Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1918-12-04
indian Doughboy Can go Some"
in Own Way.
He HARDLY EVER SALUTES
Has Unusual Scouting Abilities. Both
Hereoitary and Acquired-W;ns
spansies on the Vesle by Remark.
able Exploit in siIencins Enemy Ma
chine Sun-officer Wants German
Field Glasses, "chief" Gets Them

The Chief" has smiled for the sec
ond time since he came to Fronce--
and 1t Is the talk of the til infan-
try.
The Chief Is Private Ross. full
blooded Ute Indian. About a wear ago
he threw up his job herdlng sheep In
The barren hills of southern Arizona.
walked 90 miles down to Bisbee, rode
the rods" to Ell Paso and enlisted. In
the training camp he was nicknamed
THE Chief" There also 1t was dis
covered that "The Chief" had unusual
scouting abilities-both hereditary and
acquired.
He was assigned as battalion scout.
That's when he smiled the first time.
Chief Ross Is hardly model soldier.
He hardly ever salutes an officer and
says ugh" for Yes, SIR" and shakes
his head for "No, SIR" Although he
has fair command of English he
talks very little: Once only he was de-
tected saluting an ofiicer-that was
when he had gone to the officer three
times to ask for leave pass. The
third time he saluted.
Wins Spaneles on vesIe.
But THE Chief" wiped out all the
little black marks for sins of omission
In the fighting up on the vesle.
A lone machine gun In stone build
ing about 200 yards in front of the
Americans was holding up the ad-
vance. 1t was broad dayllght-three
O'Clock in the afternoon. The task of
silencing the machine gun was given
to Chief" Ross and a picked patrol
of three other men.
The patrol disappeared into the
brush with THE Chief" leading, with
his pistol ready and two hand grenades
in his hip pockets. The emplacement
was spotted" In the upper window of
the stone house. Two men were left
out In front in the bushes to draw the
fire of the gun, while Ross stealthily
worked up toward one side of the
building and his companion on the
other. Ross crawled up to the side of
the building unobserved and edged
around to where he could see the muz-
gle of the machine gun protruding
from a window.
Two seconds later a well-placed
grenade burst In the room with the
Germans. killing two and SCATTERING
the machine gun. The surviving Ger
man executed strategic retreat
through the rear window and slid
down to the ground behind the build
Ing where he would be protected by
another machine gun farther back.
Chief Outwits Enemies.
1t was sure death to try to reach the
running German from either side of
the building. The German was cum
ming but not so cunning as 1.-The Chief"
He swung himself up to the window
and crawled rapidly up the roof to-
ward the ridgepole. From that point
of vantage he could see the enemy
without danger to himself.
Three shots stopped the fleeing
Boche.
That was when 1.-THE Chief" smiled
the second time. the boys of the til
infantry declare. Some of them aver
that The Chief emitted the Ute war
whoop. surprising the Germans SO
much that they stopped firing for a
few moments.
Once before the incident on the
yesle, so the boys say, 'The Chief" al
most smiled. A lieutenant expressed
a desire for a pair of German field
glasses within the hearing of Ross.
That night he went out and came back
in 40 minutes with fine pair of Ger
man glasses. As he presented them to
the lieutenant he merely said, Heap
easy" and almost smiled.