Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1918-05-23

| UTOhtHtu llc 5ubJcSh ahA Ae oAN'
up like a clam. After few minutes
he very lnnocently said:
German snIpers get paid rewards
for killing the English"
eagerly asked, "What are theyr'
He answered:
"r0r killing or woundlng an English
private. the sniper gets one mark. For
killing or woundlng an English officer
he gets five marks. but II he kills Red
Cap or English general. the snlDer gets
twenty-one days tied TO the wheel OF a
timber as punishment for his careless
ness"
Then he paused. waiting for me to
bite. l suppose.
| bit all right and asked him why the
snlper was punished for killing an
English general. With smile he re-
piled:
"Well, you see II all the English gen.
erals were killed. there would be no
one left to make costly mistakes"
shut him up, he was getting too
fresh for prisoner After while he
wlnked at me and winked back. then
the escort came to take the prisoners
to the rear. shook hands and wished
him 1.-THE best of luck and safe jour
ney TO Blighty."
liked that prisoner he was a fine
fellow, had an Iron Cross, too. l adj
vised him to keep 1t out of sight, or
some Tommy would be sending 1t home
to his girl In Blighty as souvenir.
One dark and rainy night while on
guard we were looking over the top
from the fire step Of our front-line
trench, when we heard noise imme-
diately In front OF our barbed wire.
The sentry next to me challenged,
HALT, who comes thereT and brought
his rifle to the aim. His challenge was
answered In German. A captain In the
next traverse climbed upon the sand
bagged parapet to investigates brave
but foOlhardy deed-"Crack" went a
bullet and he tumbled back into the
trench with hole through his stomach |
and died Il few minutes later A lance |
corporal In the next platoon was so en-
ragged at the captains death that he
chucked Mills bomb In the direction
of the noise with the shouted warning
to us: Duck your nappers, my lucky
lads" A sharp dynamite report, flare
In front Of us, and then silence.
We Immediately sent up two star
shells. and In their light could see two
dark forms lying on the ground close
to our wire. A sergeant and four
went out In front and
soon returned. carrying two limp
bodies. Down In the dugout, In the
Pickering light of three candles, we
saw that they were two German Off
GERS, one a captain and the other an
"unteroffizier," Il rank one grade higher
than sergeant general, but below the
grade of lieutenant.
The captains face had been almost
torn away by the bombs
explosion. The unteroffizier was alive,
breathing with difficulty. In few min
utes he opened his eyes and blinked In
the glare of the candles.
The pair had evidently been drink
ing heavily for the alcohol fumes were
sickenlng and completely pervaded the
lugout. | turned away in disgust,
lating to see man cross the Great Di- I
vide full of booze. t
One of our officers could speak Ger I
nan and he questioned the dying man.
In a faint voice, interrupted by FREE
Iuent hiccoughs, the unteroffizier told
his story.
There had been a drinking bout
lmong the officers In one of the Ger
nan dugouts, the main beverage being
With a drunken leer he h
us that champagne was plen- :
iful on their side and that 1t did not
'ost them anything either. About seven
hat night the conversation had turned 0
o the contemplate" English and the >
'aptaln had made a wager that he Z
would hang his cap on the English Il
'arbed wire to show his contempt for 4
he English sentrles. The wager was .
accepted. AT eight o'clock the captain .
md he had crept out into No Mans
land to carry out this wager.
They had gotten about halfway
Icross when the drink took effect and
he captain fell asleep. After about :
wo hours Of vain attempts the inter !.
'flizler had at last succeeded in wax :.
ng the captain, reminded him of his q
'et, and warned him that he would be /,
he laughing stock of the officers mess e
t he did not accomplish his object, but Il
he captain was trembling all over and a
insisted on returning to the German
ines. In the darkness they lost their r
bearings and crawled toward the Eng
lsh trenches. They reached the barbed
wire and were suddenly challenged by
'ur sentry. Being too drunk to realize
hat the challenge was ip English, the =
aptain refused to crawl back. Finally
he unteroffizier convinced his superior
hat they were in front of the English
wire. Realizing this too late, the cap
ain drew his revolver and with NUT g
cred, curse fired blindly toward our s
rench. His bullet no doubt killed our s
'aptaiR.
Then the bomb came over and there -