davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-07-16
WITH THE EDITORS
AN UNWRITTEN ODYSSEY

1t is a ;ffct, much to be depleored, that many
our greatest national Heroes are as yet scarcely
known outside of comparatively small circle Of
historical specialists. The reason is that when
American history, as taught in our schools, ven,
lures west Of the Mississippi it gives dispro-
portionate emphasis to- the official expeditions Of
mont; whereupon the interest is again. abruptly
shifted to the Atlantic coast and q vast body Of
glorious epic material remains unsupported by
the pupil. s5's& So
Anyone can recite the exploits of Israel Put
nam apd Paul Revere; yet these, and their like,
were mere parlor adventures compared with the
heroes Of the trans Missouri fur trade during the
second and third decades of the nineteenth cen
fury. ass". \. .2$. ..f sss,, 4tts
In the spring Of 1922, General Ashley and Major
Henry Of St. Louis set out with two keel boats and
a hundred trappers for the headwaters Of the Mis-
souri,. In the spring of the following year, Ash
ley, having returned to St. Louis the previous
fall, led another hundred men up river. In the
roster Of these two parties are to be found the
following names: James Bridger, William Sub
|lette, Thomas Fitzpatrick, David Jackson, Edward
Rose Hugh Glass, Seth Grant and Jedediah Smith.
Could so much as one out of q thousand school
children recount the exploits of any one Of these
men? And yet it can be- shown that they are
direct and altogether worthy descendants, in the
august epic line, of all the heroes Of the Aryan
race that have been celebrated in song and saga
from Mesopotamia to California! 5ss.s
The wanderings of this group during the fol-
lowing Is years covered the entire west from the
Missouri to the Pacific and from Canada to Chi
huahua; nor is there anything in the epic liter
ature Of the past that excels in sheer wonder
stuff the bare facts Of their experiences in the
vast western wilderness. +
The career Of Jedediah Smith was typical;
though, unlike most Of his comrades, he was q
Christian gentleman, quite as$expert with his
Bible as with his rifle, and as Just as he was
fearless. In the larger meaning Of the term. he
was truly Homeric; and he managed tospack into
his brief life enough high adventure to make ar
Odyssey. He was the first white man to travel
central route from the Missouri to the Pacific
and his wanderings, sometimes with small parties
often alone, reached from the Columbia to the
Mojave desert. He was killed at the. age Of &c
by band of Comanches; while hunting for a,watel
hole in the sands of the Cimaron river, not fal
from the crossing Of the old Santa Fe trail
Until recently, only the bare outlineyof hisslift
was known bat, thanks to the recent discover,
Of his manuscript letters and journals by Prof
Harrison C. Dale Of the Wyoming university, w
are now liable to get something like 9 full-lengtf
view Of one Of the greatest Of our heroes. Mime
lapolis Journal. Il So s
The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-07-16

T somewhere In france, June IS-W1tl
10 Observation-Disclosures come off. gassed
bed, Ai6sftaf. Mi tTua 10 1s!year-old
marine from Il atton,$ ~ D., yividly
described for sne this afternoon the
fun OF sSthe1Sfeat fight: which made
history khSh tile. United States
FORCES lauah tn sG ermans that they
could Ind NJ lid Hight, BY demonstrat:
Ing their: ability at Buresches Bail
the early days OF June. u
4 The force l was In" said Private
Mastrud, reached BourAsches as the
french were, drawing back. Their
second line became our line and then
we d moved opposite the town of
Bouresche which was nearly mile
long. -. - 4: - N .as
There was no bravado about the
way this chap st0ld shis;;: story, jus;
strajghtforward;s honest, q western
his luck in coming through 1t all. l
w w MI atSfieii lie story for him:
j ook Machine Guns. =, /.
Eve started ssbdtNins broad.daylight,
lat 6 q clock IN the. evening, mind
town \ before night The fourth
plat oon and the second platoon were
assigned to the work Of taking the
machine guns which the Germans
had at the edge aof = rock gully, one
Of the finest machine gun emplace-:
ments u have seem Anywhere. Ave
didn't have TINA ito think about dan
ger. and we lust, went to lit. lit GER
tainly was lots sof nerve, but, we
went across that operl, |; space and
straight at the ,Inachine guns. The
Heinies kent firing at us until we
got to about. $50 Yards from them and
then they picked IN as many ma.
chine R,lns j. al they could ana beat
III was one az lie first five to en-
Ter the town from the right, while
IA other fellows wenf ia on the left. d
"The Germans; had machine guns
in church steeples, i'm the windows
of houses and ]; they q had snipers Ia.
lnre evervwhere + was tough eoiilk
ali rieht INT We cant,red 20 mac nine
emns 4 the .town#wn,chsthey had been
nsine On rs. 6 ~. 80 :, b
You have already read the cabled
renorts n how tnese troops march.
Cd rirht nm n. the machine guns.
erahDe., the ntuzzles with their hands
and turned -themf around. have seen
and ,alksa xltA tns chap e, xa9 IN nd
nvo r,ha muscle of - machine gun
ord ha an savsn nsi b,,,,ets 81 tnronsh his
nalm So u. s fss
4. .Waiteda for { ourdtsrs prixe:
The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-07-16
A TALK WITH A MOTHER

