davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13
THE BOCHE-A French War Tale

BEG of you'll beg Of you-don't
make me recount the miseres and
"A horrors of my captivity-the re-
prisals camp, the punishments, Boche-
land and the Boches, their inventions
for torturing without danger to them
selves poor devils without any means
of defence.
/ don't want to live all that over
again I don't want to recall that it
existed that it still exists, or that it is
possible for it to exist in this world
Ah Those vile beasts !, who have
been through it, grow furious when l
hear people in this country, who have
never been cured Of the habit of wheed
ling, say between two glasses of beer
that the Germans are men just like other
men, and that we ought to extend
hand to them because they are brothers.
but that. They have the appearance of
men. They wear on their faces
resemblance to humans, just as one
wears gas mask. But at bottom there
is not and there never will be anything
in common between them and US, any
more than there is between q dog and
cat The Boche is an animal, at the
same time ferocious and fawning, who
will do you as many services as you
wish if he has anything to gain by 1t.
But beware, if he ever becomes master
and takes off his mask.
l have known one of them thor
oughly; and perhaps you have known
him, too, specifically; for before the
war he was a cafe waiter here in Paris.
He served you beer on the terrace of
boulevard cafe and you called him Fre-
deric. He told me that himself
But at the camp at ---- he was called
Fritz, Feldwebel Fritz Schaffer. And he
had way of recalling his former pro-
fession. On all possible occasions he
struck us on the back of the neck with
his whip, crying out: "Well drawn,
without too much collar"
He laughed His laugh, which / shall
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13

bling in the depths of that villanous
cavity. Pub! The disgusting eye Of that
waiter eXecutioner Spare me the recol-
lection of it, | have seen it too much.
The rest was very simple. If tried to
escape it was chiefly in order not to see
him any longer. l felt that day or
moment might come when | could no
longer contain myself-when l might do
something fatally rash. One is not al
ways a wooden image. The feldwebel
had evidently decided to take me in hand
Perhaps just because I had remained
master Of myself, he had decided to drive
me to desperation. He wanted to have
my skin.
There was a sort of duel between us.
He, armed with his whip his stripes and
his eye. l, armed with my patience. l
kept repeating to myself: you must
endure it, old fellow. If you want to see
your own country again, your boy, your
wife and your home, submit to that evil
eye. Make no false step"
At the end of five months | could stand
it no longer. Better bullet from
sentinel than dozen balls from a firing
squad Moreover, ran chance of get
ting away.
Fortune favored me. l was able to
reach our lines. rejoined my depot.
Or, rather, I went to the hospital; for I
brought back from Bocheland some kind
Of malignant fever which had to be
treated. And in my nightmares I saw
again Fritz's eye, green, filmy, brackish
"A pool of stagnant waters, deep enough
to drown in, with rank grass and rushes,
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13

if he had just met an old comrade, and
said to me:
-Ah. 1t is you. That is fine. Do
you know that your escape cost me
fifteen days in the guard house? But
| don't hold that up against you. War
is war"
He held out his hand to me and gazed
at me with his eye. Humble and gentle,
caressing, with hardly trace of tinid-
ity but already affectionate and almost
tender, his single pupil turned toward
the good patron whom it hasn't seen
since the night before and is charmed
to see now.
what can / serve Monsieur" In
the turn of hand the torturer became
the cafe waiter again Fritz's eye was
no longer a sea Of poison, but little
glass Of cordial delciously cut with a
layer Of absinthe, slightly lul1ewarrn,
but sugared to perfection Boum! Take
a sip.
What would you have done in my
place? He disguised me so that all my
bitterness vanished. I made no answer.
l turned my back on him He stood
there dumfounded. A blow with whip
across the face--he would have under
stood that. The muzzle of my revolver
at his temple would not have astonished
him. But a man who does not take re-
venge when he has the power to do so,
who doesn't strike when he = master
what does that mean?
Those fellows know only two kinds Of
existence. They are either walters OF
hangmen. Take your choice. Be one
or other or both in turn. AS for French
men who don't know how to be one or
the other, they think we are neither fish
nor fowl.
When l turned around again | saw
Fritz, standing erect, ard still irving to
understand The situation. He had not
budged from his place But, in order to
reflect to better advantage, he had
closed his eye.
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13

about the trenches. store of grain,
consisting Of wheat, .nillcs and sesame,
discolored, but excellently preserved, WAS
discovered in one of the earliest village
mounds. The troops experimental in SOW
ing part of the seed but their labor was
in vain. When remember that in
Roman times Macedonia was rich grain
country, it is easy to believe that it may
also have been SO in ages which to US arc
prehistoric
"As to be expected, the tombs of
later date have given the richest treas
ures ornaments of gold and bronze, hair
ornaments, knives, lances, lamps and vases
of pottery, with ornamentation akin to
that of Central Europe rather than to the
Greek forms; all pointing to the fact that
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13

