davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-11-30
DINNER FOR SOLDIER

Private Uoring T. Brown who was
home from Camp Lee on a furlough
was the guest of honor at Thanks
giving dinner rendered by Mrs. L. /
Martin, of North Queen street.
Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-11-30
RAILRoADDER HURT

Albert Fentiman, Of Cumberland,
d Baltimore and Ohio railroad en-
ploye, was brought to the Kings
Daughters Hospital, slightly injur-
ed.
Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-11-30
WRONG UNDERTAKEN.

In the account of the death of Mr..
Theo. F. Imbach yesterday, it was
stated that Funeral Director Kogel-
schatz had charge. This was an err
ror. Funeral Director Cole was the
one.
Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-11-30
REGGIE WRITES BACK

Delegate-elect Roy Grove has re-
ceived an interebting letter from
Reggie Rawlings, the former ltase
ball player, now in service in
France.
Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-11-30
OUT OF HOSPITAL

Mrs. J. NJ Willingham, of 80
East Burke street, has received a
card from her brother, Private Da-
vid Sheetz, in France, stating that he
is now out of the hospital and get
ting along nicely.
Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-11-30
FINE BABY BOY.

It's no wonder MIR. Austin M. Comp
ton, of Rosemont, is wearing a broad
smile and stepping high. 1t is a fine
baby boy.
Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-11-30
THANKSGIVING SERMON.

Rev. R. l.. Wright will preach a
Thanksgiving sermon at First lMetho-
dist Episcopal Church Sunday morn
ing at Ii o'clock to Washington Camp
No. IL, P.lO. IS. of A.
Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-11-30

Mr.. E. NJ. Luttrell has moved
from Hedgesville, Route 8, to Mar
route l, and will reside
near Nollville. s4. Iat 10
Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-11-30

Mrs. Charles &. McFillin, Of Bun
ker Hill, was in town today for the
first time since last April.
Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-06-14
CHAPTER Xxx.
"Chats With Fritz"

We were swimming in money, from
the receipts of our theatrical venture,
and had forgotten all about the war,
when an order came through that our
brigade would again take over their
sector of the line.
The day that these orders were is.
sued, our captain assembled the com
pnny and asked for volunteers to go to
the Machine Gun school mt st. Omar.
| volunteered and was accepted.
Sixteen men from our brigade left
for the course In machine gunnery.
This course lasted two weeks and we
reioined our unit and were assigned to
the brigade machine gun company. Ii
almost broke my heart to leave my
company mates.
The gun we used was the yickers,
Light 1903, water cooled.
! was still n member of the Suicide
club. having jumped from the frying
pan into the fire. ! was assigned to,
section / gun No. ., and the first time
ain" took position In the front-llne'
trench.
During the day our gun would be
dlsmounted on the fire step ready for
instant use. We shared dugout with
the Lewis gunners. At "stand to" we
would mount our gun on the parnpet
and go on watch beside II until stand
down" I'm the morning Then the gun
would be dismOunted and again placed
In readiness on the fire step.
We did eight days in the front-line
trench without anything unusual hap
pening outside of III" ordinary trench
routine. ON the night that we were to
"carry out" bombing raid against the
German lines was pulled off. This raid
ing party consisted of sixty company
men, sixteen bombers, and four Lewis
machine guns with their crews.
The raid took the Boches by surprise
and was complete success, the party
bringing back twenty-one prisoners.
The Germans must have been awful
ly sore, because they turned loose II
barrage of shrapnei, with n few Min
MES" and "whizz bangs" intermixed.
The shells were dropping into our front
line like hailstOnes.
TO get even, we could have left the
| prisoners In the fire trench, In charge
of the men on guard and let them click
Fritz's strafeng but Tommy does not
treat prisoners that way.
Five of them were brought into my
dugout and turned over to me 50 that
they would be safe from the German
fire.
In the candlellght, they looked very
much shaken, nerves gone and chalky
faces, with the exception Of one, u
great big fellow. He looked very much
ut ease. l liked him from the start.
ITO be continued)
Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-06-14