The editor was composing himself tor g we'll
earned fye.mnutes rest Monday afternoon when
there swept down upon the sanctum an appar-
e,nflv much agtated lady. With her was
bow whom we recognized as one OF the gal-
liant trio who early Monday morning splashed
yellow paint about The Tribune premises Fine,
thouHht we-"here comes parent OF the good
old Spartan type-the boy will apologize and per-
haps do little volunteer scrubbing.' But, alas
alack, twas not So This fond mother came to
DEMAND an apology from The Tribune, because
we had been so thoughtless as to use the name
of her precious infant in telling OF the yellow
paint outrages to which number OF perfectly
respectable Bismarck institutions had been sub
jectSd. She was very angry. -.
Yesterday this fond mother did the talking. To-
day It is our turn. We had resolved to dismiss
thfs4affair as aboyish prank. The discovery OF
her attitude toward the matter and the knowledge
that it may be the attitude Of other fond moth
efs leads US to venture preachment. :. :.
J.. Tobegin with, we would suggest to this parent
and to- others of her type that the streets Of our
fair young city are no place for a bright lad OF
Is at 9, O'Clock in the morning. The parent who
allows boy to- gaavant about the streets at that
hoar usually has coming everything in the way
Of vnotoriety that results. When we We're boy
of is we didn't hell around the streets all night
becaase we knew we had a job to attend to the
next day. We didn't spend our summer vaca-
tions sleeping % days and daubing yellow paint
on other peoples premises O nights. In the first
place our parents had old-fashoned notions, and
they wouldn't stand for it in the second place,
We had old-fashioned work to do, and.we couldn't
stand it. st.->
The need for labor then was not nearly so urg-
ent as it is now, but it was the fashion for able
bodied boys to work. There was then no demand
from the farms for help of any and every kind
to save the crops. The average decent, honest
minded kid just couldn't see the philosophy of
playing butterfly life all summer long while his
dad arose betimes and beat it out to win this
day our daily bread. Ten o'clock was considered
a'respectable bedtime. We were usually glad to
salute our pillow at that hour. If we did not, we
knew quite we'll that we would have other use
for our pillow after dads slipper had beaten taps
We like to see spirit and patriotism in boy.
We would like to see that spirit applied to some
good end and if the dear young things patriot
ism is SO fervent that they simply must get the
kaiser, we would suggest that close-range bullets
will do much more than long-distance volleys Of
yellow paint. #;.. y,
If this particular boy were ours we would farm
him out tomorrow to some poor but honest farmer
who; needs his help And we would guarantee
that after week with the cows and chickens this
bright y0ungster would be found where he should
be at q. m. and that The Tribune and his mother
would be relieved of further anxiety as to his
whereabouts and good conduct at all hours.
ul>a.,>
The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-07-16

