Baxter Springs news., 1918-05-10
R|FLEMAN Tells
HIS EXPERIENCE
Back Home With Shattered
Hand RifIeman Tells Of His
Trench Experience In
Interesting Way
By Guy Carpenter,
staff Correspondent international
News Service

Bishop, crack rifleman Of Company
G Of the Eighteenth Infantry, U. s.
A., has closed his record as sniper.
He has been sent back to this coun-
try and is at the army hospital at
Fort McHenry undergoing treatment
for a shattered left hand, mangled
when the barrel of his rifle burst on
the twenty-fist day Of his service in
the third-line trenches northwest OF
Toul.
mo, it don't look like | would ever
do any shooting of any account
again." he said today. "But I'm glad
I got in the few good shots | could
while the going was good. When |
get this hand fixed up I'll get back
on some job. It's been awkward try
ing to get used to having only one
hand, but I'm getting so l don't have
to have much help"
Bishops story of the long days in
the trenches, of the never-ending
search on the horizon for the bobbing
head of German, or moving object,
of the skill of the Yankee marksmen
and his stole attitude toward the dis
comforts of his life, gives clear pic
ture of the part the, ,boys from home
are playing in the struggle to smash
the Kaiser's cohorts.
Bishop is a six footer, with dark
brown yes which bring back to the
mind the eyes of the native Amen-
cans famous for their length of Wis
ion. He is tanned to a deep brown
and even though he may never again
be able to use his left hand, he still
would prove no unworthy foe to any
German soldier.
This is Bishops story of how he
went to the trenches and what he did
in the sniper's nest.
81 went into the army several week
after / left my home in Youngstown,
Ohio. ! had been q chauffeur, but
friends of mine wanted to join up
with the regulars. / was sworn III
December Is, 1916. got my hanC
blown up q year and one week after
that date.
81 was sworn in at Douglas, Ariz.,
and stuck with my outfit right
straight through, being in the second
battalion. There was much to Go
around Douglas, where we were sta
toned most of the time. The best
fun we had was getting used to our
rifles and getting so we could hit that
old bulls eye nine times out of ten
Somehow l got the hang of the trick
pretty early.
"And was glad | had when We
got to France, because ] was given
chance to do more shooting than lots
of the fellows got. After we had been
in training awhile, we went up in
auto trucks to the front.
"Almost as soon as we got up near
the Verdun sector, that is near this
town of Toul, we were sent into some
trenches to relieve some Frenchmen.
It was rotten weather when We went
in, too. Rain most of the time and
cold. For all that we just figured
that better weather was on its way
and as long as we were in for it we
might as well go through.
"On our front the trenches, which |
they called the front line trenches,
were lines up back of each other
There were three lines, and | got in
the third line. There isn't much differ
ence between the first three lines.
They're not very far apart. and its
easy to 80 visiting ft"m one to the
cthof. We usually knew most of the
&C ssip of what WIS going Oh in .hr
lines the other comca,.ieS were living
in.
In my company they served out
twelve sets of high powered glasses
You can't find any fault with the
glasses, they are the best money can
buy. Our line was about 900 yards
from the German trenches, but, when
you took squint through the glasses
The Germans seemed to be about
twenty-five yards away. Some Of the
;harpshooters had telescopes mount
I'd on their guns, but some Of us did
almost as well using the double
glasses. At that we could dump a
bullet most any place we wanted to
IN the German line without using
he glasses.
"This is the way We worked in the
laytime. The dugouts were built
light into the trenches. 1t was just
IS il you made a hole in the breast
works and dropped q box in it and
,iled dirt over the top. Of course
hat isn't the way it's done. The dug
,ut is built out of timbers and show
n0 inst the Nyav n mine tunnel is. But