Macedonia linked more with the Danube
than with the Egean.
General Gullaumat- was Franchet
dEsperry's predecessor in command at
Saonica issued an order to all British
and French troops that all antiquities
found in the trenches or elsewhere should
be reported to headquarters, and provi-
aional museum has been opened Syste-
matte excavations are being made by both
the French and British in certain places,
and it is fortunate that both armies have
in their ranks number of trained urchae-
ologists
after the war Macedonia will doubtless
be field of valuable treasure-truve for
those whose time and resources enable
them to investigate it's antiquities'
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13

terrupton kept us safely down on the
earth
saw the testing ranges, and then more
loading machines, hundreds of them. And
every cartridge, or part of one, that I saw
pop out of machine, and they popped out
of every machine in a steady stream, said
to me, END to end we would reach more
than twice around the earth"
In going through the various parts OF
the factory I had run across several "in-
specting departments" where girls were
inspecting components such as finished
cartridge shells, shells which had had the
primers inserted, bullets, etc. But after
going through the loading rooms my guide
took me into a large room where about
45O girls were inspecting the complete
cartridges Here every single cartridge is
carefully examined for defects and gauged
to see that it comes within the limits of
size. l was told that the inspection of
finished components and finished cart
ridges together occupied the entire atten-
ton of little over a thousand people
This does not include numerous depart
mental inspectors" who are contin-
ually going from machine to machine and
examining the product in partly COM
pleted shape in order to see that the ma
chimes and tools are properly adjusted.
Nor do the above numbers include the
ridges to see that the velocity is right,
that the pressure is not excessive, that the
bullet jackets do not strip off when fired,
that they arc within the limits of accu-
racy in target shooting at 500 yards range,
that they will shoot all right in five diff
ferent kinds of machine guns, and other
"stunts."
Altogether more than 1900 people are
engaged in one kind of inspection or an
other, just to be sure that the cartridges
are as nearly perfect as possible.
Back in the Offices in the afternoon and
still thinking Of that double row of cart
ridges around the globe, I got to asking
questions. Perhaps because they thought
to humor me out of bad case of bewider-
ment, they verified the statement made by
my guide and gave me some more data to
play with. And before I got through ask
ing questions and figuring out problems
OF arithmetic | had perhaps more infor-
nation than any one ever suspected was
At the existing rate of production this
one plant was and is turning out 80 cali
bre Springfield cartrdges-the regular
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13
There's Still Good Digging in Macedonia

cut into what are known as primitive viii
lagc mounds. Hearths and stone floors
arc met with, and empty sockets that once
held beams of wood.
"The first houses, it appears. were built
of rushes and unbaked clay, in groups on
small. steep mounds forty to fifty feet high
probably to avoid the spring floods, or
possibly for greater security against at
tack. Pottery fragments of the Mycennan
age or style have been found in some of
these, so that their date is fixed as some
where about 1400 3. C. The pottery is
always handmade, often delicate, and
bears no trace of the wheel Grooves,
zigzags and spirals the most common
ornamental patterns, sometimes stained
with brown, purple or red pigments, as on
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13

