The sun., 1918-09-17
HAIL PERSHING
ASADELIVERER
French Throughout Reclaimed
District Eager to Show
Their Gratitude.
REFUGEES STREAM OUT
In Four Years of Scrvitudc to
the Enemy They Were
Fed on Lies.
STREAM OUT
BY RAYMOND G. CARROLL.

BY RAYMOND G. CARROLL.
Special Cable Despatch to TuE srS and the
Public Ledger.
ropvyioht. 1915: all rights reserred.
WITH rHe AMERICAN FIRST ARMY IN
France. Sept. ia day spent In the
st. Mihiel salient Immediately after its
occupation. by Franco-Amerlcan troops
under Gen. Pershing now hailed by the
French throughout Lorraine rs the de-
liverer OF st. Mih!el.' recealed many In
terestlng Incidents. It was his stan
which planned and carried out the entire
operation.
Bold and rapid manpuvres by our
forces. which include French and Ameri-
can cavalry detachments. practically
have emptied the thick woods. deep dug
outs and other enemy hideouts OF their
keep. filling our prison cages to over
flowing Amazing sights replete with
pathos and grim humor were unfolded
In the district held by the Germans four
years and now lost to them forever
l crossed the French and German
trench systems half mile beyond the
town of Flirey. 1t is drab, desoiate
area, where men had lived for days that
seemed weeks and months that counted
as years like prairie dogs In ribooniiKe
ditches made by the first diggings or
skirmishers, ramifed by barbed wire
concrete caves and tunnels for purposes
of communication and defence.
Enemy Dead Soon buried.
The trenches have been worn thread
bare Of interest by countless descriptions.
but these muddy. blood stained. zigzag
open cuts stretching over the rolling
landscape held attention. Over them the
American infantry had swept as our
boys went to their first great victory on
European soil.
Groups Of our burial detachments with
orange and red tags of cloth pinned upon
! their shoulders for identification were
dragging forth the inanlmate forms or
Germans and sadly slowing them away
for eternity, sowing the surface with
mute memorials of another nations mis-
led efforts,
other groups OF Dixie negroes from
the labor regiments and of white men
from pioneer and engineer regiments
were filling in with stone and earth huge
shell holes in the roadway and rapidly
throwing bridges over the places where
n series of trenches had stretched across
| the highways.
Two long lines OF conveys choked the
roads, ammunition and supplies were
going forward and empty trucks were
returning, while along the green carpet
of grass on either side trudged dough-
boys two abreast some singing, others
chatting, details going into the forward
| positions to relieve their tired comrades.
altogether an unforgettable picture.
Passage of the Refugees.
Near Essey Mazerais ! saw an al
together different picture Of She war
the pathetic passage southwark of about
200 refugees.
I'VE came from the villages of Bou-
! lonville, Lemarche and Nonsard." said
a venerable priest who headed the col
umn. There poor people have been pris-
oners almost since the war began. They
are hungry for a sight of the relatives
/ from whom they have been cut or"
His black clerical coat was worn
shiny and his wide brimmed hat was
battered. yet he Carried himself with
dignity. He was wearing a pair of Ger
man boots that he had picked from a
pile of refuse behind the enemy bar
racks. An aged woman was driving a
tiny donkey hauling cart containing
bed clothes. alongside Of which trotted
a cute donkey colt. SO small that the
American soldiers crowded around to
look at II.
Can l get to Paris2" asked the old
woman. "The Germans told me tina,
the city had been destroyed. have