was how were the men to reach these
boxes but to key this was n mere de-
tail.
He got long ropes and tied one end
around each rafter and then tied lot
of knots in the ropes. These ropes
would take the place of stairways.
We figured out that the rafters
would seat about forty men and sold
that number of tickets accordingly.
When the ticketholders for the boxes
got Il glimpse of the rafters and were
informed that they had to use the rope
stairway, there was howl of indigna-
ton. but we had their money and told
them that if they did not like 1t they
could write to the management later
and their money would be refunded;
but under these conditions they would
not be allowed to witness the perform
ance that night.
After little grousing they accepted
the situation with the promise that If
the show was rotten they certainly
would let us know about 1t during the
performance.
Everything went lovely and 1t was
bowling success. until Alkali Ike ap-
reared on the scene with his revolver
loaded with blank cartridges. Behind
the bar on shelf was II long line of
bottles. Alkai Ike was supposed to
start on the left of this line and break
six of the bottles by firing at them with
his revolver Behind these bottles a
piece of painted canvas was supposed
TO represent the back Of the bar, at
each shot from Alkali's pistol man
behind the scenes would hit one of the
bottles with his entrenching tool
handle and smash 1t, to give the i'm
preston that Alkai was a good shot.
Alkali Ike started In and aimed at
the right of the line of bottles instead
of the left, and the poor boob behind
the scenes started breaking the bottles
on the left, and then the boxhcldcrs
turned loose; but outside of this little
fiasco the performance was huge sue
cess, and we decided TO run Ii for a
week
New troops We're constantly coming
through, and for six performances we
had the rs. II. o." sign suspended out
side.
Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-06-14

or "prile." The limit is generally a
penny, So 1t is hard to win fortune.
The next in popularity is card
game called "Nap." II is well named.
Every time played II | went to sleep.
Whist and solo whist are played by
the hghbrows of the company.
When the gamblers tire of all other
games they try Banker aud Broker"
B spent n week trying TO teach some
of the Tommles how to play poker but
because | won thirty-five francs they
declared that they didn't "fawncy" the
game.
Tommy plays few card games; the
general run never heard of poker, eu-
chre, seven up, or pinochle. They have
n game similar to pinochle called
'Royal Bezique," but few know how to
play II.
Generally there are two decks of
cards In n section, and in II short time
they are so dog-eared and greasy, you
can hardly tell the ace of spades from
the ace of hearts. The owners of these
decks sometimes condescend to lend
them after much coaxing.
So you see, MIR. Atkins has his fun
mixed in with his haTdships and, con
trury to popular belief, the rank and
file of the British army In the trenches
Is one big happy family. Now In Vir-
GINA, Mt school, was fed on old Nc
Guffy's primary reader, which gave me
an opinion of nm Englishmun about
equal to &c Minute Mans backed up
| by Sim Feiners. But found Tom
my to be the best of mates and gem
tleman through and through. He never
thinks of knocking his officers. If one
makes costly mistake and Tommy
pays with his blood, there is no gen
eral condemnation of the officer. He
is just pitied. 1t is exactly the same
as IT was with the Light Brigade al
Balaclava, to say nothing of Gallipoli
Neuve Chapelle and Loos. PERSONAL.
I remember little incident wher,
Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-06-14