: Birmingham has placed a replica Of an old fash
Toned pillory where pro- Germans can see it. They
should build ducking stool over municipal pig
stye-a,id use it. ...@,' ,:2>.@,
Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1918-03-14

ig, knock the stars" off Of them on
this side of the Atlantic.
But while talking with two Austral-
ian captains last evening / was inter
ested to hear how the "Huns" were
treated in their country. At the out
break Of the war every German, nat
uralized or unnaturalized, was put on
an island off the coast Of Australia,
there to remain until the close of the
war. OF course his property, ETC.,
was taken into custody by the gov
eminent In our country this would
have been impossible, and wrong, be-
cause we have many loyal American
boys of German descent fighting in
our ranks. These boys deserve a
heap of credit, just as the disloyal
ones deserve a heap of discredit,
shame and punishment In the States
we were slow to believe that the Ger
mans were preparing for half cen
fury to conquer the world-over here
we LIVE the truth of that Ungodly
desire, because the atmosphere we
breathe verifies it beyond a doubt.
The people here have about the
same opinion as those in the States
about the duration of the war-some
optimistic, some pessimistic in their
estimates of it's continuance.
In closing will say that there is
one thing that we fellows from the
United States all agree in, and that
is that we hope we are abbIe to re-
main here until the Germans are
smashed-then we will be ready
trunks packed, etc, to take the first
boat home! Most sincerely,
HOWARD I. POTTER.
Inf. U. S. R. Unassigned.
Am. Elk Force.
Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1918-03-14

old men sick than young fellows.
am about as hard as I can get,
guess. I weigh about 154 pounds now
as against 118 pounds when I enlisted
We get good grub here, but can't get
much Of any candy or cake and what
we get is pretty high priced, and pay
can't last very long for a couple passes
q week. There have been q couple OF
United States Y M. c.. A. officers here
giving lectures in our Y. Things are
getting dull in camp again ind I'd
like to move again. The 18th Of this
month I'll be six months in the army.
By what hear guess the thing will
last quite while yet. It's been rain
ing again today and there is some
mud. Well, this is about all the
news.
One OF the Freshman Class,
WILLIAM SMITH.
No. 30300S2,
No. Co. 9Th Res. Bat.
West Sanding Camp,
Kent, England.
Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1918-03-14

Ernest SandersOn has received a
letter from his son, Ralph L. Sander
son, who was on the Tuscania at the
time Of the sinking The letter was
mailed at q post office in northern Ire
land on February 9, and reads as fol
lows:
Dear Folks: We started from Camp
Merritt on the oath and from there to
Halifax We left there the 9th, with
II other boats. The trip was no joke,
though I didn't get sick, but we were
packed like cattle, SO OF course sleep
ing accommodations were not as on a
pleasure trip. At present considera-
BILE hcnaging around is being done. I
touched ground first at Luden Camp,
and tonight we arrived at Sunnylands
camp, Ireland. We sleep in barracks
and are treated fine by the Irish sol
diers. They are all veterans who
have been sent home to recover, and
who are waiting to be sent back. They
do anything for us, and the eats are
fine. Tonight we had meat pie, pota-
toes. turnips. rice pudding and tea,
until we could hold no more, and now
they are passing out packages of CT
garettes and chewing tobacco. I sup
pose in a couple of days we will con-
tinue our journey.
Crops Are Green
We are seeing a lot more of the
world than we expected to, but Ire
land sure looks good so far. The
crops are green and though we have
not seen the sun, we are not suffering
from the cold without overcoats.
I wish the people here could see
one of our locomotives. They are
about hundred years behind. We
spent the afternoon in the coaches,
which are divided into compartments
which hold eight or ten people, who
face each other crOss-ways of the car.
We certainly will have some stories
to tell when we get back. The impress
sion a person gets about Ireland is
about right. The people all have rosy
cheeks and the fields are blocked off
by stone wall and hedges, and there
are rows and rows Of them up the
mountains as far as the timberland,
and they are as green as can be. The
houses are cottages with thatch roofs
and they are surrounded by chickens,
ducks and all sorts of domestic ami
mails, and there are no barns of any
size. All the wagons have only two
wheels, and everyone, even women,
carries cane, and the roads are made
of cobblestones. They are about
century behl ID in everything, though
we have seen Ford Or two. But yet
there is pleasant atmosphere about
the place, and everyone is smiling and
they serve big bowls of tes.-sweet in
Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1918-03-14

