The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1918-05-06

sending America ih war news have
been under fire IN the field that only
one OF them has been hit The Brit
iSh correspondents have taken up
this question OF who is a war CORE
Spondcnt and who isn't by applying
this question as a test. Have you ever
had gun fired at you in anger" Lit.
tie it boots an English correspondent
to hang around headquarters in Jaunty
costume Of the field Sooner or later
he must answer this question, put up to
him by the chaps who have had guns so
directed at themselves and il his an
swer IS in the negative he doesn't be
long Out OF the comparatively large
number of American correspondents who
have been gathering war news in Eu-
rope, | know perhaps only thirty who
would qualify as war correspondents
under the tests OF the British journal
iSts
In London Raids, Though.
But the British journalists have not
taken into account the large number OF
correspondents who have been in Lon
don during the air raids and who have
found themselves, together with some
seven million other human beings, in
as much danger from death by bombs
and shells as any war correspondent
that ever went onto battlefield
Any correspondent or civilian or any
soldier in London has won the right
to say that he has been under fire If
he has passed through an air raid
! have seen American correspond
entS under danger from shell and
rifle fire a number of times After
the battle Of Neuve Chapelle few
correspondents, including FlScr OF
the Associated Press. and myself,
were taken by the British 10 see the
runs OF the town which they had just
captured. In our party was Matania,
an Italian sketch artist, whose work in
the London illustrated wccklies and the
New York Herald has been considered
the best that has appeared during the
war 1t was a cloudy day, and in
the late afternoon a rainbow appeared
over the shattered village. framing 7
like a prosccnum arch-a stage set
ting Matanla, in hot enthusiasm, began
to sketch the scene, when a threc-inch
shell whiStlcd its way TO spot near by
and burst The explosion drenched the
party in mud and half covered Matania's S
drawing.
Just One Expletive.
With an Italian expctive the ar
tiSt tore up the drawing and began
violently to sketch the shell-burSt as
the fresh memory OF its appeared III his
minds eye A second and>a third shell
fell near the party, and the British Of
ilcer ordered us to move on to another
part OF the line as the Germans hal
undoubtedly found our range.
At dinner that night Matania, rump-
ling his hair with excited hands
shouted Fool that am Why didn't
| save that mud-covered drawing and
have it published to show how near
came to being killed today
Matania was merely expressing a
feeling OF elation and pride which all
correspondents feel at having been un-
der fire and at having escaped I
This is feeling that is not confined
TO cub reporters in the war game The
old-tlmers, | find, have it also.
old-Timers Feel It.
On a hill in Bulgaria a shell which
the Bulgarians sent over into the Brit
ish lines fell within forty feet of our
party which included the late Richard
Harding Davis, James H. Hare, John
McCutcheon and John Bass, every one
of whom had been under fire In other
wars. That night, in talking over the
events of the day found them all
jubliant over the fact that they had
been under fire had something of the
same feeling, but, in spirit Of candor,
| said:
"I don't like shellfire," wasn't lying,
either
Davis, with a contented smile, said
We'll, I've been war correspondent
long enough to have the right to say
like it. There's a thrill about it that's
pleasant"
Later, I heard him say of another
she'll We'll I'm glad that one didn't
get me This war game Is too inter
esting. ! don't want TO have to go home