The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1918-07-11
NATIONAL ARMY Men eager TO GET
into FRONT line TO STOP BOCHE
"They1l Make the Finest Soldiers l World" Says Genera oN'
seas-Sodiers Determined to Fight to Fintsh-SnperS lake
Daring Chances in spot Huntng'-NegroI troops
Furnish Much of HumOr in War Zone.

couv be called murder. The snipers
don't call it that. They call 1t pot
hunting. l have talked with seVeral
and have been on the line with a Ie"'
They wouldn't any more shoot Il song
bird or a magpie than they would XII
one of their own officers, but shooting
Fritz across the line-that's another
story. II is dangerous business, too.
Many a sniper is sniped himself. Some
Of them %camouflage themselves ana
stand for hours in range of a
rifles. There is "a young American OIL
fcer from Massachusetts who is assign
ed to technical work, who spends a day
and a night each week on the line
sniping the enemy. He does 1t be
cause he likes it. He is an expert rifle
shot and he enjoys the hazards of his
work and gets satisfaction from killing
Huns.
The two best known Hun snipers are
Black Fritz and Crazy Fritz. Black
Fritz is dead. Crazy Fritz was wound
ed. but whether he is dead is not
known. Black Fritz harassed the
American sector for weeks. He was a
good shot and put bullets now n then
through a soldiers armor hat. But one
day he was spotted behind a log and
a bullet struck him between the eyes.
"He was a handsome chap" said a
sniper, land had beautiful hair, blonde
as a girls and combed back like a col
lege boys"
If he had blonde hair why did you
call him Black Fritz?'
Because he hung so much crepe on
our doors"
There is another Hun known as
Foolish Fritz, and a rather pretty story
may be told about him. He is not a
sniper. The men in the trenches can
not tell Just what he is. Perhaps, they
have figured, he corresponds to an
American football or baseball mascot.
He is a mere youth and he takes dan
gerous chances. He might have been
shot a hundred times, but the Ameri-
can snipers haven't the heart to Kill
him.
zone day." said a sniper who has
watched him play around like a kitten,
she crawled up over the top of the
trench and went over to a log and lay
on it. He was there for an hour sun
ming himself. Il had a bead ON him all
the time, but what's the use?-a mere
kid. Another time a new sniper here
saw him and was just about to pick
him when | said Nothing doing We
can't exactly understand what it
means. About two weeks ago | thought
I'd give the youngster a scare, so | put
a bullet in a very small tree about a
foot from him. He scampered out of
sight like a frightened puppy. l often
wonder if he or anyone else kn0ws
that he is living in the shadow of
death. Maybe the Germans figure they
learn something from it. However,
you'll never catch me killing that kid"
Negroes Furnish Much Humor.
Humor CLEANS frequently through
the grimness of wal and much of it
comes from the negro soldiers from
the United States. A particularly dark
skinned private was ~Overhauled re-
Gently by a military policeman. 1t was
on a country road and the soldier was
ambling along with his military outfit
as well as about $50 pounds of SOU
venirs of France.
"Where are you fromY asked the po-
liceman.
me, sab? Use from Alabama"
whereabouts in Alabama?"
Don't know, sab, exactly, but Use
from Alabama"
"Where you going TOT"
swell / don't 'xactly know, sah."
"Where you coming from?"
''The last place l member, sab, s
B~arleybuck. Seems to me the train /
was on went while rs buying a few
things to take back when l 60"
do you know where you are?'
"Can't 'xactly say 1 do, sab Cooking
around with the feigned erudition OF
an astronomer, but l reckon Use some
where in France"
The negroes amuse the French PEG
pie. The big black boys swing along
the country roads singing or smiling.
They frequently organize a quartet iD
a cannon and if the work in which they
are engaged isn't vitality important stop
beside a road to put over" a few di-
minished seventies, better known as
barber shops. And they know how to
do it. They are happy-go-lucky wher-