superintendent A. c. Kingsford has
received the following letter from
William Smith, better known as Will
liam Wallucks, who was a freshman in
the local high school.
Dear Mr.. Kingsford:
I thought I would write you and the
school q few lines to let you know how
/ am getting along. l am well SO far
and have Just about completed my
training and am waiting now to be
put on a draft any time. | think I'll
be in France before next month.
completed my course in musketry last
week and got rating Of third-class
rarksman. l got up every morning
for two weeks about 5 O'Clock, got
my breakfast and put on my full pack
and marched to the ranges, about
three miles away. It was all right
going, but coming back was the hard
est, because in the morning it is a
little cold, besides dark, and in the
daytime it gets pretty warm, so that
it makes a fellow sweat and get
prickly heat on the back with pack
on. Yesterday l went through the gas
chamber. l passed through tear gas,
which only effects the eyes and makes
them water and if to strong it burns
in the throat a little, but it isn't very
poison gas which kills fellow il he
gets too much of it.
/ have been issued with the rife
take to France with me. It's peach
take to France with me. It's a peach
of rifle, holds ten rounds in the
magazine and weighs about eight and
one-half pounds. l have fired for prac-
tice some rifle grenades and other
bombs. l have to throw three live
bombs yet l have had some time at
wire ENHANCEMENT mak1ng-all easy
work Bayonet fighting is the hard
est as a fellow has to get out over
the top of one trench, jump across
wires and through bushes over other
trenches and holes and run the bayO-
net through half dozen or more
dummies When l go across about
three times | can hardly go across
again, and they don't very often make
us go across three times, one after the
other-always have lots of rest.
haven't done much of anything but
go through gas this week. They had
me on a butt party at the ranges
marking scores, and I have orders to
go tomorrow morning again. l hear
that the high school has quite few
fellows in the war now. am glad
the old school is doing it's bit, even if
the most of us who got in the army
are quite young. A young fellow, I
think, can stand just as much as an
old man, il not more. There are more
Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1918-03-14
From Robert Hirscilinger
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
February 28, 1918.

February 28, 1918
Post Office Bunch:
Here we are in camp, real soldiers.
1t sure is great life, and we enjoy it.
We arrived here O. K, Tuesday after
noon; had a great trip. It's just like
an April day in Wisconsin today.
This IS our third day in camp, and
we are getting accustomed to our du-
ties. We roll out at 5:45, roll call at
6, breakfast at 7, then we clean up
the quarters, scrub UP the quarters,
pick up the cigarette butts and pa
pers on the grounds. | haven't had
any Of that work to do, but they had
Victor and I carry out five baskets Of
coal this morning. After cleaning the
quarters we drill about an hour, then
nothing to do until mess, at u. We
have some fine feeds, no pies or cakes,
but good, substantial food. This morn
/ ing we had liver, potatoes, coffee with
! milk and sugar, breakfast food, and
! bread; for dinner, roast beef, BEANS
potatoes, rice pudding and bread; for
| supper, potatoes, hash, tea, bread and
prune sauce; no milk or sugar for din
ner or supper
| This afternoon we had muster, and
then the boys all went to the club
| rooms played pool and billiards, and
! q bunch of us sang songs. Several OF
the boys are pianists. We surely have
a dandy bunch here-tWo hundred
and twenty in our company-men from
all over the United States. Eleven
hundred arrived here Tuesday. Be
lievo ne, when we go over the pond
the kaiser will get his kneading.
Steve and Victor are getting ready
for bed: they both Ike it, but Steve
says, ooh, that getting up at 5:45 in
! the morning!" We had a shot in
) the arm yesterday. My arm is mighty
sore yet.
| Last night we were down to the Y
| NJ. G. A.. It certainly is a fine place
reading and writing rooms, pool and
/ billiards and movies three times a
week I'm sure I will never regret
Joining. It certainly is great expe-
! rience.
! Inc sergeant WOl1u IOL lCC u0 ACoF z
the barracks tonight, as some Of the
boys are leaving some time tonight
! Who knows I may not be here in the
morning. The captain called me to his
Office yesterday and said, ''Be ready
when I call you for duty in some army
office or depot somewhere in the ..
, S. A" Although I'm not anxious to
leave my pals. behind, one can never
tell whether we may be here for a
/ day or six months, but we should
worry. I wouldn't go back to the old
life for anything until we've got the
kaiser. To see all these soldiers gives
one the fighting spirit.
sure miss the boys, but hope to be
back to the old town when the war is
over Well, must hit the bunk-time
for taps.
Sincerely,
PRIV. ROBERT L. HIRSCHINGER.
Depot Co. I, Signal Corps.
Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1918-03-14

