Gunnison news-champion., 1917-10-26

rom
s.a-Gnrrau. sa-sa'rh rider And motor
e. r-...r h- s-rs o.. fourteen month.
ur-..r the Ertrtss Nsr out Of thirty
one rrof0r.sr.e t.-uarch riders ne as
%. Of rrgr sgrSlEOrs
su- ~fsn prares caste ABOVE every
thin. He will not drink from any
thing that has teen used by a white
ulau FOR II be DID he would lose caste
n lie harpeu, to he eating and white
man shadow falls srruss the Sikh's
rn.sd h. Will s'arye rather than touch II
sEaIu
TIE Indians got along very well With
the French people. and some OF them
ugld even talk n little broken French
The suffering among the Indians dur
H- the Grst winter was terrible. but
they bure It all fairly cheertuIly snt
I'D their duty well They are not
trench hEh,crs though. aud cannot
.'a' the waiting game. They want to
get ont nj the enemy. and the OH er,
tHs" 'hclr work cut out to keep them
u rHc trenches for very long
THE Germans certainly dld not Tx.
he Indians little bit The Indians
belle, regarding no quarter is no, es
i,.rlnlly nice TO think about. and theI'
ua'IraI instincts are hard TO control
They have a weakness for cutting ~
ears aud heads and keeping other llitlt
sUuvenirs The Germaius know ihls
srl naturally II puts the fear OF dealt
into them
| spent Christmas day Of 1914 In tn.
trenches just south Of Ypres Christ,
mas eve was II beautiful night, and tn,
Germans who held the trenches oppo
site left Us very much alone the entir,
evening We didn't bother them either
There was beautiful moon. and
with everything SO quiet and peaceful
II was hard to realize that there was
war on During the evening the Ger
mans started singing. and beard
some OF the most beautiful music
ever listened to in my life The song
might star, Just opposite us. and 1t
would be taken up all along the line.
and soon II would seem as n all the
Germans In Belgium were singing
When they had huished We would ap-
piaud with all our might. and then We
would give them a song In return.
4 regiment In the trenches started
My Old Kentucky HGme." The men
we're getting well along with I, when
some one in the German trenches Join.
ed the singing In Just as good English
as any OF us could speak II was beau.
tiful. but II made me nwfully home.
sick. After they had finished the same
German voice sang Dancing Around"
and. believe me, that fellow could sing
rnGtime lie was applauded uproah-
ously. and then We sang some more
popular songs for them. and so II 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 record They
wound up the machine. put on the rec
: ord and attached . piece OF string to
the starting lever. Then they crawled
back, winding the string as they
came The next morning they pulled
the string. and II started the machine
lar In England at that time, When We
Wind Up the Watch on the Rhine"
You can bet that that phonograph was
flled full OF lead In short order
During the few weeks directly after
Christmas I was In the trenches Just
south Of ipres most Of the time When
on duty In the daytime II was not so
bad. but the nights were awful The
Germans had The advantage over us
in that their trenches were on higher
ground. and they drained all the water
down Into our own. We had only
buckets to bail with. and II was very
slow work. as well as dangerous.
Then. too. the cold weather increa sed
our troubles
notice In my diary. which | kept
from time to time. that I entered an
incident which shows our state. I win
quote you Just what wrote:
Dec. q. 1914. - Was talking with
two boys Of the Royal Scots today.
Hollebeke trenches. and they are In ter.
rible condition. Their casualties dur
ing the last engagement were light. ~
they lost only four killed and nineteen
wounded. but forty-two died from ex.
posure-
One poor devn tells me that he has
three brothers and fifteen cousins In
his battalion. Two of his brothen
died during the past two weeks. One
stopped Q bullet. but the other one
drowned right BY his side In the
trenches. and be was unable to aid
him
"A lot came in on their hands and
knees. and many came dragging them
selves on their stomachs through the
mud 1t was terrible"
One Of the saddest things ! have
ever seen Is the last roll call Of . reg
iment which has been cut to pieces
! saw one regiment go into action for
the first time