The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1917-10-18

About ten fellows gs)t together, and
each put 10 francs in a pool just be-
fore they went into action. They left
this money with some one behind the
lines, for they would be in action any
where from six days to three weeks.
The idea Of the pool vas this: Those
who lived to get back would take the
money and split 1t evenly among them
selves. If only one lived he would
have the whole lot. Sometimes the
pools would be fairly big and some
times the reverse, but whatever they
had went in.
1t was the only gamble I ever saw
where you couldn't lose. If you came
out safely you were bound to get your
own money back at least.
The Tommies are strong for CARRYING
pets with them too. They keep cana
ries. rats, mice, dogs, cats, goats and
even pigs, and they will go hungry
themselves rather than see the object
of their affections want for anything
On the march If they get tired they
may throw their equipment away, bu!
| never heard of one yet who would
give up his mascot.
During the winter there was q lot OF
talk about the mad major" He was
an artillery officer who was just abous
the biggest daredevil 1 ever heard Of
He kept an aeroplane himself, and if
he wanted to correct a range he would
go and drop smoke bombs we tho
point he wanted to get. He was abso
lutcly fearless and would fy So low
that they would be potting at him with
revolvers, but it didn't seem to bother
him. .
| have heard that he did more dam.
age with his battery than a whole bri-
gade Of ordinary artillery could under
ordinary circumstances. I don't know
what became Of him in the end, but the
last Of his stunts that | heard about
was this: There was a big seventeen
inch howitzer doing us an awful lot of
damage. 1t was out Of range of our
guns, and we We're much put about as
to how to get it out of action.
The mad major went out alone in
his aeroplane and took with him just
one bomb, a hundred FOUNDER. He To-
Gated the gun he wanted while flying
at an altitude of 5000 feet. He got
right over the position and stopped his
engine. He did a nos dive to within
400 feet Of the gun. Then he dropped
ais bomb anG blew the thing to atoms.
He got back safely, but the planes of
his machine were riddled with bullets.
Soon after this we were on the move,
and, as it happened. we went from bad
to worse. The first day we entered a
little place that was unoccupied by
and we decided to spend the
night there. The Germans must have
heard Of u arrival promptly, for be-
fore we had been there an hour shells
began to drop in on US.
The officer l was driving was with
me at the time the first one burst. IL
landed in the back yard Of the house
we were in, and the force Of the explo-
sion sent us all in a heap On the floor.
The officer decided that we would get
out of the place and find some nice,
quiet spot to spend the night. We left
at once and went about five miles down
the road until we came to a field am
.ulance. We found that they had some
spare stretchers, SO we decided to stay
there. The officers servant carried
in for all of us, and after
something to eat we went right
sleep, as we were tired out.
I don't believe We had been asleep
more than an hour when a shell landed
IN that field ambulance! 1t tore through
the roof and burst in the room next to
us, killing and wounding eighteen men
who had already been wounded once
l got up in a hurry, but found that the
officer was before me, and when l
reached the car he was making himself
in the tonneau. l took my
waterproof sheet and blankets and
made myself a bed on the cobblestones
began to rain, and then l got up in
disgust and sat up the rest of the night
in the driving seat.
The next day we stopped in a little
called Pradelles, the place
where the Germans had stood a priest
against the wall of his own church
and shot him because he wouldn't give
them the information they wanted.
Across from this church was q little
where l went to buy q
bottle of wine to have with my dinner.
You can imagine my surprise when the
Frenchwoman in charge called me an
English pig" and said that she would
sell nothing to the English. I told her
what I thought Of her, and she told me
what she thought of me.
She said the English were thieves,
and other nice things and
informed me also that the only true
gentlemen In the world were the Prus-
SLAMS. She certainly had me aroused.
and l was going to arrest every n l
could find in the house until her daugh-
ter came In.
She saw at once how things were and
led the old lady upstairs and then ex-
planned that the Germans had taken
her two youngest sisters away and that
since that time her mother had been
insane.
It was outside Of Pradelles that we