire
other men into Neuve Chapelle to sc
t If the Germans held it or what tn
:, situation was. The town was afr,
We passed through the stretch wher
the big Jack Johnsons' were sendin
shells at a mistaken range and hurrie
G along down into the outskirts of tn