The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1918-06-28
NATIONAL ARMY men EAGER TO GET
INTO FRONT LINE TO STOP BOCHE
they'll Make the Finest Soldiers In World" Says General Over
seas-SoIdiers Determined to Fight to Finist-Snipers Take
DARING Chances in "Pot hunting Negro Troops
Furnish Much Of Humor in War Zone.

cally be called murder. The Shippers
don't call 1t that. They call 1t pot
hunting. l have talked with several
and have been on the line with a few.
They wouldn't any more shoot a song
bird or a maybe than they would kill
one of their own officers, but shooting
Fritz across the line-that's another
story. 1t Is dangerous business, too.
Many a sniper Is sniped himself. Some
of them camoufiage themselves and
stand for hours In range Of a thousand
rifles. There Is a young American Of
ficer from Massachusetts who Is assign
ed to technical work, who spends a day
and a night each week on the line
sniping the enemy. He does 1t be-
cause he likes 1t. He is an expert rifle
shot and he enjoys the hazards of his
work and gets satisfaction from killing
Huns.
The two best known Hun snipers are
Black Fritz and Crazy Fritz. Black
Fritz Is dead. Crazy Fritz was wound
ed, but whether he is dead Is not
known. Black Fritz harassed the
American sector for weeks. He was a
good shot and put bullets now and then
through a soldiers armor hat. But one
day he was spotted behind a log and
q bullet struck him between the eyes.
HE was a handsome chap" said a
sniper, 'and had beautiful hair, blonde
as a girls and combed back like a col
lege boys"
"If he had blonde hair why did you
call him Black Fritz2"
Because he hung so much crepe on
our DOORS"
There is another Hun known as
Foolish Fritz, and a rather pretty story
may be told about him. He Is not a
sniper. The men In the trenches can
not tell just what he Is. Perhaps, they
have figured. he corresponds to an
American football or baseball mascot.
He Is q mere youth and he takes dan
gerous chances. He might have been
shot a hundred times, but the Ameri-
can snipers haven't the heart to kill
him.
"One day." said a sniper who has
watched him play around like a kitten,
"he crawled up ove the top Of the
trench and went over to a log and lay
on 1t. He was there for an hour sur
ming himself. / had a bead on him all
the time, but what's the usef-a mere
kid. Another time q new sniper here
saw him and was just about to pick
him when I said Nothing doing We
can't exactly understand what II
means. About two weeks ago / thought
I'd give the youngster a scare, so l put
a bullet in a very small tree about a
foot from him. He scampered out of
sight like a frightened puppy. / often
wonder II he or anyone else knows
that he is living In the shadow of
death. Maybe the Germans figure they
learn something from 1t. However,
you'll never catch me killing that KID
Negroes Furnish Much Humor.
Humor CLEANS frequently through
the grimness Of war and much of II
comes from the negro soldiers from
the United States. A particularly darl
skinned private was overhauled re
Gently by a military policeman. 1t wal
on a country road and the soldier was
ambling along with his military outfi
as well as about $50 pounds of sou
venirs of France.
"where are you fromf' asked the po
liceman.
"Me, sahf Use from Alabama"
whereabouts In Alabamar
Don't know. sab, exactly, but To
from Alabama"
where you going tor
swell, / don't 'xact1y know, sah."
"Where you coming fromf"
"The last place / member, sab, !
Barleybuck. Seems to me the train
was on went while rs buying a few
things to take back when / CO."
do you know where you aref"
'Can't 'xactly say I do. sab (lookinI
around with the feigned erudition o
an astronomer), but 1 reckon Use some
where In France"
The negroes amuse the French pee
pie. The big black boys swing alon
the country roads singing or smiling
They frequently organise a quartet u
a cannon and II the work In which the,
are engaged isn't vitality important stol
beside a road to 'put over" a few di
minished seventies. better known a
barber shops. And they know how t
do 1t. They are happy-go-lucky whez