New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-02-18
vosres smiling; came out in an am

-
vosges smiling; | came out in an am
bulance."
Hartmanns Weilerkopf was war wnen
we got there. but it was q Joy nae
going IN. Il was another trip over
snow-clad hills and through wlntrg
woods. with the frozen snow singing
under the wheels. When we got 20
the end of the wagon road and took TO
the trenches we walked through long
snow corridors. like the path from
New England farm house TO the wood
pile.
There were miles Of those corridors'
with such little resemblance TO trenches
in their mantle of snow that 1t was
hard TO believe we were in the war
zone. But a brief glance over the top
Of the trenches was convincing, for
here on the top Of the mountain the
thick woods were but wretched yes
tioe of what they had been. More thsi
a hundred acres of stumps remained
standing in the snowdrlftsi not
single tree was left with its clothing
Of foliage. t., ali
A few minutes later we had stu
more dreadful evidence that Hart
manns Weilerkopf was truly war We
came to the front line and passed IN
silence through the trenches withlh
ffteen wards OF the Germans. We were
m among the clouds, and at one point
favored by dense cloud drifting
across the mountain top, went 10 an
advanced post and looked down on inc
Germans. twenty yards away. stand
ING behind a breast-high parapet' We
family made out the German Inc OF
entangIements, with cloud wreathS
clinging to them.
Then we had our surprise. urn
ing. we went downhill, and hfty yards
below came on such scene OF wreck
age as only the Somme or Nerdun car,
finnish. We climbed over what hau
been trenches. but were trenches 10
rooro We saw where the white snow
had been spumed up and the olach
oarth underneath had risen TO the top
ana we passed a little trail of crimson
spots on the snow. Lo
When we went back through the
Iono snow corridors we met two cars
If The American Field Ambulance, walt,
inc natiently beside the road. One OF
them was driven by the brother Oh
richard Hall. who was killed whlIe on
the road To Hartmanns Weilerkopt on
Christmas Eve. 1915. We stopped aI
Halls grave on the way down. lie was
hurried almost on the spot where ne
fell. and his brother passes his grave
daily. He says it helps TO keep MS
courage I'D in the long waits during
tho cold black nights, when mans VI
tality and courage fall with the drop,
ming temperature. The grave is marked
WITH a granite slab, covered with snow
and simple wooden cross bearing a
wreath of evergreens. The wreath IS
kept fresh by the American drivers,
who never pass without a glance at
their comrades grave. -,
Our trip ended at the Swiss border
II made for me the final INK IN the
cb.in If the western front. ! had seen
barbed wire running into the sea on
tho Belgian coast; now ! saw french
and Swiss barbed wire running side by
side along the border, with path SIX
feet wide between the two lines. Al inc
road a long wooden bar, like an old
fashioned turnpike gate, formed the
barrier. On one side stood SWISS sol
dier in his queer, high-crowned kepi'
and facing him fraternally was pollu
IN steel casoue and khaki.
| climbed the hill TO a point where
three-sided stone marked the ora
boundary OF France, Switzerland and
Germany, and while / stood there,
watching through the glasses a party
Of Swiss hunting wild boar on the steep
side of the Jura foothills, a German
she'll whined overhead and ourst on
the French side of the border no; hVe
hundred yards from me. AT the mo,
ment shells we're the last things | could
have thought it possible to see.
The Alsace front is queer. IL IS
more than that: it is cubist. thlnk
that expresses it. In Alsace 1t is
cubist war. -.
We left the cornerstone and went
hack to a chicken dinner in Rechesy
Hall. a mile from the border. An nour
later we stopped on the road to Bel
fort to see where the first French SOL
der was killed in this war-slx miles
inside the French border, eight hours
before Germany declared war on
France. From an old peasant at whose
gate the soldier was killed | heard the
story.
Al 10 o'clock on the morning of Au-
gust 2, 1914, French sergeant was
talking to the peasant while ms men
stood across the ROAD. herman Cav :
alry officer with a patrol suddenly rode
over the crest Of the hill opposite the
house. galloped down into the. road,
drew his revolver, fired one shot at
the sergeant and another at the peas
ant. and then turned to fire a third on
the French patrol. But the French SER
geant had fired at the same moment
as the German officer. The former had
fallen dead. The German had just
enough strength to fire two shots be-
fore he fell from his horse. His foot
caught in the stirrups and the horse
galloped away, dragging him IN the
dust.
One other German was killed and
the rest were taken prisoner. The
sergeant was buried in field across
the road from the house. On the gate
post beside which he fell the peasant
had painted in crimson characters the
date of the little tragedy.
BRYAN PLANS DRY" LEAGUE
OF DEMOrp IN STATE