The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-10-17
THH wATOHMAN AND soUFARoN, OCTOBER H. 1917

shallow graves or the dead. Most or
the soldiers legs are Scared to the
knees with bites.
The one thing OF which we constant.
ly lived IN fear was Il fos attack.
used to wake ia the /Tlifi.s. Of the night
In a cold sweat drean!mg that ! heard
the clatter and whistle blowing all
along the line which meant that The
gas was coming And finally real!
did hear the terrifying sound, just nj
q moment when it couldn't have sound
ed worse. was in charge of the daily
ration detail, sent back about ten miles
to the point of nearest approach of the
transport lorries to carry in ratiOns.
ammunition and sand bags to the front
trenches. We had lot of trouble re.
turning with our loads. Passing y
point which was called Shrapnel Cor
ner, because the Germans had precise
range of 1t, We were caught In ma
chine gun fire and had to lie OH our
stomachs for twenty minutes, during
which we lost one man, wounded. ]
sent him back and went on with my
party, only to run into another machine
gun shower half mile farther on
While We were lying down to escape
this concealed British battery of
FIVE inch guns, about which we knew
nothing, opened up right over our
heads. 1t shook us up and scared us sc
that some of our party were now worse
Off than the man who had been hit and
carried to the rear. We finally got to.
gether and went on. When we were
about mile behind the reserve trench,
stumbling in the dark through the last
aid most dangerous path overland, we
heard lone siren whistle, followed by
wave of metallic hammering and wild
footing which seemed to spread over
all of Belgium mile ahead of us. All
any of us could say was:
"Gas!"
All you could see in the dark was n
collection Of white and frightened
faces. Every trembling finger seemed
awkward as a thumb as we got out our
gas masks and helmets and put them
on, following directions as nearly as
we could. l ordered the men to sit
still and sent two forward to notify
me from headquarters when the gas
alarm was over. They lost their way
and were not found for two days. We
sat there for an hour, and then l ven.
tured to take my mask off. AS nothing
happened, ordered the men to do the
same. When we got into the trenches
with our packs we found that the gas
alarm had been one Of Fritz's jokes
The first sirens had been sounded in
the German lines, and there hadn't
been any gas.
Our men evened things up with the
Germans, however the next night
Some Of our scouts crawled clear UP
to the German barbed wire, ten yards
In front Of the enemy fire trench, tied
empty jam tins to the barricade and
then, after attaching small telephone
wires to the barbed strands, crawled
back to our trenches. When they start
ed pulling the telephone wires tho
empty tins made clatter right under
Fritz's nose. Immediately the Germans
opened up with all their machine gun
and rifle fire, began bombing the spot
from which the noise came and sent
up IS o S" signals for artillery fire
along mile Of theft line. They fired
$4,000 salute and lost a nights sleep
over the noise made by the discarded
containers Of 5 shillings' worth of jam
1t was good tonic for the TOmmies
The Prince of Wales.
A few days after this very young
officer passed me in q trench while
was sitting on a fire step writing q
letter. l noticed that he had the red
tabs Of staff officer OH his uniform
but ! paid no more attention to him
than that. No compliments. such as
salItes to officers, are paid i'm the
trenches. After he had passed one of
the men asked me if l didn't know
who he was said 1 didn't.
why, you d fool" he said, that's
the Prince Of Wales!
When the little prince came back
stood to salute him. He returned the
salute with grave smile and passed
on. He was quite alone, and l was
told afterward that he made these
trips through the trenches just to show
the men that he did not consider him.
self better than any other soldier. The
heir OF England was certainly taking
nearly the same chance Of losing his
inheritance that we were.
After we had been on the front line
fifteen days we received orders to
make bombing raid. Sixty volun-
teers were asked for, and the whole
2EessS 2EesS