moon. "Supposing they could be fired end
to end, each bullet to travel for second
and time to be lost making connections,
how long would it take to make enough
cartridges to hit the moon ~
The captain looked at me over his
glasses for a moment as if he was going
to quit, but he obligingly took out his
pencil and once more went to. figuring.
"Figuring for convenience, air re-
sistance and attraction Of gravity as we
know them, which of course would actually
relatively short time, and for convenience
also, assuming the maximum velocity
would be maintained throughout, we would
turn out the necessary cartridges in one
hour forty-two minutes and six seconds
Figuring on the same basis, it would take
thirteen hours twenty-five minutes and
thirteen seconds for the bullets, travelling
at o70O feet per second, to cover the dis
tance to the moon"
ana Ine dUOVe, please pGdT III QlHu- HI
pertains only to this one size Of ball cart
ridge, the 30 calihre Springfield, besides
which the same factory manufactures for
the government in large quantities 80 cal
ibre Krag cartridges, As calihre automatic
pistol cartridges 3S ca1ibre revolver cart
ridges, bucksnot shells, signal cartridges,
blank cartridges, and numerous other
kinds Of ammunition, as well as S milI-
metre French cartridges Tor use in the
Hotchkiss machine gun and the Chauchat
automatic rifle and full line OF CONNER
cial ammunition. OF the so caIibre Spring
field ammunition alone, the Remington
uMC Company has in one years time
manufactured one billion cartridges, feat
which far as is known has never before
been approached.
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13

hear always, pushed back the left corner
of his mouth and exposed long tooth,
like that of dog who is going to bite
And his little eye, which he thrust under
your nose! For he had only one eye,
his left one, having lost the other in the
marshes Of St. Gond. And with the only
pupil which remained-a pupil sea green,
edged about with yellow-he glared at
you with concentrated hate.
There was something really extraor-
dinary about that eye-something
which inspired fear. Yes, fear! l don't
deny that. have seen death very close
at hand. l have set out in wave of
assault. I have charged machine guns.
have used the bayonet. And have
smoked my pipe under rain of shells.
One gets used to everything. But
never got used to Fritz Schaffer's eye.
as before that odious socket of tilmy
eye which he used to thrust under mine
How could l describe it? A tiny lake
Of poison, of poison without antidote, a
little pool alive with perfdy, servility,
malice, and even fear. For, if l was
afraid, l made him afraid also. That
was easy to see.
After striking me with his whip Fitz
cast his eye at me in scorn, hoping that
I would stick a finger in it. That would
have permitted him to have me shot later
by squad, or even to put a bullet
through my brains on the spot. But the
desire which he had to provoke gesture
or word of INSTRUMENTATION on my part
did not hide the fear which l saw trem-
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13

with tadpoles and leeches, among which
| swan and foundered, stretching out
my hands, thrusting out my legs, swal-
lowing stale mouthfuls of the scummy
fluid. Why make me repeat all that?
l am soon going to bed and | shall
dream of it all over again tonight.
/ hoped, moreover, never to see it
again except in dreams-that accursed
eye of the fedwebel. But war brings
surprises such as one never reads of III
the romances of the feuilletons T.. 1t had
one in store for me.
Apparently attacks in compact masses,
followed by "strategical retreats" have
decimated the forces Of the Kaiser.
The fact is that Germany has for some
time past been rummagng in the depths
of her bureaus for material with which
to meet the Americans who are arriving.
Everybody who has still one eye is being
taken from the rear and sent to the
front.
Fritz Schaffer arrived there But he
didn't remain long. Scarcely had he ap-
peared in the pocket at Moisans, heading
mach Paris" when he was taken pris-
oner. "Kamerad. Kamerad!" At the
head of a section surrendering itself,
what do I see? Fritz's eye.
He recognized me at once. Perhaps
you believe that the executioner, finding
himself suddenly face to face, nose to
nose, with his victim, Strengthened up
defantly? Or that he finched and
begged for mercy? Or, at the least,
that he showed some sense of shame
Not at all He smiled complaccntly, as
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13

certain broad, open bowls. with handles
shaped like wishbonc, that have been
found there.
"Archaologists go so far as to assert
that Macedonia must have had a civiiza-
tion as early as 5000 3. c., and that grad
ually its culture was influenced by that of
othc' regions, especially to the north the
trade route of those ages running through
the Nardar Valley to the Danube. Strange
to say, beyond some connection with Thes-
sally, early Macedonia does not seem to
have had intercourse with Greece and the
pottery found seems to detcrioratc the
nearer get to historic times.
"AXe heads bracelet of black stone,
and other polished objects of the Neolthc
period have also been turned up in or
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13
Not That We Don't Like the Moon

A city street runs through the plant,
with a doubletrack streetcar line on which
big Bridgeport pass constantly, but
within the gates of the great factory it is
closed tight and patroled by heavily armed
guards. My companion was Mr. Jarvis Will
inns, general manager ammunition works,
of the Remington UMC Company. Of
course, he had his own pass, but he had
left his party pass in his desk, and with
out it even he could not take me across
that street which we must cross to get to
the testing section.
The necessary pass having been tele-
phoned for, had sat down to wait. and
my head being in such whr from the
wonders had seen I could
think of nothing + could
say. Evidently divin-
ing my thoughts ~
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13
By Edward Cave