Under date Of January 81, Lieuten-
ant Howard T. Potter Baraboo, sends
a letter from Manchester, England.
He says in raTt:
Am spending q few days at an
American rest camp somewhere in
England. Expect to depart any time
for France Have Wiscosin boy as
a 9hunk,mate,P and several Michi-
gan and Illinois boys are in the same
barracks. We are very comfortably
CHARTERED and all feeling fine after
the sea voyage. Think there must
be some truth in that statement about
feeling fine after being sea sick. About
two days out / was not feeling very
comical; about four, | was woefully
dizzy at times, and about the fifth day
| began heaving But I was very much
encouraged after | staggered to the
deck to find that ! was not as weak
as many Of the other fellows, judging
from the distance ! threw my lunch.
The sea was rough almost all the way
usually is during January and Feb
ruary. We lost little sleep worrying
about submarines. The British de-
stroyers gave us much comfort, and
we were not in the least afraid to
take most Of our clothing off, even
while in Sub" zones.
Am not going to tell you about the
ancient castles, cathedrals, walls, etc.,
because you and many others have
seen them, and those who haven't
surely have read and seen pictures Of
them, but will say that they are worth
a trip around the world to see. Our
party has been very courteously treat
ed by the British. People here are
very conserving Of food, due to the
serious shortage that threatens the
whole world. But the people are
about as optimistic as those in the
"States"-a new name have learned
to call the United States.
The air raid problem in England is
being controlled to a large extent by
stationing large guns about the cities,
these guns forming barrage when
ever a raid is threatened.
Upon talking with an Englishman
learned that the Germans were
treated justly in the Island after the
sinking of the Lusitania-there were
many Of them interned for the dura-
ton of the war There is no question
in my mind but what we have been
too lenient with them in some of our
American cities. In some cases it
was necessary to break few bake
shop windows and, figuratively speak
Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1918-03-14

at range Of 25 yards with my AS
Do you think by the looks of that that
a boche will get very close?" (Edi-
tors note: The paper target looks
as though the muzZle of a shotgun
had been within a few inches of it
when the shot was fired, it was so
full of holes. In fact, the target was
mostly all holes.) "The sinking Of
the Tuscania came out in the papers
today 1t sure ought to wake the
people UP in the United States, for
up to the present it's a cinch they
haven't realized what we're in for and
up against.
81 have just let out another notch
in my belt (makes the fourth) and
my uniforms are so tight for me that
they are uncomfortable.
well, I am coming into my own
at last. Yesterday received eight let
ters and today nine, a cablegram, a
box Of candy, and January and 8
Baraboo papers. Believe me, it was
certainly great Also got your clip
ping Of Lloyd Battles letter and see
he is in the 9Th marines. Their regi-
ment is in our division, and if he is
not on detached service he is only
Is or 20 miles from here. Wrote him
a letter immediately to see if I could
not locate him.
eve are taking lessons in first aid,
gas instruction, bandaging, local and
general anosthesia, fractures, espe-
cially those from shells and bullets.
(You see we get all the wounds from
the neck up, and 60 per cent Of the
wounds are head wounds).
"You don't know how good it seems
to get the Baraboo papers"
Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1918-03-14

Mr. an1 Mrs T, J. Martyr Of Mil
waukee have received the following
letter from their son, Earl Veerhusen,
who was OF the Tuscania:
Ireland, Feb. 8, 1918.
My Dear Folks:
We arrived here i'll Ireland We'd
nesday morning, February at 400
O'Clock. Our boat was sunk by a sub
marine, but most all were saved. The
weather here is very rainy, but every
thing is nice and green just like
spring. don't know how long we will
be here, but we don't expect to be
very long. The people here are very
nice, especially the English and the
Irish soldiers. They give us tobacco
and clothes to keep US warm. Tonight
we are going to town to hear some
singing, and they give us eats about
8 O'Clock. We just got through hav-
ing tea. They only drink tea here.
An Irish soldier just came in and gave
US a razor so we could shave. ] am
going to buy me a razor as soon as
we get any money.
l saw an Englishman who came
from the same part of England as you
did.
Gee, it has been long while since
have written any mail or received
any mail Well. I am feeling fine
and getting heavy I will be glad to
hear how you all are. Send this let
ter to Hazel and will write you both
in few days. I remain, your son,
CPL. EARL VEERHUSEN.
Truck Co. e. 107 supply train.
Q. M. c. A e. F.