Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1918-07-10
NATIONAL army men EAGER TO GET.
into FRONT line TO STOP BOCHE
They'll Make the Finest Soldiers in World" Says General Over
seas-Soldlers Determined to Fight to Fnsh-Snpers Take
Daring Chances in "Pot Huntmg"-Negro Troops
Furnish Much Of Humor In War Zone.

iuNlneT uehtef Sdlu, tucnticht. Inc Ucn
are here to fight for France and demo
cracy. They understand exactly what
the Issues are. They understand pre-
cisely why the United States came In
to the war and they viii be disappoint.
ed II peace comes before every allied
aim has been achieved.
Among the first ten thousand Ma.
tional army men who came here to all
In various units may be found men rep
resentative Of every branch Of citizen
ship. saw motormen. farmers. bank
clerks. architects, lawyers. manufac-
turers, brokers. commission men. car
penters-in fact. everything. There
were men with names suggestive of
every nationality in the world.
These particular soldiers are In
northeastern France. where they are
going through intensive training TO
equip themselves for the front line.
snlpers In the Trenches.
Far on there was a slight movement
close to the ground. Two snipers were
watching.
go on shoot" said one.
"It's your turn" said the other.
There was a'snap Of the trigger.
"You hinged him all right--thst'y
three In two days. r
Perhaps this snIplng might techrL
cally be called murder. The snipers
don't call 1t that. They call II pot
hunting. have talked with several
and have been on the line with few.
They wouldn't any more shoot a song
bird or a magple than they would kill
one Of their own officers, but shooting
Fritz across the line-that's another
story. 1t Is dangerous business. too.
Many a sniper is sniped himself. Some
Of them camoufiage themselves and
stand for hours In range Of thousand
rifles. There Is young American Of
hcer from Massachusetts, who Is assign-
ed to technical work, who spends day
and q 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 IL not
known. Black Fritz harassed the
American sector for weeks. He was a
good shot and put bullets now and then
through soldiers armor hat But one
day he was spotted behind log and
q bullet struck him between the eyes.
He was handsome chap" said q
sniper, "and had beautiful hair, blonde
as girls and combed back like q COL
lege boys"
q III he had blonde hair why did you
call him Black FritzT" e #'r~f'g.sl
Because he hung 20 much crepe ON
our doors"
There IL another Hun known a.
Foolish FRITZ, and rather pretty story
may be told about him. He is not q
sniper. The men In the trenches can
not tell just what he IL. Perhaps. they
have figured, he corresponds to an
American. football or baseball mascot,
He isl a mere youth and he takes dam
gerous chances. He might have been |
shot hundred times, but the Ameri-
can snipers haven't the heart to kill
him.
zone day." said sniper who has
watched him play around like kitten.
''he ,crawled up over the top Of the
trench and went over to q log and lay |
on 1t. He was there for an hour san
ming himself. / had o bead on him all |
the time, but what's the use?--a mere
kid. Another time new sniper here
saw him and was just about to pick
him when I said Nothing doing We
can't exactly understand what It
About two weeks ago thought /
I'd give the youngster scare. 80 put |
q bullet In a very small tree about q
foot from him. He scampered out of !
sight like frightened puppy. | often
wonder II he or anyone else knows
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 war and much Of It
comes from the negro soldiers from J