The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1918-08-01
OVER THE TOP
ARTHUR GUY EMPEY

tile ulOTufuS, he STICKS MS rifle over
the top, aimed In the direction of Ber-
lin, and engages In what is known as
the mad minute" This consists of
firing fifteen shots In a minute. He
is not aiming at anything In particular
just sends over each shot with
German snipers get paid rewards
for killing the English"
eagerly asked, "What are theyT
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 II he kills Red
Cap or English general. the sniper gets
twenty-one days tied to the wheel of
timber as punishment for his careless
ness"
Then he paused, waiting for me to
bite, l suppose.
bit all right and asked him why the
sniper was punished for killing an
English general. With a 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 n prisoner. After while he
winked at me and I winked back, then
the escort came to take the prisoners
to the rear. / shook hands and wished
him 1.-THE best of luck and a safe jour
ney to Bllghty." !
l liked that prisoner, he was fine
fellow, had an Iron Cross, too. ad-
vised him to keep 1t out of sight, or
some Tommy would be sending 1t home
to his girl In Blighty as souvenir.
One dark and rainy night while on
guard we We're looking over the top
from the fire step Of our front-lne
trench, when we heard noise imme-
1lately 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
oagged parapet to investigates brave
out foOlhardy deed-@Crack" went
outlet and he tumbled back into the
french with n hole through his stomach
and died few minutes later. A lance
corporal in the next platoon was so en-
-aged at the captains death that he
,hucked Mills bomb In the direction
Of the noise with the shouted warning
to us: Duck your nappers, my lucky
ads" A sharp dynamite report, flare
n front of us, and then silence
We Immediately sent up two star
shells, and in their light could see two
lark forms lying on the ground close
20 our wire. A sergeant and four
stretcher-bearers went out In front and
soon returned. carrying two limp
bodies. Down in the dugout, In the
1ickering light of three candles, we
saw that they were two German Off
GERS, one n captain and the other an
'unteroftlzier," rank one grade higher
han sergeant general, but below the
grade of lieutenant.
The captains face had been almost
completely torn away by the bombs
explosion. The unteroflizier was alive,
breathing with difficulty. In a few min
ltes he opened his eyes and bllnked in
he glare of the candles.
The pair had evidently been drink
ng heavily, for the alcohol fumes were
sickening and completely peryaded the
1ugout. | turned away in disgust,
mating to see Il man cross the Great Dl-
vide full of booze.
One of our officers could speak Ger
man and he questioned the dying man.
In a faint voice, interrupted by fire.
luent hiccoughs, the unterofiizier told
his story.
There had been drinking bout
among the officers in one of the Ger
man dugouts, the main beverage being
champagne. With q drunken leer he
Informed us that champagne was plen-
tiful on their side and that 1t did not
cost them anything either About seven
that night the conversation had turned
to the contemplate" English. and the
captain had made a wager that he
would hang his cap on the English
barbed 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 inter
offiZier 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
If he did not accomplish his object, but
the captain was trembling all over and
lines. In the darkness they lost their
bearings and crawled toward the Eng
llsh trenches. They, reached the barbed
wire and were suddenly challenged by
our sentry. Being too drunk to realize
that the challenge was In English, the
captain refused to crawl back. Finally
the unteroffizier convinced his superior
that they were In front of the English
wire. Realizing this too late, the cap
tain drew his revolver and with a NUT
tered curse fired blindly toward our
trench. His bullet no doubt killed our
captain.
Then the bomb came over and there
he was, dyng-and good Job too we
thought The captain dead? Well, his
men wouldn't weep at the news.
Without giving us any further infor-
nation the unterofllzier died.