The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-09-11
Returned to England to Do
His Bit When Wardrobe Out

WQf6rOReO ul
then the squeak, you were all right
but If you heard just the pip and
not the squeak, you were dead.
The captain expected the Amer1-
good as sbombers.
| The Australians were expert both
| at throwing bombs and at catching
those hurled by the enemy and
| throwing them back. The latter was
a dangerous task. however.
| Knocked Out by Own Bombs.
Sometimes the bombs thrown py
| the British would fail to go on. the
fuses being put out by the water IN
| the Greman trenches. The Germans
had a disagreeable way OF drying
! them out, relighting them and hurl'
| ing them back.
It was bad enough to get hit by
enemy bombs, the captain SAID, put
to be knocked out by your own was
worse than distressing. So the Eng
lish invented instantaneous bombs
and hurled them over unllghted.
The Germans thinking the 1uses
had gone out, relighted them 10
throw back, with very disastrous re-
suits.
When the trenches were close TO-
gether, sometimes the English sol
diers would hurl over loaVes OF
bread, then tines of sardines-then
bombs made up like sardine tins.
The Germans first used gas on the
Canadians. At the start there was
no protection against the deadly
fumes, but gas mask was soon
devised. Captain Vickers has In his
poss ession one of the earliest gas
masks used. They were very I'M
satisfactory, being nothing more than
sack that came down over the
head, with piece Of isinglass to
see through.
"You could either leave 1t off and
die by the German gas. or put 1t on
and die by your own"
A gas mask that filed the bill was
finally perfected.
Motor Buses Play Part.
Motor buses from the streets OF
London played big part in the early
days of the war. These buses were
taken over to France to transport
troops and supplies to the front.
Captain Vickers has story or
how a handful of motor bus drivers
helped rout the Germans at the
Marine. 1t seems that on the cr1u-
cal days of the opening months when
the Germans had thrown their legion
to within thirteen miles Of Paris and
were preparing to- deliver the final
blow, a German cavalry patrol was
sent forward mile in advance of
the rest of the army. If this squad
was not stopped breach might be
made in the lines that would be dan
gerous, so force of English soldiers
was sent forward to meet the In
yaders, but to its surprise. on reach
ing the spot, it expected to find the
Germans, saw only the brides and
saddles of the horses. 1t later de-
yeloped that a party Of motor bus
men, driving that way, which was
through the famous wine district of
France, imbibed too freely and on
the way back were driving at a reck-
less pace and singing and shouting
and making all manner of noise. The
Germans, believing that the entire
English army was upon them, fed in
haste.
Captain vickers has a suggestion
as to how to use pacifists. AS trench
digging and barb wire laying are
DANGEROUS tasks, he suggested put
ting them to duties such as these.
that the lives of valuable men might
be saved for better uses.
A Pleasing Song.
The song, Keep the Home Fires
Burning which was sung by
double quartet Sunday, was of an
especially appealing character and
was no doubt heard for the first
time by many Keokuk people. C. F.
Mcfarland said that it had taken the
place of ''Tipperary" in the English
army and was a plea for the folks
at home to keep stout heart and
a brave front until the boys came
home The music has an attractive
Tilt and the words are wonderfully
suggestive.