The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1918-04-12

girl who fell down. The officer on horse
| back saw the little girl stumble, and
| rode up and stuck her with his sabre,
land she got up and stumbled again. and
then the third time she stumbled, the
| German officer got so mad, that he pull
led out his sword and thrust 1T right
through the body of the little girl,
raised the. little bleeding thing up on
the Sword, held it there for minute
I'and then threw it, to the side of the
road and went on. She was little
girl of about twelve or thirteen years of
age, | was in Lille at that time under
the protection of the consul, and was
watching it through a window that
looked right down on the street.
@. When you We're out in No Mans
Land helping to pick up the wounded
and bandage the wounds. did make
any distinction between whether the
wounded man was &. German or a friend,
| insofar as attending to his wounds was
lc0ncerned?
A. No Many times / have bandaged
1.-THE wound of German, and MANY times
| have l taken bandageS off of German
| soldier or one of own who was dead
| to put onto a wounded German soldier.
| Q. Did the German soldiers show
their appreciation?
/ A. Yes. / believe that thew did When
they We're not under the influence OF
I their officers, some of the German SOL
diers were quite humane. On the whole,
| 1 found that the Germans. that is the
soldiers We're good fathers, they spoke
of their children. just IS we speak OF
our children, and of their homes that
! they had left.
O. You were in France before the
| war started and Were in the war during
| the first part of it, now can YOU tell us
whether or not the French were pre-
! pared for war?
| A. They were not We had not the
guns to fight with, nor the apruunition.
| remember many times during the first
! part of the war that only half of the
guns could be used because there was
! no ammunition. Also l remember that
! there was lack of guns of certain kinds.
/ 1t was easily seen that they were not
prepared fer WEE And then the gas.
then the fire throwers They Were not
prepared for that. | will give YOU ere
/ instance of the dreadlinesS of the gas
J that the Germans ynt over. Sometimes
lit kills instantly, ard the person died in
/ whatever position he is in when he in
bales the gas. " makes the hIngs inst
! like sponge, and acts instantly. Well,
we were passing near a little village or
the remains of one, when, someone said,
leok over there and see the Scctte. We
had not seen any for about two weeks.
! 1t was two weeks before that we had
Seen them passing. and we looked and
there sitting on fence, was Scotue
with his hand rGised, life-like to his
face. and in his hand W2S his pipe. He
was sitting there. just as though ali'S.
and that was the position he was in
when the gas came, and took him OF
instantly. and he never moved since.
Found Him Stone Cold.
| When we went over to him. he was
stone cold. His face had turned an aw-
full cclor, but his position was life-like.
perchad on the fence whore he had
stopped to rest and light his nine He
had been there two weeks. as it was at
least two weeks before that that the
f! 9sotties had passed th~"'7oh tl'at Hv"y-
The gas is a terrible thing, and man
4 once gnssed is never the same again Ii
lF, iCn't nv no a q
9, wreck. They never get well
! The most horrible &c the German at
ronties that came to my notice was the
wholesale manning of the soldiers. They
helpless. We called them oysters. "
They are the soldiers who have their
arms and legs c"t off, and sometimes
their eyes gouged out. This is true as
Of this atrocity on the part of the Ger
man soldiers. I have also seen many
victims, soldiers OF the allies who have
been unsexed on the field. after having
been taken prisoner or who have been
slightly wounded, and left in that con-
dition to make their way back to their
lines as best they could, bleeding and
horribly mangled They We're left help
less and frequently became insane from
! the suffering.
OF course there were many eases OF
insanity, but those were caused not by
the fearful atrocities Of the Germans,
what the English end French men had
been accustomed. Most of them had
come ont of shops, or peaceful pursuits,
and had no conception Of what the war
would be like when they once got in it.
They became der1nged many Of them
from the strain, and being in the trench
!, es for weeks at a time. sometimes three
ard four weeks in the front line trenches
! Short Time ct Traninn.
This happened mostly to Kitchener S
army, of course, as they only had six
weeks training when they Were put into
the field. You know our regular army
was wiped out.
/ The Canadian engineers did wonderful
work when they got over there. 1 be-
lieve that the colonists did work that
could not have been done without their
help. The Canadian eneinsers helped
and perform wonderful feats. Before
they cGme. the men were Obliged to act
ually live in water, but the Canadian
/ Engineers made drains which We're the
| first ever seen there or thought of.
! The Y. M. C. \. did such wonderful
know hove much.
The reason that 1 left over there ard
came tC this country was on account Of
/ my wound. l was. given up as hopeless
and turned out, you might say. but
| always had hope and that is why
came out to California and was being
treated and operated On by all the phys
iuians | knew of. l was al last cured
Mrs. Whitelaw Reid, who took the serum
from the wound in my neck and injected
/; it back again.
/ That is a., can think of just now, OF
course. you know that there are many
other things that would come to my mind
if l stopped and thought about it, or if
it was brought to my mind in some way,
but l have just tried to tell you just
what ! have seen myself, as it comes to
my mine.
l am debating this statement to Mr..
George a. Bent of Green Bay, Wiscon-
son, who is connected with the law firm
of Minahan & Minahan, who IS taking
the same down in shorthand to be tran
scribed by himself Tor the purposes
which Mr. Mcclellan may see fit to use it.
from Fridays Daily
Miss Evelyn Carlson left yesterday
for Chicago, where she will spend
three weeks visiting friends
Mrs. L. Blum, Mrs. A. M. Stein
? H. Szamet and Henry Stein went to
Faribault today to attend the funeral
of former friend
| Mrs. Chester Stewart and little
| daughter Virginia Of st. Paul are Wis
iting with the formers mother, Mrs.
{ Haggard on Van Brunt street.
John G. Schrodt has gone to Mud
baden to take treatments for rheu-
matism.
Winnebago Enterprise: H. H
Merrifield of Mankato was in Winnie
bago Friday on business. Mr.. Merri-
field is making a big success of the