Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-08-15
DEADLY NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. ]
OF BY SOLDIERSFRONW ESTFRONT
"Doctoring Germans With Their Own Medicine" He Calls 1t
Weird Cruelty of the Fume-Batte MISUNDERSTANDING
of Victims Horrible

trenches But, of course. it is now
broad daylight, and the gas will be
visible as soon as IL leaves the pipes
The gasmen know what to expect
TRey know that as soon as The green
ish-gray clouds appear outside their
parapet there. viii be running me ssen-
gers and hurried teiephoniig in the
German lines. They know that with.
in a few minutes the word viii have
reached he German big guns at the
back, and that every piece capgbls of
fiattening out a parapet and Enrying
them, uiangied and broken, among
their own cylinders WILDE concentrat.
Cd upon. the front line trench ii which
they stand. i. j.. -. -
thine! Over the top the iet-pipes
are flung, and. then, simultaneously
along almost two miles of trench,
there arises a sibilant Miss, as Of come
inonstrons and Yepomous snake sud
denly aroused ffcm slumber. Now the
gasmen are working frantically with
wheel and spanner and key, and the
hiss Increased in shrillness and vo
lutne Outside the parapet the green
poison fog IS already spreading like,
q foul blanket over Eo.Man's land:
Carried ceaselessly forward its outer
edge is. rapidly Approaching the Ger
man trenches, into. which It Will pres
emily sink, spreading agony and death
amcng those who cannot escape.
mo rifle or machine GIN fire has
been ordered this time, and from eth
er line scarcely sound is heard ex-
cept the deadly hiss of the escaping
fumes. The, minutes pass in tense,
ominoqs quiet. Nature herself seems
to patise aghast to watch this latest
deyilry practised by her children upon
one another
"Be6ind their masks the gasmen be;
gin to breathe more freely, and then
suddenly, on the len, Crash. Aud
crash again, and yet again. This.
time on the right, somewhere close at
hand. The men crouch, lower, oyer
their cylinders, the explosions follow
one another almost, too. rapidly to
count, and in any case their minds are
10 longer fitted to ,celIhts or care,
Only, the valves must be turned, and
the pipes must be watched, and the
sudden squirt Of vapor which marks
leak must be checked by the appli-
| cation or handful or mud, which the.
gas itself 'inIme diately freezes into an
ironshard and impenetrable mass
I "In one Of the bays, the paTapet
rocks suddenly and fails forward. bury;
ing the men and; their cylinders. As,
most Immediately the men scramble.
out unhurt,. but the pipes are broken.
80 a. iai,s,S IL = a. txyttL
spannef and mud the thing IS stopped,
new connections are rfgged up, and
the death yapor is again directed out
side what Is left of the trench. But
one OF the men has had the mouth
piece OF his respirator broken, and
already he is coughing and choking
painfully. I've got it he gasps
hoarsely, and goes behind the ira
verse tD suck an ammonia an1pule and
die slowly
"C1osing-up time! Rapidly the
valves are shut down, the jet pipes
withdrawn and plugged and stacked
away. Fsverfshly the, men work at
bagging up their cylinders again. I'm.
perturbably sergeant stalks down the
ruined and battered trench, shepherd.
ing his flock towards their dugout.
He is an old-timer-a transfer from
the infantry-and scarcely quivers as
a she'll bursts behind traverse he
has just left. Quietly he directs two
of the men to carry an unconscious
case to the nearest point of the COM
munication trench where stretcher-
bearers may be found.
n. A.. TnanrhaaLAf%Ar