The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1917-12-12


moved from the pit, cautioned those
about him to place their fingers in
their ears. This was done and the
lieutenant shouted the word "Firev'
The gun barked quickly, the noise
being followed by metallic clank and
the shell case was elected and the gun
made ready for the next load. The
lieutenant told the correspondent the
story of the first shot of the war, pune
tuating the narrative throughout with
the orders "ready to fire." and fire"
which each time was followed by the
report of the gun and the whizz of
the shell.
eve came up the night before" the
lieutenant said, "and got into position
in n driving rain. No horses had ar
rived. was anxious to get off the
first gun and so were my men.
asked them If they were willing to
haul the gun by hand to this place so
that we could get the first crack at the
Germans. They agreed unanimously,
so we set out across the fields until we
got over there at the base Of that hill
you can just see in the haze.
Hours to Prepare Gun.
eve had a hard time getting the
gun, which we have not named yet,
over those shell craters. But we la
bored for many hours and finally
reached the spot. Then I got permits
sion to fire.
"Strictly speaking, the first shot,
which was in the nature of tryout
for the gun, simply went into Ger
many. The sergeant put a high explo-
sive shell there at 6:15 o'clock in the
morning"
Another officer here took up the mar
rative.
81 was in an observation point" he
said. "There was fog as the first
shot went singing over. Suddenly the
fog lifted and saw a group of Ger
mans. 1 directed my gun at them. The
shrapnel burst overhead and they took
a dive into the ground like so many
rabbits"
The lieutenant grinned broadly,
shook the water off his shrapnel he'll
met, and using both clinched fists to
punctuate his remarks, said express
sively: at was great"
From the artillery lines to the in
fantry trenches was considerable
distance over more muddy hills. The
correspondent found the infantry in
side the trenches. There also were
many wires which ran into switch
boards, and American and French op-
orators were sitting side by side d.
recting operations.
Bell for Gas Attack.
A guide is necessary to reach the
first line, especially when me of the
trenches resemble irrigation bitches.
The trenches the Americans are occu-
plying begin from screened position.
On the way there shovels and tools
were piled high below hill on which
there was a great bell for giving the
alarm In case Of gas attack. There
under cover were the company cooks
busy warming up food that had been
brought up In wagons.
rOpoWiuS TIC Buiue, the way WILLS
In and out from left to right for many
yards between interviewer branches
that have been placed ON the sides of
the trenches.
The American privates in the front
splashed through without hesitating,
sometimes getting footing on step
ping stones IN the muddy water and
sometimes not. The trench turns
sharply to the right and voice warns,
keep your head down." and the rest
of the way the walking is difficult.
Hating near machine gun, the Ger
man positions directly opposite. On a
hill could be seen across the barbed
wire Of No Mans land. Lights APP
peared In little town to the. left.
There is a sort Of gentleman's
agreement In this sector that towns
over the line are not to be shelled. II
one side violates the agreement the
. other side promptly fires shell for shell
into hostile town.
General Sibert. who has just COM
pleted a tour Of the trenches, was
asked how the morale of the Ameri-
cans In the trenches was. He replied:
Morale? How could the morale Of
Americans be anything but goodr