davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26
This is what remained Of Y. M.
c. A. hut after it had been struck
by an aerial torpedo.

When the second one broke, hs ran for
the place where 1t had fallen. He ran
harder than he had ever run before and
The next thing he knew he was lying face
down. He tried to move and couldn't 1t
was like the kind of dream that most peo-
pie have had. Then came another she'll It
was behind him. He had run through the
barrage. He stirred and found that he
was held by loose dirt Gradually he shook
himself out of it. And then he walked and
crawled and ran straight ahead to the place
whore the boys he served were hidden. They
got their cigarettee and chocolates that
night-as usual. They could tell you how
untrue is the charge that the Y NJ c. A.
never gave away its supplies. They knew.
few nights later this Georgia man
heard about machine gun crew stationed
four hundred yards ahead of the most ad-
vanced battery. He heard that those boys
had been without the things that the Y NJ.
c. A. gives the men in the front line He
asked permission to take them those things
and he got it.
To reach them he had to cross an open
field four hundred yards wide As he
stepped into it a flare went up from the
Germans. He dropped to the ground Pres
emily the light died down and he went on.
Four times he had to drop and lie motion
less 20 save himself from the eyes of the
sharpshooters waiting for any sign Of hu-
man movement in the field. He got there
and back-and the boys had their supplies
That sort of thing happened all the way
up and down that wsvy line that separated
our troops from the Boches Men like him
were driving camonettes alone roads where
they found shell holes on the homeward
journey, holes which weren't there when
they drove out. Along one stretch of the
line the boys in the most advanced posts
got American papers printed in Paris by
noon of the day they were issued One
camionette driven by "Y" man did moth
ing but make this paper route.
Men like this from Montana and Cali
fornia and Michigan and Ohio and Maine
lived with their troops in exposed posi-
tions and carried up to their outposts
every night the things that they craved and
without which the deadly grind of the most
dangerous occupation on earth would eat
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26

of scientific research and the practical
work upon it as to assist the local au-
thorlties to continue the work themselves
Before the entry of the United States
into the war the International Health
Board was already engaged on this pro-
gramme in South and Central America. The
work will be under the direction of DR..
William c. Gorgas, who, having reached
the age limit, retired last October as sur
geon general of the United States Army
General Gorgas has now, as director of yell
low fever work, resumed the post which he
temporarily relinquished when this coun-
try entered the war.
General Gorgas will sail within a short
time for Central and South America. DR..
Nj. Z. Connor has already preceded him to
Guayaquil on invitation of the government
OF Ecuador. He will guide the local opera
tlons, which will be carried on by men ap-
pointed by the Ecuadorean authorities.
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26

gas director. The Secretary of War had
agreed to release the surgeon general for
this service, but the war compelled post
ponemcnt of the work, which is now to be
resumed.
"Yellow fever is transmitted from vel
low fever patient to another person by the
female mosquito of the Stegomyia species.
1t is house mosquito and breeds in stand
ing water, in drains, sagging caves. bar
res and any receptacle in which water may
stand for any length of time. Eradication
of the mosquito through the destruction of
its breeding places eradicates the disease.
Before the commissions survey was
made, in 1916, it was supposed that there
were rather numerous centres in South and
Central America where yellow fever was
constantly present, and, therefore, points
from which the disease might be carried.
But it was found that the especially dan
gerous focal points were few That fact
gives rise to the belief that energetic meas
ures which now may be taken under General
Gorgas will produce results of great i'm
portance"
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26
The "Y's"
Casualties

Nine "Y" secretaries were killed by she'll
fire while on duty. Twenty were seri
cusly gassed or wounded. Thirty-one more
died in the service, chiefly from exposure
and overwork Ten have been cited for
bravery or have been decorated.
But if you ask the men themselves about
the Red Triangle men who were with them
at the front they scarcely ever mention that
this man brought in lieutenant whose legs
had been shot off or that that man helped
carry in a colonel. or that another carried
stretcher until he. too, was hit. They
just say: Hes there, that guy!7
You cant describe the type that made
this sort of "Y" man. Some of them were
clergymen; some merchants or lawyers or
statesmen. Few of them had any connec-
tion with the Y. NJ C. A. before the war.
But there is one quality common to them
all-one purpose that actuated them all
to serve the boys who were fighting their
fight, to be there to help them when help
most needed by the men who were
standing up to the full weight of the war.
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26
By Woodrnan Morrison

E UsT because St. George is supposed to
have gone forth and to have slain
~ dragon that claimed an occasional
maiden for meal his exploit has
been celebrated for centuries in song and
legend, and ne has become the patron saint
OF England and a couple of other nations.
But dragon thal claimed it's millions of
men and women and Children too. as we'll
as maldenst has been backed into corner
and Is about to be given it's quietus, and
the only mention Of it is a casual paragraph
IN the dails papers
winch Is by way Of saying that yellow
1eVer' one of the greatest scourges in the
history OF the world, pestilencc that once
swept over cities and entire nations like
flames through the dry grass of the prairie
ana wiped out entire populations has been
oriVen back into its home, into the several
places IN the world where it is enido,oio
IL Ai"ays present, and a corps of modorp
81. 'eorges is even now on the wav ~ o;,,o
II it's deathblow. These st Cecroo. ..o
headed by DR.. William C. Gorgas. SURGEON
General tretired) Of the United Statos
Army, the greatest living authority on vol.
low Fever and the man who banished II
IRON the Panama Canal Zone. The ex-
petition goes out with the avowed jntcn-
ton Of ridding the world of this most
deadly Of plaques and confident belief
that 1t will succeed.
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26
Hidden Reservoirs
OF Disease

