Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1918-01-03
SYNOPSIS

William J. Robinson. q young American
on u business trip In London. catches the
war fever and enlists In IL British cavalry
regiment and lands ut Ostend in October,
1914
Made driver OF an armored car md takes
part in battles about ypres Transferred
to the army service corps. has further
fighting experiences as a motorcycle rider
with machine gun attached and as q dis
patch rider
Describes Christmas Of 1914 In trenches
.oueh of Ypres. Fearful losses. Kills Q
sp,per and tells OF Belgian spies.
CHAPTER ".
The Boy sniper.
A MOTHER shipping incident was
n the case Of Belgian boy only
fourteen years old. On road
which was much used tor transport we
noticed that nearly every night some
Of our officers would be shot. This
went on for some time. and no ono
could explain It. One day one Of our
fellows brought In this kid and said
that he had found him with German
rifle and ammunition In his possession
The boy was cross examined and
finally admitted that 1t was he who
had been shooting officers on the Ouder-
dom road. He said that he had been
furnished with the rifle and told where
he got his ammunition every day He
said he had Instructions not to shoot
any officers with red on their uniform
(staff oiiicers). Now. why he should
have received such an order as this
was mystery to Inc.
lie said that he had been at 1t for
two weeks, and during that time he
had bnIged sixteen officers. He said
he received 6 francs about S1.20, for
every officer he shot. lie was taken
to the rear and shot ut once. We tried
to follow up the information lie had
given rs to where he had received his
ammunition. but his friends had all
gone. 30 l suppose they had been
warned.
About this time. too. we caught an
old man eighty-two years old In
broad daylight he was out with pair
Of nippers cutting our wires We
caught men dressed as women and
women dressed us men. We caught
people flying pigeons from their houses.
In fact, we caught spies doing almost
everything to give information.
We were always trying to make the
trenches we had taken over from the
French little more comfortable. We
made wooden gratings for the bottom
Of them. besides the lookout platform.
From empty oil drums we made bra
ziers and these in particular were
mighty agreeable ut night
The country for couple OF miles
back Of the trenches was deserted.
The people had fed. leaving practical
~ everything. Chickens and pigs were
running wild. and 1t was surprising
how quickly they got almost as wild
as the widest animals.
A pig hunt with fixed bayonets L. 4
very amusing thing to watch. Ge,
about twenty fellows nfter pig aud
they have their work cut out for them,
The pig gives them good run for
their money, but In the end they gem
orally get him. and then comes the
march back to camp with the pig held
aloft on the ends OF several bayonets.
Chicken fishing is great fun, too, but
1t requires patience You take long
piece of string and tie a little piece of
bread to the end of 1t. You lind q
spot where there nre chickens about.
Scatter some crumbs around and also
drop the piece of bread you have on the
end Of the string. Then you find q
convenient tree and sit down with the
other end OF the string In your hand
and wait for the chickens to bite
When one comes to your piece OF bread
you begin jerking 1t nearer to the tree
behind which you are hiding. When 1,
comes within striking distance you
jump as II you were falling on foot
ball, and II you are lucky you will have
chicken for dinner.
was out one day in a motor with
q stan captain and Dave Smith, the
heavyweight champion. whom l bump
ed against during my FIRST days in thu
army. We had been up to brigad,
headquarters and were on return trip
I had taken q shorter way coming
back, and 1t was along a very narrow
road. Dave was sitting in the from
with me, and the captain was in thu
tonneau. We were bowling along a
fairly good pace, and had vision
Of being back in time for dinner.
noticed a few cavalrymen ava!
ahead Of US. but they were 80 far ahea,
didn't pay much attention to them
The first that knew we were strikin
anything out of the ordinary was whel
Dave grabbed my rife out of the buck
ct and began firing over the win,
shield. Then l took another look an
saw the cavalrymen were Germans
and there were seven Of them.