Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1918-08-15
CHAPTER iii-continued.

-
AS we were marching we suddenly
received an order to surround certain
house at the left of us. Our captain
declared that a shot fired from that
house had killed a soldier. None OF
us had heard anything, however. The
house from which the shot was alleged
to have been fred was soon surround
ed and hand grenades thrown into 1t
through the windows. In a minute ali
the rooms were afiame. The air pres
cure from the exploding grenades was
so great that doors in the house flew
from their hinges and the walls of sew
eral rooms were crushed.
Almost at the same time five civil
fans ran into the streets with raised
hands. They were seized at once and
led before the officers, who constituted
themselves Immediately into court
martial. Ten minutes later sentence
had been executed, and five men lay
on the ground with eyes bandaged,
riddled with bullets.
In each case six of our men were
always called upon to execute one
mans sentence. I am sorry to say
that I was one of the thirty called
upon at this occasion. The condemned
man who 1T was our duty to shoot was
about forty years old. tall and straight
He never blinked as the bandage was
put ON. He was led to the garden OF
the house near by and his back placed
to the house. After our captain said
to us that it was our duty to aim true
and end the tragedy quickly. we took
our positions six PAGES in front of the
condemned man. The sergeant COM
,cfv-
ttons that we were to shoot the con-
denned men through the breast.
Now we formed into two rows, one
behind the other. The order sounded
to load and aim and we each put five
cartridges into our rifles. Prepare to
fire"-the men In the first row knelt
down and the second row took their
places. Our guns were now held so
that the barrels were forward and
the butts were hip high "Aim''-and
slowly we aimed, holding our guns
tightly with the butts against our
shoulders and our fingers on the trig-
gers.
The sergeant paused a half minute
and then ordered US to fire. / do not
know to this day whether our victim
died at once. nor was there ever an
opportunity to learn how many of the
six bullets found their mark. All day
L went around like a man In a trance,
reproaching myself bitterly for having
acted the part of executioner. For a
long time I could not bear to speak
about 1t to my comrades. for / felt
guilty. and yet what could we soldiers
do other than execute the orders given
nus?
In the evening we went into camp
i'm an open field. pitching tents. and the
next day continued our march.
The country through which we
passed was embarrassing and offered
nothing In the way Of variety. The
few tiny villages through which we
passed had all been abandoned. and
the poor-looking houses mostly de-
stroyed. Long trains of fugitives
passed us continually. These people
were as a rule those who had escaped
when the French army retreated and
were returning now to find their
homes destroyed by the rough hand of
war.
After a long march. interrupted only
by halts aud short bivouacS. we APP
preached the large Belgian-French bor-
der town Of Sngny. located ON the Bel
gian side OF the border. 1t was about
noon. and a. the thunder of cannon
constantly grew stronger. which indi-
Gated that new battle was develop
ing. we hoped to be able to remain In
the town overnight About one o'clock
we entered and were billeted in q big
barn Most of the soldiers refused to
eat from the field Kitchens. and requi-
sitioned eggs. chickens, geese and
young pigs. Soon everybody was
cooking I aan sorry to say that most
Of those who foraged had refused to
pay for what they had taken
Several soldiers now arrived with
barrels Of wine and also many bottles.
which We're Instantly opened and emp
tied The obvious resulted, and soon
many noncommissioned officers and
men were helplessly drunk. The owner
OF our barn had possessed three large
hogs One of the drunken noncom-
missioned officers tried to kill one OF
these hogs with duh pocket knife
He had tortured the poor beast almost
- deHfh when the animal was merci-
rully killed ~ = bullet A few min
ute~ nfrerward the offlcer went to
sieet This was only a example md