The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1917-12-04
Attacks by Germans Cause Clos
ing of Many Institutions
in France.
z KILLED IN HARVARD unit
Kenneth CASTOR Tells of Terror and
Ruin Brought on by the Raiders
Exciting Experiences Among
FED Cross Workers.

ing on the western front the Red Cross
has been experiencing considerable
difficulty in carrying on it's work i'm
mediately behind the lines because of
the attacks by German airmen on the
hospitals, according to q letter from
Kenneth CASTOR, son of Mrs. L. p.
CASTOR of Somerville, N. j., who is a
member of the Harvard unit. In the
immediate neighborhood where they
are working, he said, it was necessary
to close five hospitals within a week
and they were finally driven to estab-
lish themselves in the woods. A letter
from Mr.. CASTOR to his mother fol-
lows:
GAS you see, we have moved. We
| had to. The night after / last wrote
you our hospital was raided fiercely.
For three hours aviators were over us
all the time, shooting or dropping
bombs. Two surgeons were killed and
five more were wounded, two of the
/ big tents riddled, some small tents
blown up, big holes put in the roads
altogether it was a complete job.
'It ended all usefulness of the vii
evacuate the entire village, hospitals,
depots, barracks, and all. We and the
brancardiers had to stay on two nights
more while the hospital was taken
down and carted away. We didn't
relish these nights much.
'"The first night after supper every
body trailed out into the fields carry
ing their blankets. Some slept under
haystacks, some in trenches, a few
went to a fort nearby and slept in the
ammunition room 80 feet underground.
BY the time the big harvest moon rose
there wasn't sign of life.
Campaign Against Hospitals.
1.-THE second night four of us stayed
in the tent. 1 let my bed down on the
ground and we built barricade of
tilnbers to keep off small eclats, then
went to bed early and got to sleep be-
fore the visitors arrived. That night |
they made special visits to the two |
hospitals to which we evacuated our |
badly wounded of several nights before, |
and as result one of them had to be |
closed. They seem to be carrying on !
special campaign against hospitals, |
five in this immediate neighborhood
have been closed within a week
1--WE drove in convoy to our new
quarters, AS convoy we are quite
imposing, first the staff car, then 20
kitchen trailer a cannon, a camio-
nette, and the French staff car. We
Grove about 20 miles, almost parallel
to the front, so that we are still about
Is kilOmeters from the lines, but we
are in big forest very well concealed.
There is no shellfire at that distance
in this sector, and the aviatOrs have
little chance to see anything.
'This aerial raiding business as
sumes big proportions. We passed
through a town on our way here where
100 bombs had been dropped in one
night.
IF they hit on soft ground they are
harmless for they pene-
trate ten feet or more and blow out a
hole like a we'll, straight up into the
air.
"But the eclats of the bombs are
small, rarely more than an inch OF
two long, while big shell will burst
into jagged pieces two and three feet
long that will cut clean through a
house. The dope is to pick out a spot
in soft ground and get flat on the sur
face, then only direct hit can get
you, and there isn't chance in mil
ion of that
Was Funny Sight
Last night the mechanic, Ed An
Lhony, and l were building an abrix
n the woods, for they are always nice
% have around, when suddenly three T
)embs went off just below us on the
'oad. AT the first one Ed dropped his
)ick and tore through the woods like
| startled deer, hurdling trees and div
ng through bushes like wild man.
There was no place to run to so /
.rawled under a ledge and waited.
"a minute later three more went off,
md then / heard wild rush. and Ed
anne tearing back through the woods +
ii out Of breath, but sprinting his
hardest. He was so funny that l for
lot all about the bO.nbs-he wears
mutton chop whiskers, loose knee :
'ants with bare legs, and he had his F
in hat crammed way down oyer his
ars, and the expression on his face
vas that of a man who has given up
II hope, but intends to fight desper-
tely to the end.
81 laughed until 1 was weak. When
e saw me he stopped, struggled for
reath, swallowed lump in his throat =
nd said huskily, I think they're de-
arts, don't you? AS matter of fact,
ley were neither bombs nor departs,
ut some defective hand grenades that :
ere unsafe for shipment and were
exploded by the munitions =
orkers. =,
"Glad the Italians are proving some
hing at last. These drives will give
lie German people food for thought
uring the winter-about all the food :
ley'u get"