The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-03-17

&ElS NO ne Tak S@ al Sorts Oh
illnese. The NJ. O. is usually a bit
too fiy for Tommy, however. and out
and out fakes seldom get by Some
times they do and IN the most unex-
pected cases.
had n man named IsM ore Bpatein
In my section who Was inHtrumentnl
in getting blghty for himself and one
other, Issy was a tailor by trade, He
vas no hghunR man and diut pre-
tend TO be and he didn't care who
knew It. RE was Wild TO get 'Toigh-
y one or shell shock or anything
that would take him home.
One morning as we were prepas-
ing 20 go over the top the men vera
little tumpy and nervous I heard
shot behind me and a bullet chugged
into the ssndhags beside my head |
whirled around, my frgt thought be-
ing that someone of our own men
was trying TO do me in. This is q
thing that sometimes happens to un-
popular officers and less frequently 10
thu men But not IN this case
II was Issy Epstein. He had been
1nonkeying with hts rife and had shot
himself In the hand. OF course. Issy
was at once under suspicion of a self
inflicted wound. which IL one Of the
worst crime in the calander But
tho suspicion was removed instantly.
ISay was hopping around raising a
terrific row
"OI, oil" he walled. I'm ruiut, I'm
rnint Ny thimbIe finger is gone.
My thlmble finger I'm ruiut OF, OF,
OF. OF"
The poor fellow was 50 sincerely
desolated over tho loss Of his necez-
sary finger that I couldn't accuse him
of shooting himself Intentionally.
detailed mag named Beaier to take
lsay back TO n dressing station. Well
Bealer never came back
THANKFUL FOR "SHEII SHOCK -
Months later in England I met up
| with Epstein and asked about Bealer.
It seems that after lzsy had been
fixed UP the surgeon turned to Bealer
and said:
what's the matter with your
Beaier happened to be dreaming of
something else and dirt answer
u say" barked the doc. SPEAK up
/ What's wronR3"
/ Bsaler was startled and ilnn ped
and begun 70 SHUTTER
! oh, see said the surgeon
/ Shell shock"
Bealer was bright enough and
) quick enough after that 10 play IL up
! and wa tagged for bhRbty. He had
( It thrust upon him. And you can bet
! he grabbed It and thanked his lucky
stars.
! We had bean on Mel street 3 day
and night when an order came for
our company to move up TO the sec
ond line and to be ready TO go over
the top the next day Al first there
was the usual grousing an there seem
ed to be no reason why our compan NJ
should be picked from the whole bat
talon. We soon learned that all
hands we're going over and after that
we felt better
We got our equipment on and start
ed up to the second line II was
right here that got mr. FIRST dose Oh
real honest to goodness modern war
The big push had been on ali sum
rner and the whole OF tho Somne dis
trict was battered and smashed.
Going Mp from Mill street there
were no communication trenches We
we're right out In the open exposed Il
rife and machine gun fire and Il
shrapuel; and the Hoches were fairl,
raining it in on the territory they
had been pushed back from and O
which they had the range to an inch
We went in under that heavy fir,
for a full hour. The casualties yer,
heavy and the CALLING part OF 1t Wa
hat we couldn't hurry. It was 81
dark. Every time a shell burHt over
head and the shrapnel battered II
he dirt nil about l Kissed rnysel
good by and thought OF the baker
beans at home Men kent falling ant
! wished / ha6n't enlisted
! Whom we finally got up to tn,
: trench. believe me. we didn't neet
any orders TO get IN We relFved tn,
Black Watch and they encouraged IL
, by telling us they had lost over hal
their men in that trench and tn
! Fritz kept a constant Are on st. The,
didn't need TO tell us. The big boy
were coming over all the time
: The dead here were enough to CIV,
YOU the horrors. had never seer
e 50 many before and nsver saw NOR
: atterward. They were all over tn
place, both thefrs and ourR tn
10 the trench, half in, half out: leg
and arms protAyded from the walls
They were In Khaki in kills and II
= gray. And they were in every con
ceivsbis condition Of mutilatton.
] immediately got sick and dix.
and faint and had n mad desire Il
run. think If hadn't been
ron com with a certain small respon
sibihty 10 live up 10 should haw
: gone crazy. l ma neged 10 pull my
self together and placed my men q
| comfortably Az possibly. The Ger
mans were 500 yards away and Their
was little chance OF an attack 81
comparatively few had 20 "stant to-
The rest took TO the shelters
} found Il little two-man sheIte
that everybody else had avoided AM
Ctawled in. There was a dead Ger
man in there ar 4 ! crawied ont again
This time ! simply couldn't smothe
my impulse to run, and run / did, in
90 the next treverBe, where L SUM-
weak and faint on the FIRE gtep, ] sa
there the rest ~ the night. regar dies
/ Of SHELLS, my mind milling w1ldr
on the problem of war and the reason
thereof and cursirg myself for fool
1t WIS very early in the morning
when Wells shook me up with III
> sye. Darby, wot the blinktn' blazes 1
that notse?'
STEEL MONSTERS IN ACTION.
We listened and away from the rea
came tremendous whirring, burning
; rum bling buzE like a. swarm of Fian
bees ! thought OF everything fror
r a Zeppelin 10 q donkey engine bu
couldn't make # out Blofeld ira
5 around the corner OF a traverse an
=. told US 10 get the men out He didn'
. know what was coming and WASH
? taking any chances.