Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1918-04-02

trudIns On the Ore step would be .
pile Of fragments Of she'll, shrspnel
balls. blts Of lrun. nnlls. c.--anythins
that was hard enough 10 send over 70
vrlts; he would scoop up . handful Of
this junk and put Il In the bomb. Per-
hsps one Of the platoon would ark him
what BE- did this for. and ne would
explain that whom the bomb exploded
these bits ovouId' ny about and KIN or
wound any German hit By same the
euertioner would Immediately pull q
button on his tunic and hand II 10
the bomb maker with. swell. blame
pc, send this over a. a souvenir" or
smother Tommy would volunteer an
old rusty and broken ]ucLknIfe; both
would be accepted aud inserted.
Then the profenfor would take m.
other handful Of mud nnc filI the tin,
after which he would punch hole In
the ia " the TN and put Il over tho
top of the bomb. the fuse sticking out.
Then perhaps he would tightly wrnp
wire around the outside OF the tin. and
the bomb was ready 10 send over 10
Fritz with Tommys compliments.
A piece Of wood about four inches
Wide had been Issued. This was 10 be
strapped on the left forearm BY means
of two Icnlher straps and wns like the
side of match box; II wns called a
STRIKER There was tIp like the
head Of mitch on the fuse Of the
bomb. To Ignite the fuse. you had 10
rub II on tho .striker." Just the same
m striking . match. The fuse was
timed "a i've seconds or longer. Some
of tho fuses issued In those days would
bnrn down In second or two. while
others would 'slzz' for o week before
exploding. Back In Highly the NUM-.
iIon workers weren't quit. up to snufY.
the wny they nre new. n the fuse took
n notion TO burn too quickly they gen.
ernIly buried the bomb maker next
day. so making bombs could not be
called q "cushy" OF safe Job.
After making several bombs the pro.
fessor Instrucfs the platoon In throw
Ing thchi. lie tnkcs q 'jam Tin" from
the nre step. trembling a little. be-
cause II n nervous work. especially
when new at Il. lights the fuse on his
striker. The fuse begins 10 ''sIsx" and
sputter and spiral of smoke like
hat from smoldclnR fng, hscs from
II. The platoon ,plIts In two and
ducks around the traverse nearest TO
them. They don't like the looks and
sound Of the burning frse. When that
fuse begins 20 smoke and "sIzz'' you
want to say good.b, to Il ns soon ~
possible, no Tomm, with NIL his might
chucks II over the top aud crouches
rruInst she perapei waiting for the
explosion.
Lots Of times 10 bombing the "jnm
tin" would be- picked ~ by the Ger
mnns. before II exploded. and thrown
back at Tommy. with dire results.
After a'lot of1ncn went West In this
manner an oitier wns issued. reading
something like thIs;
ITO all rnnks IN the British army I:
After ignlting the fuse and before
throwing the jam.tin bomb. count
slowly one! twol three I"
This In order 10 give the fuse time
enough to burn down. no that the bomb
would explode before the Germans
rouId throw II back.
Tommy read the order--he reads
them all, but after he IgnIted the fuse
and X began TO smoke--orders were
forgotten. and awny she went 10 record
time and back she camc to the further
discomfort Of the thrower.
Then unother order was issued to
count. zone hundred two hundred
three hundredl" But Tommy didn't
cnre II the order rend to. count up to
thovsand by quarters, he was going
to get rid Of that "jnm tln." because
from experience he had learned not
to trust Il.
When the powers that be realized
That they could not change Tommy
they decided to change the tyne OF
bomb and dld substituting the
''haIr brush" the "cricket ball" and
later the Mills bomb.
The standard bomb used In the Brit
|sh army Ia the mills" II IL about the
uhapc and size Of large lemon. Al.
though not actually a lemon, Fritz In
sIsts that II h.: perhaps he judges II
by the havoc caused BY its explosion.