CIT, 0M wv. many many, ," mile. .,i, is i. t., around
~ who was showing mo
through the largest ammuni-
tion factory in the world.
Gee, / don't know l replied "Why?'
Wait Bit" and he went to figuring on
pad of paper.
For an hour we had been in one build
ing, going from floor to floor and doubling
back and forth among rows upon rows of
automatic machines as big as printing
presses, that were turning out cartridge
components There were other buildings
seemingly without end similarly filled up
with cartridge machines of various kinds,
and had expressed desire to 20 to the
testing ranges for change. This had
resulted in our being held up until we
could obtain pass to cross a street.
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13

waiting. In the process some curious
discoveries have been made by officers of
an archaeological turn of mind, says
"Munsey's Magazine" which reports the
following:
'In the plains near the Egean the most
remarkable archaeological remains are the
conical or oval tumui erected over stone
marble tomb, which sometimes con-
tanned valuable pottery or other articles
of human manufacture. Nearer the hills
the trenching tools of the soldiers often
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13

A clean production of 141 tons In sin
gle working day! When one stopped to
think of how many cartridges it took TO
make ton, and pictured them all dumped
in a single ple-say AS our boys in
khaki and navy blue might say, "Roy,
howdy! Some production!"
On the way back to New York I had the
good fortune to ride with Captain A. M.
Mattlce, advisory engineer of the Rem
ington UMC Company. Upon my men
tioning the subject to him, he said good
way to visualize the amount of this ammu
milton which constituted days produc-
tion was to divide the total weight by the
capacity load of motor truck
ut would require twenty eight five-ton
trucks to haul each days output" said he.
Then he, too, got to figuring And in
minute or two he told me this:
"a regulation bandolier holds twelve
clips of five cartridges each, or total of
sixty pounds. At the rate of production
now existing in eight hours we could fit
out over eleven and a half regiments of
infantry with full bandolier of sixty
cartridges for each of the men. To be
precise, we could equip a full regiment of
3,078 men in Al minutes"
Captain Mattice did little more fgur-
ing then told me that, if these cartridges
produced by the factory were laid in
single row, end to end a man on bicycle
would have to ride at a speed of over nine
miles an hour to keep up with the process
sion Of cartridges. That is as fast as an
average horse trots and faster than the
average motor boat travels.
1--WE talk about how many feet per sec
ond bullet travels" he continued, rcsum-
ing his figuring. "Well, this same rate Of
production delivers seventy-sx Of these
cartridges per second, which is an end to-
end velocity of over twenty and half
feet per second"
Once moro I got to thinking about the
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13

service cartridge used by our soldiers in
their rifles and machine guns--at an aver
age rate of seventy-six per second, count
ing working hours only. The net amount
OF the principal materials entering into
days output of these cartridges onlv. and
not counting scrap waste, was approx
matcly as follows, in round numbers:
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13
BY Edmond Harauc0urt
Translated by WILLIAM l.. MCPHERSON

~ l.
Cph Nu YORK; Tubmen
He" v"id %
not IN him h d uhru tn edwdd Fritz hS Shvy
a u dawua
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13

rW my guide had inquired,
wy with a smile, if it was
"kind of hard to get it all
~ on the film"
you bet It's an industria!
Niagara Falls" I had replied.
Which brought me such nice COM
pliment from him that had chirked
up and asked the question that started
him figuring: "How many 80 calbre
Springfield cartridges day are turned out
here?"
have ever since been glad I did not
guess at the distance in miles around the
earth, for he knew, but for the moment
could not remember. Very soon he slapped
his leg in satisfaction and looked me in
the eye with fattering approval.
"Say, I'm glad you asked me that lust
when you did. I was thinking of some
thing else and the two thoughts made \
double header. Listen to this:
IF laid end to end the calibre 80
Springfield cartridges we have manufact-
ured for the United States government
within one year would reach a distance of
practically $4,000 miles. That's more than
twice around the earth."
"Gcc whiz!"
''It's fact. A cartridge is three and
quarter inches long, and"-.
"Say, if they were fired end to end. so
to speak, it would reach the moon, wouldn't
it,"
But just then our pass came and the in
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13

u j: '; :; $ :: ::;: : Ia: ::; IA;
long months of digging in and
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13
Whv Can't
ArnOl Id
Bennett?

