Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1917-11-13

had seen British troops before, had
never had them In the town for any
length of time. and they seemed to be
49,. o,"' Nv coo re We had several
Scotch regiments IN our corps, and
when they came ont Of the trenches the
irst time they created q great sensa-
ton In the town. Their kits were q
never failing source of astonishment to
the Belgians. The woman In the house
where I was billeted thought that II
was cruel to make them wear the "lit-
tie dresses" In the cold weather. She
wanted to know what they wore IN.
derneath them, and when I told her
that they wore nothing she wouldn't
believe me. I explained to her that II
was against orders for them to wear
trousers under the kilt. but still she re-
fused to believe.
At this time bomb throwing was be-
coming more and more popular, and
besides using the hand bombs we were
using larger ones. which were thrown
by q catapault arrangement They
could be thrown a long distance and
In many cases proved to be very ef.
fective. Bomb and grenade schools for
every division were opened, and the
men were trained to throw bonnie
scientifically.
In some places we started using the
slingshot arrangement with which the
French throw bombs. but u didn't turn
out as well for us as it did For them
I saw one case In which the using OF
one Of these things was very disas
trous. One Of our fellows put bomb
in the sling and started swinging It.
AS he tried to let It go the whole thing
hit the man standing next to him full
In the jaw. or course 1t exploded and
killed several men who were standing
near. including the fellow who had
tried to throw 1t.
During an attack In the Menin trench.
es I saw an incident that l will never
forget. Our fellows had taken two
lines Of trenches In a very few min
utes. In some places there were Ger.
mans occupying a part OF q trench
while We held the other part
A big Irishman CAME dashing up with
a load of bombs. and as he came for.
ward saw these Germans raise their
rifles to fire at him The Irishman was
too quick for them. though, for he
chucked q bomb into the trench they
were in. and I heard his yell, "split
that between ye, ye swine"
It wiped out the whole crowd OF them.
of course. and the best part Of 1t was
that the Irishmaa didn't alter his stride
the least bit. Tie expression has he
come quite popular among "bombers."
We hadn't been In Poperinghe many
days before the German aeroplanes be.
gan coming over US They didn't do
any damage at 1rst and ] wondered
why they didn't drop any bombs. Ev'
cry morning about o'clock two or
three taubes would appear and hy
back and forth for a few minutes. and
then they would go away. and We
wouldn't see any more Of them until
the next morning at the same hour.
At last We got used to them, and they
didn't bother US at oil. Once In awhile
our guns would bring one Of them to
earth. and then there would be one
grand rush to the place where the ma.
chine had fallen. I saw one fellow fall
one morning. and as had by motor
bike I hoped OH and dashed down the
road to try and find him. He had come
to earth safely. but his engine had been
put out Of commission by piece Of
shrapnel. He had set fire to the ma
chine and was calmly sitting on the
ground some distance from where 1t
was burning.
Some flying corps fellows were there
lust few seconds ahead OF me, and
they made him prisoner. As he got to
his feet be remarked in perfect Eng.
lish. II had presentiment that !