large stakes. Generally, in eacn COM
This man banks nearly all the games
of chance and is an undisputed author
ity on the rules of gambling. When
ever there is an argument among the
Tommies about some uncertain point
as to whether Houghton Is entitled TO
Watkins slxpcnce, the matter is taken
to the recognized authority and his de-
cision is final.
The two most popular games are
Grown and Anchor" and blouse"
The paraphernalia used In Grown
and Anchor" consists of a piece of can
vas two feet by three feet. This is
divided into six equal squares. In these
squares are painted club, diamond.
heart, spade, crown, and an anchor,
one device to a square. There are
three dice used, each dice marked the
same as the canvas. The banker sets
up his gambling outfit In the corner of
billet and starts bally-hooing until II
crowd of Tommies gathers around !;
then the game starts.
The Tommies place bets on the
squares the crown or anchor being
played the most. The banker then
rolls his three dice and collects or pays
out as the case may he. IT you play
the crown and one shows up on the
dice, you get even money, If two show
up, you receive two to one, and If three,
three to one. If the crown does not mp
pear and you have bet on Ii, you lose
and so on. The percentage for the
banker is large If every square Is
played, but IL the crowd Is partial to
say two squares. he has to trust tC
luck. The banker generally wins.
The game of blouse" is very popular
also. Ii takes two men to run IL. This
game consists of numerous squares OF
cardboard containing three rows o.
numbers, five numbers to a row. TIL,
numbers run from one to ninety. Eacl
card has different combination.
The French "estaminets" in the vii
lagos are open from eleven in the morn
ing until one I'm the afternoon in &C
cordance with army orders.
After dinner the Tommies congre
gate ut these places to drink Frenc
beer at II penny glass and pla
House"
AS soon as the estaminet Is sufi
GENTLY crowded the proprietors of tn
House" game get busy and, us the
term II, form school" This consist
of going around and selling cards Il
frame each. If they have ten in tn
Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-06-14

the morning, ne sticks mis- rife 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 minute. He
is not aiming at anything In particular
just sends over each shot with n
prayer. hoping that one Of his strays
will get some poor unsuspeciing Fritz
In the napper hundreds Of yards be-
hind the lines. II generally does; that's
the reason the Boches hate the man
from Ern's isle.
The Saxons. though better than the
Prussians and Bavarinns have nasty
trait OF treachery in their mnkeup.
At one point of the line where the
trenches ere very close II stake was
driven into the ground midway be-
tween the hostile lines. At night when
1t was his turn, Tommy would crawl
| to this stake and attach some London
papers to II, while Mt the foot he would
| place tins of bully beet. flags, sweets,
| and other delicacies that he had re-
celved from Blighty in the ever looked
for parcel. Later on Fritz would come
out and get these luxuries.
The next night Tommy would go out
to see what Fritz put into his stocking.
The donation generally consisted of a
paper from Berlin, telling who was
winning the war, some timed sausages,
cigars, and occasionally little beer.
but funny thing, Tommy never re-
turned with the beer unless 1t was In
side of him. His platoon got Whit of
his breath one night and the offending
Tommy lost his job.
One night young English sergeant
crawled to the stake and as he tried to
detach the German paper bomb ex-
ploded and mangled him horribly. Fritz
had set trap and gained another vic
tim which was only one more black
mark against him in the book of this
war. From that time on diplomatic re-
lations were severed.
Returning TO Tommy, / think bis
spirit Is best shown in the questions he
asks. II is never "who is going tn win
but always show long will 1t takef"
Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-06-14
Preparing the "chow."

school, the hackers OF the game ue-
duct two francs for their trouble and
the winner gets eight francs.
Then the game starts. Each buyer
places his card before him on the tn
Bile, first breaking up matches into iif-
teen pieces.
One of the backers of the game has
small cloth bag in which are ninety
cardboard squares, each with n num-
Der printed thereon, from one to nine
ty. He raps on the table and cries
out: Eyes down, my lucky lads"
All noise ceases and every one is at
tention.
The croupier places his hand in the
bag and draws forth numbered
square and Immediately calls out the
number. The man who owns the card
with that particular number ON IL,
covers the square with n match. The
one who covers the fifteen numbers on
his card first shouts House" The
other hacker Immediately comes over
TO him and verifieS the card by calling
out the numbers thereon To the man
with the bag. AS each number is
called he picks il out of the ones
picked from the bag and says, Right"
If the count is right he shouts, House
correct, pay the lucky gentleman, and
sell him a card for the next school"
The lucky gentleman" generally buys
one unless he has miser trace in
his veins.
Then another collection is made, Il
school formed, and they carry on with
the game.
The caller-out has maay nicknames
for the numbers such as "Kellys Eye"
for one. Legs Eleven" for eleven,
"Cllckety-click" for siXty-siX, or top
of the house" meaning ninety.
The game is honest aud quite en-
joyable. Sometimes you have fourteen
numbers on your card covered and
you are waiting for the fifteenth to be
called. In an imploring voice you call
out, Come on, Watkins, chum, I'm
sweating on 'kelly's Eye"
Watkins generally replies, "Well,
keep out of draft, you'll catch cold"
Another game is "Pontoon," played
with cards; it is the same as our
"Black Jack" or "Twenty-one."
A card game called Drag" Is also
popular. Using II casino deck, the
dealer deals each player three cards.
1t is similar to our poker, except for
the fact that you only use three cards
and cannot draw. Fhe deck is never
shuflled until man shows three of Il
kind or "prie" as it Is called, The
value of the hands are, high card, Il
! pair, run. flush or three II a kind
Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-06-14

