The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1917-09-27

come. After going abOut 1OO yards we
lay still and waited. Pretty soon we
heard the rifle crack again, and It
wasn't very far away, but was still
behind us. We went q little farther.
and the lieutenant whispered: Keep
your eyes skinned. Watch the trees"
l could see no sign of life anywhere,
but | knew that the sniper must be
very close. After several minutes wait
the report came again, and this time it
was so close that l jumped. We heard
the ejector fly back and the bolt snap
home again. And then l saw him!
The sniper was we'll up in a tree,
and he was almost invisible, so well
was a screen Of branches drawn up
around him. His rifle was fitted up in
a tripod, and the legs Of this tripod
were nailed to the branches Of the tree.
All he had to do was to sit there and
pull the trigger. l eased back the bolt
OF my rifle so as to make no noise,
and l eased it home again. The lieu
tenant drew his revolver. and we took
a steady aim together.
Fire" he said softly, and the two
SHOTS rang out as one. Mr.. SHIPPER
came down like a thousand brick.
climbed the tree to have a look at
bis nest, and it certainly was ingenious.
That rifle was fixed dead across the
center of. the bridge, so all he had to
do was to pull the trigger when he
heard anything strike the wooden
planking of the bridge. 1t was a pref
ty little scheme. but it came to an end.
as all things, good or bad, must.
Other traps such as this were all too
common along this road, but eventual
~ we cleared the most of them out.
Many Of the snipers would wear civil
ian clothes, some would be wearing
the British uniform. and some would
forms.
We captured a few of these beauties
alive. Their admissions were almost
unbelievable. They confessed to hay
ing patrolled the road every night and
actually greeted any of our chaps they
CHANGED to pass. They knew the
names Of most Of the regiments in that
vicinity, and some of them ever knew
the nicknames our fellows had for
their officers. 1t is a job that requires
heaps of nerve, but it is q dirty, despi-
cable game.
A German sniper was killed one
night, and the fellows who brought
him down decided to play a joke on
an Irishman in their regiment. They
took the body Of the sniper and carried
it about a hundred yards off the road,
where they propped it up against a
tree and also fixed a rifle to its Shout
der. Then they went in search Of the
Irishman. When they found him they
told him that he had been ordered to
60 up the road and hunt for q sniper
who was potting at the passing traffic.
The Irishman took his rife and went
out in search of the German. OF
course he found him, for he couldn't
have passed without seeing the trap
which had been laid for him. The
minute he caught sight of the gray
uniform he dropped behind a bale of
hay which was lying on the side of the
road and started firing at the supposed
sniper. The fellows who had sent him
up there came along and without being
observed by the object of their joke
proceeded to enjoy the fun. The Irish
man couldn't understand how it was
possible for him to miss his mark at
such a short range" and at each shot
he was swearing at his luck. Finally
he hit the body so many times 1t fell
over, and it was not until then that he
realized how he had been fooled.