The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1918-10-18
WONDERFUL STUNTS
BY CAhAFL0UGE MEN
Tall Tree Turns Out to Be a Steel
Observation Tower for the
Use of Spies.

Behind American Lines in France,
Oct. 12.-(Correspondence Of the AS
sociated Press.)-Nothing is real in
the great American camouflage sta
ton here. All is deception.
Huge willow trees like those in
Flanders with trunks two feet in d.
ameter and a mass of %sprouting BRAN
ches at the top are steel tubs design
ed to hide the observer. Even on close
inspection they looked like real trees
to the Associated Press correspond
ent who visited the station and, with
the commandant, explored their mys-
FERROUS underground recesses.
They were of plaster cloth wound
about the central steel tube and with
pieces of real bark fitted around the
trunk. A small gauze o%rifice, paint
ed to match the bark, was not noticed
until pointed out by the officer. This
was for the observer standing within
the steel core of the ire.
Ten feet away the turf opened, dis
closing a passage with steps leading
to a tunnel and thence to the base of
the tree. With a light we CROPPED
through the tunnel and up into the
tree. 1t was a tight fit in this tree
trunk, but from the gauze orifice one
had a sweep of the whole nearby coun-
try.
A Fake Boulder.
A huge boulder, such as one sees
along country roads, was noticed
among the trees. The big stone, five
feet high and seven across, looked
very real, and yet this, too, was cam
ouflage-a make-believe boulder in
which an observer and maxine gun
could lurk.
Examining the stone, it felt rather
like a big cardboard box, and gave
slightly to the pressure of the hand.
The frame was wood, the covering
lap, painted a gray-brown, with patch
es of moss. And buried amid the moss
the canvas flap raised to let through
the nozzle of the machine gun.
"You have your own telegraph sys-
tenn" was remarked on observing the
line of telegraph poles stretching
across the plain.
The commandment smiled. "Those
are periscope telegraph poles," he ex-
planned.
The Poles were veritable telegraph
poles, with wires strung from the tops,
just as they are seen along country
roads. But each pole was hollow, to
permit a periscope to be raised to a
high observing point, while a covered
pit at the base of the pole accommo-
dated the observer taking the reading
of the periscope.
Beside the periscope poles, there
were periscope tres, with hollow
stumps from which the observers in
strument was manipulated and the
readings made in pits below the roots.
A Wall.
A camouflage stone wall was an
other curious device standing among
the %camouflage trees and poles. This
wall, looking like the ruin of an old
mill, was of light plaster construction
painted and weather-worn to resemble
a real mill.
"A wrecked house often serves US
as very good camouflage," said the
commander. "We had one with the
windows all gone so the enemy could
look straight through to the walls in
side. By painting false canvas walls
just back of the windows, the enemy
still thought he was looking at the
real walls opposite. But back of the
canvas our observers and snipers
were at work and the device was very
effective"
A pile of gravel stood near the
wall-or what appeared to be a nile
OF gravel, for this, too, was ca:nou.
flage. The pebbles were heapeG
around a hollow frame with its gauze
opening for the observers and the FLAIR