which perhaps is sinking into the mud
the bolt couldn't be opened with II
team of horses II is so rusty-but he
splits on his sleeve and slowly polishes
his bayonet; when this is done he also
Is ready to argue with Fritz.
IL is not necessary to mention the
colonals (the Canadians, Australians
and New Iealanders), the whole world
knows what they have done for Eng
land.
The AustralaG and New Zenlander
is termed the Amaze" taking the
name from the first letters of their Of
fetal designation, Australian ana New
Zealand army corps.
Tommy divides the German army
into three classes according to their
fighting abilities. They rank as fol-
lows: Prussians, Bavarlans and Sax
onS.
When up against Prussian regi-
ment ii is II case of keep your napper
below the pnrupct ana duck. A bang
bang all the time ana Il war Is on. The
Bavarians are little better, but the
.SaXOns are fairly good sports and are
willing occasionally to behave as gen
tlemcn ana take it easy, but you can
not trust any Of them overlOng.
At one point of the line the trenches
were about thirty-two yards apart
This sounds horrible, but in fact it was
easy, because neither side could shell
the enemys front-linc trench for fear
shells would drop into their own. This
eliminated artillery fire.
In these trenches when up against
the Prussuns and Bnvarians, Tommy
had hot time of It, but when the Sax
ons took over ii was Il picnic; they
| would yell across that they were Sac
| ons and would not fire. Both sides
/ would sit ON the parapet and carry on
conversation. This generally consist
/ ed of Tommy telling them how muCl
he loved the kaiser, while the SaXon'
informed Tommy that King George
was particular friend of theirs ant
hoped that he was doing nicely.
When the SaXons were to be relieved
by PrussianS or Buvarians, they would
! yell this information across No Man
Land and Tommy would immediatel.
tumble into his trench and keep hi
head down.
If an English regiment was to be r.
lleved by the wild Irish, Tommy w0ul'
tell the SaXons, and Immediately vol
ley of Bonner und Blitzens' coul'
be heard and it was Frltz's turn To &c
II crlck In his back from STOPPING, ant
the people in Berlin would close thei
windows.
Usually when an freshman takes owe
Il. trench lust before "stand down" Il
Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-06-14

twenty OF us were sent on trench
raid, only two of us returning, but |
will tell this story later on.
said ii was big happy family, and
so ii is, but ms in all happy families.
there are servants, SO In the British
army there are also servants, officers
servants, or 80. $. ms they are termed.
In the American army the common
name for them is dog robbers" From
controversy in the English papers,
Winston Churchill made the state
.ment, ms far as | can remember, that
the officers servants in the British
forces totaled nearly two hundred
thousand. He claimed that this re-
moved two hundred thousand excep-
tionally good and well-trained fighters
from the actual firing line, claiming
that the officers. when selecting II man
for servants duty, generally picked the
man who had been out the longest and
knew the ropes.
But from my observation | find that
II large percentage of the servants do
go over the top, but behind the lines
they very seldom engage In digging
parties. fatigueS, paradeS or drills.
This work is ms necessary as actually
engaging in an attack, therefore ! think
II would be safe 10 say that the all
round work of the two hundred thou
sand is about equal 10 fifty thousand
men who are on straight military du-
ties. In numerous Instances, officers
servants hold the rank of lance-corpO-
rails and they assume the same duties
ana authority of n butler, the one
stripe giving him precedence over the
other servants.
There are lots of amusing stories
told of go. s.
One day one of our majors went into
the servants billet ana commenced
binding al them, saying that his
horse had no straw ana that he per-
Sonally knew that straw had been is
sued for this purpose. lie called the
lan"e-corpOral 10 account, The cor
poral answered, "Bline me, sir, the
straw WAS issued, but there wasn't
enough left over from me servants
bedS; Ia Fact, We had TO use some of
the 'ay 10 Ell out, SIR
II is needless 80 say that the serv'
ants dispensed with their soft beds
thai particular hight.
Nevertheless II is not the fault of
the individual officer, II is Just the sur
Niyal of il quaint old English custom.
fou know IN EngiSmaun cannot be
changed in day
But the average English officer Is "a
good sport He will sit og II fire step
gud listen respectfully 90 Pr,Ydte
'"r"S t.eotY of the way The VIII
Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-06-14

