Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-09-17
PENNA. OFFICER
TELLS HOW ARMY
MAN GOT 9 HUNS
Sent to Install Phone in an
Evacuated" City, He
Was Attacked

During the rout of the Germans on
the Marne, a Yankee signal battalion
under Lieutenant John A. Hart, of
Mayfield, Pa, was advancing with
the infantry close on the heels of the
Huns.
Lieutenant Hart detailed two OF
his boys 10 enter a town which ne
supposed had been evacuated by the
Germans, to install a telephone. One
of the boys was knocked out, the
lieutenant writes, on the way to the
town.
but the other fellow beat the in
fantry into the town." the Heuten-
ants letter continues, "and found
nine Huns in the place he was TO put
the phone. They made no enort TO
stop him at first, but finally one Dig
fellow interfered and then the fun
began.
This boy was a Polander, and four
of the Huns were Poles and they
helped him out, the result being that
he came back with the nine of them'
two German telephones and a ma
chine gun"
Lieutenant Hart was in the first
rush of Marshal Foch's counter
offensive north of scissors. He wit
messed a charge by French cavalry.
French Think YankS "Dippy"
when a French cavalryman got
knocked out of his saddle, he writes.
"it was IL funny thing to see an
American catch the horse and with
yell start ahead. The French think
we are all half crazy, and the Huns
don't know what to think, but they
know enough to put up their hands
and yell 'Kamared!"
A Hun air raid on the headquarters
company Of the 112th infantry is de-
scribed by Private Harold b. Seld-
ers, of Pottsville.
TT was around 1880 o'clock, and
we were just getting under tne
blankets, when we heard the droning
sound of a Hun plane he writes,
1T was no use running, as IL was
moonlight, and they might have
picked US off with their machine
guns.
I'VE went outside the tents, so we
could see the whole show. One oomo
came down on top hill just across
the valley. and a big sheet or name
shot up, followed by a loud explo,
sion. Then there was another' anu
Fritz came over to us, dropping
bomb just as he came. Just as lie
was above Us he left five OF them
drop, one following another.
thought our whole company was
done for, but luckily for us he did
not land any among us, but threw
them all on top of the hill.
THE shock of the explosions near
" knocked us down, and the wnole
valley was covered with a cloud OF
dust, and we could hear the shrapLiel
whining overhead.
Skill and daring of artillerymen OF
the Iron Division contributed 10 Ihe
speed of rhe American advance from
the Marne TO the Nesle, according 60
Lieutenant Elisha Kent Kane, OF
Kane, an artillery officer, VINO mas
returned 20 train recruits.
Lieutenant Kane said there were
enough airplanes to support the ar
tillery in the Marine lighting.
There were enough machines TOT
observation and reporting ranges
he SAYS, so that the work OF the ar
tillery was entirely effective at all
times"
L. S. Artillery Big Factor
Describing the part played by the
artillery il the American advance
lieutenant Kane, who was Win
battery of 1858, said:
THE American artillery helped get
and keep the Huns on the run. ana
in speed and accuracy has made an
envfable record. We gave the Ger
mans three shells for every one that
went over, and if their fire was warm
ours was hot
THE 1855 worth is firing on en-
placed positions. They are OF howit-
ger type, and surely can alter lanG-
scape. It Is just like spraying with
a hose, the fire is so accurate and
deadly. Machine gun emplacements
do not last long under fire.
I'm our advance we observed many
wrecks of machine gun nests that
were wiped out by our guns. All
American a.rillerymen ask is tie
range, and they will do the rest
That the soldiers from Western
Pennsylvania have been taking their
part in the fighting in Europe is be-
ing proved day after day, not only
by the letters received by friends and
relatives, but by their names in the
lists of casualties sent out. Some of
the letters tell of wounds and hard
ships, while others recount expert
ences of camp and field life.
With n machine gun bullet em-
bedded in the muscles of his heart,
another through his left lung and
still third in his kidneys, Frederick
Trescher. sen of the late sheriff John
H. Trescher. for twenty-oight years
editor of the Jeanette Dispatch,
writes from a French hospital to his
mother, Mrs. Maude B. Trescher. of
Second street. Jeanette. that he still
lives to tell history. He says, how
ever. that he will carry two of the
bullets through life as souvenirs.
TreScher was wounded on the
morning of July % during the second
battle of the Marne. He writes that
he can remember very little about It.
but that during an advance up a
hill, while lying fiat on his stomach
firing an automatic gun, he was hit
He knew nothing more until the next
day when he recovered consciousness
in an ambulance on his way to Paris
He says he Is quite a curiosity in the
hospital because of the bullet in his
heart.
A Fighting Tenth" Man
In September. 1917, when not yet
II years old, Trescher enlisted IN
Company 1 of the Fighting Tenth"
Pennsylvania. He won distinction as
a marksman at Camp Hancock.