NGLISH life is sufficiently COM
- pact to give the operations and
49, processes of men Of letters and
New-York tribune., 1918-10-13
FOch at the
FirStMarne
Battle

a FTER a peace has been wrung
~ from an evil-minded foe peo-
4 n pie will spend the fifty years
The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-02-01
uary 81, for the benefit Of Presiding
EIJas D n CroWS

uary 81, for the benefit OF Presiding
Elder p. G. Crews.
Private Dee Appleton Of Camp
Funston, Kansas, is home on fur
Tough visiting home folks.
Miss Althea Baker has taken the
agency for the J. E. McBrady Co.
Mr.. and Mrs. Charles Edwards OF
Paris, Mo-, came Friday to be at the
bedside of their daughter. Mrs. Y. =
Johnson, who continues very i'll. Mr.
Edwards returned Saturday, but Mrs
Edwards remained until later in the
next week.
Mr.. Rufus Edwards of Paris was in
the city to visit his sister, Mrs. G. b.
Johnson, and tIIn to accompany Mrs.
Edwards home.
Much sickness is prevalent. Mrs.
Hoskins and Pearl Toles are on the
sick list.
The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-02-01
KIRKsyILLE VICINITY.

The True American society met at
at the home Of Mrs. William Toles on
Thursday. The members were engag-
ed in making hospital garments.
Mrs. Fannie Thompson is on the
sick list.
Master E. Roy Simpson has re-
turned to Kirksville, after an extend
ed Christmas visit.
The True American society met on
Saturday, January Goth, at Mrs F.
Thompson's. Work on hospital gar
ments was done. The meeting of
Thursday, January 81, will be held at
Mrs. Harvey Bakers.
An entertainment will be given at
the "A. M. E.. cshurch Thursday, Jan
The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-02-01
CENTERVILLE, IOWA.

In spite Of the stormy weather or
Sunday all services were well at
tended.
The Sunday school and B. Y. P. U
are progressing nicely.
The entertainment given Saturday
night, January Goth, proved to be
quite success.
The Mission Circle will be enter
tanned at the home Of Mrs. Matte
Riddings on Tuesday, January goth
at 315 S. Eighteenth street.
The Daughters Of Tabor will be en-
tertained at the home Of Daughter
Maria Noah on Thursday, January 81,
O Mast Bank street.
Mr.. J. Hicks is able to work again,
after suffering with lumbago.
Mrs. Stella Nash is able to walk
again.
Mrs. S. H. Jones is reported better
at this writing.
The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-02-01

ture Of superintendent home.
Mrs. Mabel Robinson has organ
lied the Willing Workers club and
the club is doing just fine.
Mr.. and Mrs. Emory Burns havs
moved to South Hooking.
Mrs. Mabel Robinson has been
,, treating Mrs. virgie Burns hair.
Miss Alberta Robinson entertained
Miss Virgie Craig of st. Joe, Mo-, and
Mr.. Roy Burns to Sunday dinner.
The WilIin gWorkers gave an enter
tainment Saturday night at the nome
of Mrs. Mabel Robinson and realized
neat little sum. The out of town
visitors were Mr.. Samuel Brooks OF
Des Moines, Mr.. l.. Mosley OF Hlte-
man, Miss Nettie Finks OF Hlteman,
Miss Ethe Lewis of Hiteman, Mr..
William and Chas. Lewis of Hiteman,
Miss Bernice Jones of Abba, Mr..
Herbert Brown of Abba.
Miss Anna Edmonds is on the sick
list. y
Mr.. Walter Burns was visiting IN
Ottumwa, Iowa, Saturday.
Mrs. Fay ToGood spent a few days
in Hooking visiting Mrs Mabel Rob-
inson.
The next entertainment given will
be at Mrs. Henry Edmonds'.
Mrs. Minerva Lowery is somewhat
better at this writing.
Mrs. Robinson treated Mrs. P. j..
Taylor's hair and she likes the treat
ment ne. ...
Mrs. Walter Burns and Mrs. Paris
Taylor made business trip to Abba
on Monday.