Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1917-10-30
s.6MIEk 3
FOJlR1EE3N :
MONTHS
N AT i
An American Boy's
Bopfism of Fire
By WILLIAM J. ROBINSON
By WILLIAM ]. ROBINSON
Copyrisht. uttIe, Brown & Co.

The most graphic account Of the
great war that has yet been written
comes from the pen Of q twenty-five
year-old Boston boy. who has just re-
turned from France, where as dragon
Euardsman. dispatch rider and motor.
car driver he served fourteen months
under the British flag. Out Of thirty.
one motorcycle dispatch riders he waS
one Of four survivors
popular songs for them, and so It went
until the wee small hours Of the morn.
ing.
During the night a couple Of our
chaps crawled up almost to the Ger.
man parapet. and with them they took
q phonograph and a record. They
wound up the machine. put on the rec
ord and attached piece of string to
the starting lever. Then they crawled
back, unwinding the string as they
came. The next morning they pulled
the string, and 1t started the machine
playing the song which was so popu-
lar in England at that time. when We
Wind Up the Watch on the Rhine"
You can bet that that phonograpB was
filed full of lead In short order.
During the few weeks directly after
Christmas was in the trenches Just
south Of Ypres most Of the time. When
on duty in the daytime it was not so
bad, but the nights were awful. The
Germans had the advantage over Us
in tlmt their trenches were on higher
ground, and they drained all the water
down into our own. We had only
buckets to bail with. and 1t was very
slow work. as well as dangerous
Then, too, the cold weather increased
our troubles.
notice In my diary. which kept
from time to time, that ! entered all
incident which shows our state. will
quote you just what I wrote:
"Dec. q. 1914. - Was talking with
two boys Of the Royal Scots today.
They have Just come down from the
Hollebeke trenches, and they are in ter
rible condition. Their casualties dur
ing the last engagement were light. as
they lost only four killed and nineteen
wounded. but forty-two died from ex.
posure.
"One poor devil tells me that he has
three brothers and fifteen cousins In
his battalion. Two Of his brothers
died during the past two weeks. One
stopped bullet, but the other one
drowned right by his side In the
trenches. and he was unable to aid
him
"A lot came In on their hands and
knees. and many came dragging them.
selves Oh their stomachs through the
mud 1t was terrible"
One of the saddest things I have
ever seen is the last roll call Of reg.
iment which has been cut to pieces.
saw one regiment 60 into action for
the first time.
watched them go up singing and
shouting and In high spirits generally.
They were LOO strong going into ac-
ton. but two days later they came
out, and there were only twenty-three
of them to answer the last roll call
It was a heartbreaking sight and i'm
possible to forget.
One day ! went to some trenches our
division had Just taken over. The wa
ter was above our knees, and there was
also about foot Of soft mud. In feel
ing around for flrmer foothold my
foot struck something more solid than
the ground around me. started
stamping and kicking about, but ]
couldn't seem to make 1t give way. Be
ing curious. one Of my comrades and ]
dug down with intrenchtng tools
What we unearthed was the body Of
dead Frenchman. Heaven only knows
how long he had been there. but no
was as black as derby hat.
At this time the Dickebusch-Holle
beke road was alive with snipers. In
some way they would get through our
lines and secrete themselves along the
road, where they could pick Off individ
uals without much fear Of being seen
! noticed that there was one place In
particular where we always heard q
bullet pass too close to be comfortable.
1t was a little wooden bridge, and ]
don't think ever crossed 1t without
hearing one whine past me.
One Cay rode up with second lieu.
tenant Of the Royal Engineers. AS we
crossed the bridge a bullet whizzed be
tween us, but when looked at the ofh
Ger he did not appear to have noticed
It, so didn't say anything. About
three hours later We were coming back
the same way. Just before We came to
the bridge he said:
"That blasted sniper has potted al
me once too often. Well leave the
road here and sneak down opposite
that bridge under cover OF the trees
Let us see II we can find the blighter
Well wait until he pots at somebody
else, and you keep your ears stretched
and try to locate where the report
comes from"
We tethered our horses to tree and
crept down to point Just about op
posite the bridge. After q few min
utes an empty transport wagon cams
along As this hit the bridge dis
incty heard tie crack of rife. h':
Il ccme from hc.iind and Ia tie rt"'
Of Is. We henrd the bullet sing over
our heads ard saw the driver duck and
put the whip to his horses.
Very quietly We crawled back in the
direction from which the report had
come. After going about 100 yards we
lay still and waited. Pretty soon we
heard the rife crack again. and 1t
wasn't very far away, but was stiu
behind US. We went a little farther,
and the lieutenant whispered: Keep
your eyes skinned. Watch the trees"
could see no sign OF life anywhere.
but I knew that the sniper must be
very close. After several minutes wait
the report came again. and this time 1t
was SO close that l jumped. We heard
the ejector 6y back and the bolt snap
home again. And then saw him!
The sniper was well up In q tree,
and he was almost invisible, so well
was a screen Of branches drawn up.
around him. His rife was fitted up In
Z tripod. and the legs Of this tripod
were nailed to the branches OF the tree
All be had to do was to sit there and
pull the trigger. / eased back the bolt
Of my rine 20 a. to make no noise