should he conducted. TINS war Is
gradually crumbling the once insur-
mountable wall of caste.
You would be convinced of this IL
you could see King George go among
his men on an inspecting tour under
fire. or pause before little wooden
cross in sorre shell-tossed field with
tears In his eyes us he reads the In
scrlption. And Il little later perhaps
bend over wounded man on stretch
or, pattlng him ON the head.
More than once In II hospital have
seen titled Red Cross nurse fetching
and carrying for" wounded soldier.
perhaps the one who in civil life de-
livered the coal at her back door. To-
day she does not shrink from lighting
his fag or even washing his grimy
body.
Tommy admires Albert of Belgium be
cause he Is not pusher OF men; he
leads them. With him it's not case
of "take that trench" II Is come or
and we will take It,"
1t Is amusing to notice the diferen
CHARACTERISTICS of the Irish, Scotch an'
English soldiers. The Irish and Scotcl
are very impetuous. especially when
comes to bayonet fighting, while IN
Englishman, though n trifle slower
thoroughly does his bit; he is more
methodical and has the grip of bull
dog on captured position. He II
slower TO think; that Is the reason VIII!
( he never knows when he Is licked.
Twenty minutes before going owe
the top the English Tommy will SIT oi
the fire step and thoroughly examine
the mechanism of his rifle to see that /
is In working order and will fire prop
erly. After this examination he H. sat
isficd and ready to meet the B0ches.
But the lrishman or Scotchman sit
on the fire step, his rifle with bayone
fixed between his knees, the butt o
Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-06-14
OVID TIT: TOP
81
AN ANlERNAN SOLDIER
WHO WENT q 3
ARI11Up GUY T;npEY
MACHINE GUNNER SERVING lN FRANcE
| @IS7 rY |
lAR1huR GUY fnHyl

went over to the DuIlCnng ne nau plcheu
out. II was monstrous barn with a
platform at one end which would make
an ideal stage. The section got right
on the job, and before night had that
place rugged out in apple-pie order.
The next day was Sunday and after
church parade we put all our time on
a dress rehearsal, and 1t went fine.
made four or five large signs an
nouncing that our company would open
up that evening Mt the King George the
Fifth theater, on the corner of Ammo
street and Sandbag terrace. General
admission was one-half franc. First
ten rows in orchestra one franc, and
boxes two francs. BY this time our
printed programs had returned from
London, and further announced that
or the night of the first performance
program would be given free of
charge to men holding tickets costing II
franc or over.
We had an orchestra of seven men
and seven different instruments. This
orchestra was excellent, while they
were not playing.
The performance was scheduled to
start at 6 p. m.
At 5 :15 there was mob in front of
our one entrance and 1t looked like q
big night. We had two boxes each ac'
commodating four people, and these
we Immediately sold out. Then Il
brilliant idea came to key Cohenstein
Why not use the rafrers overhead, cal
them boxes, and charge two francs fol
seat on them? The only difficult.
Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-06-14
The
Advertised
Article

is one in which the mer-
chant himself has implicit
faith-elSe he will not adj
vertise it. You are safe in
patronizing the mer-
chants whose ads appear
in this paper because their
goods are up to date and
not shop worn. F.: +: ::
Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-06-14
CHAPTER XIX.
On His Own,

or course Tommy cannot always be
producing plays under fire but while
in rest blllets he has numerous other
ways of amusing himself. He is q
great gambler. but never plays for