The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1917-08-25
SIDEldHTSW WRMNES
FORT SILL.

I from The post 60 Gathering and 1lanklns out into the open beyond amp
with lil' brown len, Ssh over The dd;s4: seat have ground Their way past
Some from the coast artillery; reasisned to field artillery Other, fro" the re-
stit 70 ' = instructed SaeG' IA " @ Soa,@' Slaughter re-" Al owe the country mere at '"
v.uo me M pa"ssi IA. .sd Me- M,d ne 's' Riu af' , %Sspans' h ssd . ss"'' tho ss"f fGsd >" around 0Slst
warn the countrywide to keep out of the foothills, for ,hrapne will be bursting
.A.s Step Il s sr,, here ere, and \. you e. see Il, he. p ,%a, 1,i Of smoke Y,S made a,u by tn, he shell ri.
pufsa, Now count five second, and you hear the explosion.
charge '" p IL, gun '% 's.; a's'S Sg Sf ss'o! re- ae She'll b bursts sa'''i Them 81 , he heavy R!' 'is"";s
Of L smoke @%'' 1 IT iSot ''' .f 1;'i 'F r%m ' . d 1a1.s% .''"' and up goes the '''''''' ''"
Within the sound of the guns, within sight of bursting ,hrapnel, drilling
Turn around and watch the regiment minute a, the cq~g.nie, stay to
trained men going into '~ artillery ie "f fire T like e% cattle E" into the bss Slaughter % Ds'r pc"' VIM VI
Ss"TS 3 : with q "%"' r = IS IF ,i ,sf hs"s'' ' EsS, fresh 1"ih s !" 4. ISSd II S So"'b hands ;'
0e M" .,o 5%' .ho a tlnsT1 1ssda ,G .s% . sy ~mh Of The the t% oa, ,' lp. of Of the ,cni isn S@ o hi,
, IN, N .d. sdns'lon io,,t,. AnoSSsT boy with half a Uniform on-@o',o Of Of
has H' h s"1 a. here 81, XIV weeks ., i. guess, he is a nut. He cannot can, ,.E Ns. "G 3. arm,
,eS sin. ,Sov' A the collar ,s,,t III pGbaby will become . waite. i .,a he stays ,.i wit, ,,, H,
Hs understands "d" the ' ot5sr when 'G 1 is ss sGvsn '"S Su' s si"i b1a" IS s %SoqF@ erc m" i'' 'Hc
' 8 , ,ns, seconds se Ss. behind d@ ,s the t sq%a d,i in executing e. the y. mov.msnt II. enough late
up the manual i arm quickly and pas, to the school Of III, company and soon
,n,. D .; \. Of he recruit. h.ye not feyf'E.d Uniform. t make. the appear
'aSs S !" 'i Il; :' should 5'f Ts"s t. ''" q ma" 4 n %ts . 'F "sr a q 'a a ,o%. '' ia '' q p% '' q of
0''' ii1. comes On s" ID. !" ,s d,ss%'t with when IN. he ,s sSs,s"s st st., S'1 ss "a. over to tn, y
and E T.to' n the ', #. o9 / No s coax = 81 is , NEEDED new bio, ,,,o, horse Marlin
,5sI Pc to ad: i dS ct Y a muscle. Desbs ,'a. : hin; too / Know
j" %'f Fl. ;.,,h head d. L HE i., full. Of pep an" Nv, win do do any o Of five V. gait. a , the touch
Hunter ,% o." a a" wild id eyed roam "A ss%'v wants s%' to ' fn a wild will =. He tie hasn't '"I been out u
% ns barn s., ,sf Z sn ss,A h. H. e.. horse 81, mean" sa i. and s,l ee is, i, F ,,o t., .s go ,, M,j.n' II, he
proceeds to run Mr. Roam into the ground while I pull! to 10 avail on handful
% 'i%' i IS" aS"s"Ge' v isS' n o"sf that S'0' hs s"'S married ! '"'S"' o. 0'"'""S
There are the guns -Four in row, with a little cluster Of men around
each beech A few yards in the rear is the telephone signal man. Farther
back yet is the battery captain. On the brow of the ridge, 800 yards away, are
the students, hundreds of them, with field glasses and range finders Each
series OF shots is planned and the mathematics of the problem explained. There
observation posts out a thousand yards ahead of the guns.
The telephone man is getting orders. lie hits his hand and gives the
words as they cOm 4, cr the wire
Tree at tree tousand" =
He is a swede signal man, probably from Duluth. In Untes States he
means three rounds at three thousand yards"
"Loadr the command rings out
The artilerymen spring to the ammunition case The shrapncl she'll
with its long brass tail full Of smokdess powder huries from its pigeon hole
into the rfled breech of III. field gun. The lock snaps The gunner sets Fiji
,en seconds apart, the sam action moves down the battery. The officers
hand drops Then the conclusion Around the III, anchored in the ground
so that the kick cannot bulge it, the grass fattens out from the shock My
ears ring and out of the white haze and the furnace blast around the piece there
come the sons O.. the shrapnel A hateful hymn, an ugly whine. diminishing
rapidly as it goes
Look qucklythere at the zenith of its flight at the top Of the arc, you
an ,ee black speck that looks like a baseball That is concentrated death
II Is the shrapncl case, a letter of destruction that has been mailed to a certain
sage-2O words sugs as big as marbles, which kick the ground yCiously and
send up little spurs Of dust
The round OF fire I'm down the guns rapidly. The sound of each shell is
the m They are all three inchcrs The heavy howitzers have a rumble all
their " Each size of she'll in the air "a be identified by the song it sings
Have you ever had some NJ swish a buggy whip close to your ears? The
song of the shrapnel shell is like that, only magmicd and more metallic
and in diminishing register it dies away in the distance sounding nor friendly
as it gets far away-then it is out Of hearing and the time fuse ignnes the burst
ing charge in the missile. There is a handful of ntens flame, blazing fingers
kicking downward. the cloud of white, a boil of cotton in the sky, the dust
back over the miles
A shrapnel she'll, you know, is exploded by time fuse which can be set
for any distance desired. The field gun provides the energy that sends the
she'll acrossN No Mans Land to the enemy lines Inside the shrapncl case is a
second charge which knocks the nose Of the shell off and spills on h quart Of
bullets with dreadful velocity.
After artillery practice the boys from the Oklahoma camp go out on the
a live one. They carry the brass caps and the empty cases, back to camp and
send them to their home town friends, suppose.
hope our boys carry all their shrapnel in their hands and none OF it in
their heads-W NH