Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1918-03-29
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parents, the war came and he was con-
scripted.
He told me he was very sorry to
hear that London was in ruins from
the Zeppelin raids. I could not con-
vince him otherwise, for hadn't he seen
moving pictures in one of the German
cities Of st. Paurs cathedral in ruins.
I changed the subject because he
was so stubborn in his belief. 1t was
my intention to try and pump him for
information as to the methods of the
German snipers, who had been caus-
ing us trouble in the last few days.
l preached the subject and he shut
up like clam. After few minutes
he very innocently said:
German snlpers get paid rewards
Tor killing the English"
eagerly asked, "What are they?"
He answered.:
"For killing or wounding an English
private, the sniper gets one mark. For
killing or wounding an English officer
he gets five marks, but If he kills Red
Cap or English general, the sniper gets
twenty-one days tied to the wheel Of a
timber as punishment for his careless
ness"
Then he paused, waiting for me to
bite, suppose.
bit all right and asked him why the
sniper was punished for killing an
English general. With smile he re-
piled:
"Well, you see, If all the English gen.
erals were killed, there would be no
one left to make costly Mistakes.
shut him up. he was getting too
fresh for prisoner. After while he
winked at me and winked back, then
the escort came to take the prisoners
to- the rear. I shook hands and wished
hi 'aThe best Of luck and safe jour-
me, ito Blighty."
I: liked that prisoner, he was fine
fellow, had an Iron Cross, too. I adj
vised him to keep it out Of sight, or
some Tommy would be sending 1t home
to his girl in Blighty as a souvenir.
One dark and rainy night while on
guard we were looking over the top
from the fire step Of our front-line
trench, when we heard a noise imme-
diately In front Of our barbed wire.
The sentry next to me challenged,
"Halt, who comes there?" and brought
his rifle to the aim. His challenge was
answered In German. A captain in the
next traverse climbed upon the sand
bagged parapet to investigated brave
but foolhardy deed-"Crack" went
bullet and he tumbled back into the
trench with hole through his stomach
and died few minutes later. A lance
corporal in the next platoon was so en-
ragged at the captains death that he
chucked a Mills bomb in the direction
of the noise with the shouted warning
to us: ''Duck your nappers, my lucky
lads" A sharp dynamite report, flare
In front Of us, and then silence.
We Immediately sent up two star
shells, and in their light could see two
dark forms lying on the ground close
to our wire. A sergeant and four
Observation-Disclosures went out in front and
soon returned, carrying two limp
bodies. Down in the dugout, in the
Pickering light Of three candles, we
saw that they were two German Off
GERS, one a captain and the other an
''unterofizier," q rank one grade higher
than sergeant general, but below the
grade Of lieutenant.
The captains face had been almost
completely torn away by the bombs
explosion. The unteroff1zier was alive,
breathing with difficulty. In few min
utes he opened his eyes and blinked in
the glare of the candles.
The pair had evidently been drink
ing heavily, for the alcohol fumes were
sickening and completely pervaded the
dugout. turned away In disgust,
hating to see man cross the Great d.
vide full Of booze.
One Of our officers could speak Ger
man and he questioned the dying man.
In faint voice, interrupted by fire.
quent hiccoughs, the unteroffizier told
his story.
There had been a drinking bout
among the officers in one. of the Ger
man dugouts, the main beverage being
champagne. With drunken leer he
Informed us that champagne was plen-
tiful on their side and that it did not
cost them anything either. About seven
that night the conversation had turned
to the contemplate" English, and the
captain had made wager that he
would hang his cap on the English
harbed wire to show his contempt for
the English sentries. The wager was
accepted. At eight o'clock the captain
and he had crept out into No Mans
Land to carry out this wager.
They had gotten about halfway
across when the drink took effect and
the captain fell asleep. After about
two hours Of vain attempts the unter-
oflzier had at last succeeded in wax
! Ing the captain, reminded him Of his
~bet, and warned him that he would be
the laughing stock of the officers mess
IL he did not accomplish his object, but
the captain was trembling all over and
insisted on returning to the German
lines. In the darkness they lost their
! bearings and crawled toward the Eng