Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1917-08-15
TO Die BY POISON
If TAKEN BY FOES
Russian Women Soldiers Carry
Cyanide Dose For Quick Use,
TELL OF THE FIRST FIGHT


soribss How She Stabbed and kiIl,a
Gsrman--Numbsr Of Women In An
Armies on Eastern Front 10 e.l;.v,.
70 q Growing Steadily.
Russia's women soldiers have plede.
ed themselves to take their own lives
rather than become German war pr,..
oners. Each woman soldier carries q
ration OF cyanide OF potassium. to be
swallowed In case Of capture.
The members OF the women rey,
ments, now constantly Increasing
agreed that death was to be preferrc,
to the fate they would probably NEE,
at the hands Of the Germans.
The Legion Of Death fighters ara
good killers" From a womans lbs
q correspondent heard how she had m,
. German through with her bayonet
firing the rife ut the same time. From
others he heard how these women and
girls. fresh from comfortable bones
and universities went leaplng over
mangied bel!cs In the charge. with
enemy shells bursting all about them.
To sss Il Through.
But these narrowing experiences Of
the women fighters have steeled them
and hundreds Of other girls to new
determination to see 1t through. Girl
soldiers drilling In the streets are now
. common sight In retrograd. Huge
crowds gather daily about the engi.
neers' school. where 1000 girls are
drilling preparing 10 go TO the front.
In Moscow loo men are training.
while kicv and Odessa have smaller
bands. Premier kercnsky has also au.
thorixed the formation OF women ma.
rine detachments and has promised TO
assign them to ships. The new women
commands attempt no sort OF decora-
ton. Their heads are shared. and they
wear the regulation uniform. Including
the heavy. ugly army boots.
The Eve women fighters at the hos
pital were partially paralyzed By she'll
shock One OF them, peasant girl
smiled Joyously as she pointed 10 q
German helmet on the bed beside her.
II was the first war prize Of a Russian
woman.
cit Was His Life or Nine"
Il saw a German In front OF me as
I ran forward with the others in the
charge she said 1T was his life
o. mine. l raised my rifle. l plunged
with all my strength ! stabbed him
The bayonet went deep into his body.
At the same moment pulled the tris-
Ecr. lie dropped dead. Then took
his hat rs q souvenir"
The girl soldier smiled with delight
What was the battle hkey" another
Il the legfonnaires was asked
Il was very nervous just before the
Charge" she replied we knew the
srsier was coming, and naturally we
were just . little scared. But as soon
~ the orders to so forward came we
forgot everything else In the advance.
Il could hear our girls yelling and
shouting throughout the march for
ward None Of us were afraid once we
got started. We were In the midst Of
Z great fusillade OF shots. Then ter
rfic big shells began breaking ali
around Us.
etsriss Of the Fight.
I'VE were again frightened little
when We nrSt saw dead men about
but before very long we Were Jumping
over the dead aud quickly forgot all
about Them
We cculln't tell what was going on
snyw here" said third girl IN descrb-
Ing the final Stages OF tlr- battle
Commander Bochkor.~a was sssry-
where. urging Us TO fight and die IKE
real Russian soldiers
Then the girl told how the legion
took its first prisoners
AS we ran forward we sa'ideny
came upon a bunch or Germans nne-
diately ahead OF U.S. II was only sec
ond until we were alb around them.
0srmans Surprised.
They saw they were caught and
threw down their rifles. holding mp
their hands They were terribly frieht-
ened.
Good God, Women they sx'
claimed.
I'VE saw wounded German sosdiers
raising themselves on their elbows ana
shooting" intcrjected another wouhu'
ed girl. Eve Just forgot ourselves en-
tirely. We were simply Russia. neh''
ing for her life.
The loss Of Lena. the most popular
member OF our company. was keehV
felt by an Of u.s." she added sooerE'
During the battle Lena heard tna'
Commander Bochkorev, had been KIN.
ed. She hurried forward into the sheh
Ore. saying she was going 10 md he.'
We saw her go through one space Nv
orally strewn with exploding snells'
then through the smoke and flames we
saw her blown to fragments.
I'VE also lost Sonia. She used 70 "
.sNSY