The Dermott news., 1918-07-04
! CHAPTER discontinued.

IN we were IUHFtIilnE WE SuuuChs
received an order to surround certain
house at the left OF us. Our captain
declared that shot fired from that
house had killed soldier None OF
us had heard anything, however. The
house from which the shot was alleged
IN have been fred was soon surround
ed aud hand grenades thrown into 1t
through the windows In n minute all
the rooms were afiame. The air pres
sure from the exploding grenades was
81 great that doors In the house flew
from their hinges and the walls of sew
eral rooms were crushed.
Almost ut the same time five civil
tans ran into the streets with raised
hands. They were seized at once and
led before the officers. who constituted
themselves Immediately into court
martial. Ten minutes later sentence
had been executed. and five men lay
GA the ground with eyes bandaged.
!. riddled with bullets.
In zach case six OF our men were
always called upon to execute one
. m..'s sentence. am sorry 10 say
d that I was one OF the thirty called
upon at this occasion. The condemned
man who twas our duty to shoot was
about forty wears ed, tall and straight.
He never blInkee as the bandage was
put on. He was led To the garden OF
the house near by and his back placed
10 the house After our captain said
~ us that II was our duty to aim true
and end the tragedy quickly. we took
our positions six PAGES In front OF the
condemned man. The sergeant com
handing us previously gave us instruc-
lions that we were To shoot the con-
demned men through the breast.
Now we formed into TWO ROWS. one
behind the other. The order sounded
to load and aim and we each put five
cartridges into our rifles. Prepare to
nre"-the men in the first row knelt
down aud the second row took their
places. our guns were now held So
that the barrels were forward and
ts-,Autts were hip high. "Alm"-and
" we aimed. holding our guns
tightly with the butts against our
shoulders and our fingers on the trig
gers.
The sergeant paused half minute
and then ordered us To fire. ! do not
:. know 10 this day whether our victim
died ut once nor was there ever an
opportunity TO learn how many OF the
six bullets found their mark. All day
| went around like man In trance.
reproachlng myself bitterly for having
acted the part OF eNecutioner For IL
long time | could not bear to speak
about IL to my comrades, for | felt
guilty. and yet what could we soldiers
do other than execute the orders given
US?
In the evening we went into camp
In an open field pitching tents. and the
next day continued our march.
The country through which we
passed was unlntercsting and offered
nothing In the way of variety. The
few tiny villages through which we
passed hnd all been abandoned, and
the poor-looklng houses mostly de-
stroyed Long trains OF fugitives
n pussed> us continually. These people
s,lre as Il rule those who had escaped
when the French army retreated and
were returning now 10 find their
: homes destroyed by the rough hand of
war.
After long march. interrupted only
by halts nnd short hivouacs, we APP
preached the large Belgian-Freneh Dor
der town OF Sugny. located ON the Bel
CLAN side Of the border II was about
noon. and MS the thunder of cannon
: constantly grew stronger. which indi-
Gated that a new battle was develop
Ing. we hoped to he able to remain In
the town overnight About one o'clock
we entered and were hilleted In big
barn. Most of the soldiers refused 10
eat from the field Kitchens. and requl-
sitioned eggs, chickens, geese aid
!, young pigs Soon everybody was
e.cooking. | atn sorry TO say that most
those who foraged had refused to
~ for what they had taken.
;everal soldiers now arrived with
srels OF wine and also many bottles,
.kach were instantly opened and emp
Sd. The obvious resulted. and soon
.nany noncummlsSionedi officers aud
men were helniessly drunk. The owner
of our barn had possessed three large
hogs. One Of tie drunken noncom-
mlssloned officers tried To XIII one Of
these hogs with duh pocket knife.
He had tortured the poor beast almost
TO death when the animal was merci-
fully killed by a bullet A few min
utes afterwnfd the officer went TO
ALAN FThls x.ae nntv an axup,pfa and