The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1918-05-04

had become disagreeable to him. wait
here, until | come back. Where are
the officers"
Again no one could answer. "What
are their names? | shall find them.
Perhaps they are in Vitry.'
We told him the names of our Off
GERS. He gave US identification papers
so that we might be able to prove to
others inquiring why we were waiting
where we were.
Il hope his horse falls and he breaks
his neck" said one Of our men.
! We entered one Of the houses when
! had been robbed, as were all the others,
threw ourselves down upon the mat
| tresses to sleep. sleep, sleep. How
long we slept no one knew. We only
knew that If WAS night and that some
, of our company had aroused us. These
were newcomers who had been hunting
for us for long time.
"Come along The captain is out
side and he is very angry. lie has
gathered II OF his men together and is
! cllrSine like the very devil because he
could not locate YOU"
Sleepy, ana entirely Indifferent TO the
future, we left the building. we knew
that we would t. sent INTO acton
again but no l"nIer cared had never
before seen among i BODY Of soldiers
such an atmosphere OF a"Soi"'e ''l'''A-
ference.
We came upon thR captain. ~ -"
us approach ninn" our heAl2rar' otr
uniforms torn into >hr"ds ana With"H'
guns ana khar~arhs.
why are yoH raA"inE around here?
he roared. That US oar reception.
Nobody answered. Nobody cared.
Nothing could ~ worse than what we
! had been through INIT although every
one among us felt ,centE the injustice
of the captains attitude We all re-
| manned silent.
| "Wnere is your uipment?-Lost-
Lost. This has hoon q nice business.
The state equips You, you rebel. II all
were like you-"
He raved on for d while after this
n.
any action on his own part permitted
the rebels to retreat while he defend
! ed his fatherland in Eitry, 4.26 kilo-
meters behind the battle line.
We selected guns from those lying
around us in heaps and soon were
ready to fight again.
We stood around half asleep, lean
ing on our guns. and waited to be LED
once more to the slaughter. A shot
fell in our midst. 1t struck a color
sergeant and smashed his right hand.
He cried out from the pain. His hand
was quickly bandaged. He was tho
first.
An eyewitness told US how this had
happened. He had rested his hand on
the gun barrel in the same manner
as did all the others except that his
hand partly covered the muzzle. The
orders provide that the gun be locked
if loaded. Turning to the color SER
geant, who was writing with pain,
the captain roared at him: IL shall
report you for punishment for your
Yourself in the field"
The color sergeant. a noncommis-
stoned officer. realized that his military
career was at an end. We all felt for
him. During the months preceding this
incident he had always associated him
self with the priyates.
We never learned whether he was
brought before court-martial Pun
ishment for standardization was daily
event and many severe sentences were
pronounced and then made Known to
all the others to serve as a deterrin:
example The color sergeant's place
was conferred upon another after
which the captain disappeared once
more in the direction of Vitry.
We marched away and halted at
point northwest of the village. Hero
we met other pioneers who had been
gathered together from various bat
talions and our unit was once moro
brought up to IS men. The officers
told us that we would not enter the