The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1918-05-30
Veteran Saw Per-
shing Land in FranCei ViS-
tied Ruined Village During
Bombardment,

General Pershng and his troops
beat me to England by four days but
! got down TO the border during the
trouble there. ahead OF the national
guards from my state" said Peggy
Hall, veteran war correspondent OF two
wars who is here visiting her friend,
Mrs G.. NJ Hall OF the Seminole hotel
But Miss Hall appears TO be anything
but veteran, although she declares
that she has done newspaper work for
eight years. in Hawaii, the Philippines
and anywhere else anything exciting
happened A petite figure in her reg
ulatlon war correspondents uniform,
with her blond hair curling from un-
der her cap, she looks like a typical
magazine cover girl.
Here on Furlough
Miss Hall has been ~ the war zone
for the Chicago Tribune and the FL
Paso Morning Times, and IS N the
United States now on furlOugh. where
she is speaking IN the different train
ing camps In July she will return 10
England and will visit Italy, as naval
correspondent for western newspaper
syndicate There she will visit the
naval bases and training camps
"l'll he glad when my contract eN-
plrcS," declared Miss Hall This war
IS too terrible. Now the war on the
Mexican border had all the romance
and excitement without much danger
Even the Mexlcans were sportSmanlke
in their fighting But these Germans
you cannot realize here the conditions
N the war zone.
1T is this way over there In Paris
YOU bid five friends good by Three OF
them never return and the other two
are unrecognrable when they come
back" and Miss Hall had a far-away
look in her eyes as she shrugged her
shoulders
Paris Changed Much.
Paris IS gay Paree" no longer. ac-
cordIng TO her. 1t is dark at night,
and although a few theaters are open,
no one goes. for there is no music. In
fact the pianos in the hotel parlors have
been removed and there are no or
chestras. All the women are in black
for they wear mourning for even very
distant relatives There are some dash
ing young Partisan widows, she de-
clares, but the British and American
war officials look on them with dis
favor, as some spies have been found
among them. The secret OF the British
tanks was gained in this way. 1t IS
in the provinces that the wonderful
real French women are found. accord
ing to Miss Hall, who cannot praise
them too highly.
Such mourning is not the case in
England" said Miss Hall. There the
women agreed not TO wear black. Lon
don is much gayer place than Paris.
But people who think that the city is
filled with officers enjoying life are
mistaken. They have something else to
do. There are plenty of soldiers there,
it is true, but one seldom goes out
with an able bodied soldier. II is not
considered good form there And the
pitiful sights one sees In Paris the
crippled, mutlated men are kept out
OF sight as much as possible. Eng
land has such a sportsmanlike way OF
taking her troubles. it is a thing to ad-
mire"
Saw Pershing Land.
Miss Hall reached Paris, from Eng
land, in time TO see General Pershing
and his troops arrive Then she tried
in vain to get to the American training
camps The French and British camps
were open TO the American CORES
pondents, but Frederick Palmer, who
had charge Of the American press, made
II difficult for our correspondents to
get near our troops, according to Miss
Hall. After two months OF waiting
she made a complaint to a commanding
officer whom she had known while on
the border. He at once arranged for
her to 60 to an American artillery
camp where no woman had gone The
troops she had known at the Mexican
border happened to be stationed in this
very camp, and when Miss Hall ar
rived they had a regular reunion.
$50 | got even with Frederick Pal
mer after all, laughed Miss Hall. "a
remained in this camp three months and
had exclusive rights. While ! was
there Ring w. Lardner, George Pat.
tullo, and Harris Dickson came, but
! got there first"
General Pershing. whom Miss Hal
had known on the border, visited tn,
camp while Miss Hall was there ant
she tells an interesting snecdote about
him.
General Pershing Superstitious.
The general was never thought to be
| superstitious. said she, "but one day