Inc light that is expected to see the end
% Se'io% fever is being waged by the In
ternational Health Board Of the RockcfcIlor
Foundation. i is the elimination Of cam
pa'sn which has been growing in force and
erec'iYcness ever since the discovery in
1899 by Dr.. Walter Reed, one Of the e,eat
heroes Of the medical world, that vel
'"~ leYer 'a due solely to the bite Of
"o29N't0' 70 one particular kind Of nos-
qui'o, ~ fact the Stegomg;a species. Kip
ing might have been writing about this
family when he recorded the fact that "the
female Of the species Is more deadly than
the male for IL is only the female Ste
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26
Too Near tie Boche
To Speak

The Red Triangle man kept along the
fringe of the woods, crossed a little field
and on through another clump of trees.
Then he crept along the edge of stream.
Once, when she'll broke near him, he
slipped his gas mask into position. A few
Yards further on he dropped into a gun-pit.
He took out one of his packages and passed
on his treasures to the silent boys who
reached ont their hands. 1t was too near
to the Boches to speak.
A moment later he was wriggling across
the grass Down into another gun-pit he
went. Again he handed around his choco
late, his cigarettes, his cookies and
peaches.
So the Y. NJ. c. A. man kept crawling
from one pit TO another until his pack was
empty. Then he returned the way he had
come.
Fighting in the open made it necessary
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26
BY Roy S. Durstine

MAN who used to be in the
u oil business in Montana stood IN
4 "a der the caves of stone hut in
village just across a deep ravne
from the German lines He wore a tin hat,
a Y. NJ. c. A. blouse, gas mask strung
around his neck and high boots caked with
mud and dust He was watching the end
OF path in the woods behind his shack
1t was dark in there, but where he stood
there was plenty of twilight to keep things
clear. Presently through the path came
another man in the same uniform-a man
who used to be in the piano trade in New
Jersey. His arms were full of packages
and more bundles were strapped around his
1neeh.
"Whew" he exclaimed. "Some load!"
THAT'S fine! What you got to -nght?"
MOSTLY chocolate and cigarettes Yes,
and cookes-and canned peaches"
Good boy! Some of my crowd were
thirstier than usual last night. A little
feverish, l guess These peaches will
help
Together they sorted out the packages.
From the woods an American battery
crashed out occasionally. Overhead, like
n lazy bee, aeroplane droned. Then
suddenly, with a noise that was half whis-
tie and half roar, a shell travelled majesti-
cally overhead. Another came along, go
ing in the opposite direction The two
men stood quietly at work, beneath this
canopy OF sound
"Where did you leave your camionette 2"
asked the Montana man. Camonette Is
French for Ford delivery car.
"Just beyond the woods"
"Aren't they shelling that road to-
nght?'
"sure they are. You ought to see the
hole that Fritz dug just behind me as
came along. You could lose my tin Lizzie
in it, The New Jersey man turned to 60
'Wel, good luck! See you tomorrow
night" And he dipped into the woods.
Bring me- some matches tomorrow, if
you can lay your hands on any," the man
from Montana called after him. "Beaucorp
matchesl'
Then he turned and began loading his
own pack. When the job was finished he
closed the door of his stone house, swung
up his pack and started-toward German
territory. Now the artillery was at it in
earnest. From aboves came the drone of
another kind of bee-one that seemed to-
have a broken wing. That was the spas
modic buzz-buzz that meant the night-Av-
ing Hun.
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26

that would give absolute proof Two pri-
vate soldiers from Ohio John R. Kissinger
and John j. Moran heard of the prospec-
tive tests and offered themselves as sub
jects. DR.. Reed told them of the very great
danger there was and of the terrible suffer-
ing that was certain if the disease was con-
tracted. The soldiers said they had con-
sdcred the cost. Then DR. Reed told them
sum Of money had been set aside to pay
any persons who underwent the test. The
volunteers firmly but quietly declared that
they would accept no reward. Touching
his cap, DR.. Reed, an officer of the regu-
lar army, said:
"Gentlemen, I salute you"
Kssinger, placed in closely screened
room, was subjected to the bites of IN
fected mosquitoes. Moran, also in tightly
built room, slept in a shirt taken from a
fever patient. Kssinger contracted the
disease, but lived. Moran did not contract
the disease, proving the germ could not
be transmitted in clothing
DR.. Reed returned to the United States,
his great work done, broken man; and
taps" were sounded not many years later
over his grave in Arlington Cemetery. Two
OF the men who watched his experiments
and gave him every assistance were Gen
eral Gorgas and General Leonard Wood,
then governor general of Cuba. Under Cen
eral Woods directions the discovery Of Dr..
Reed was quickly put into practical use.
with the result that yellow fever was quick
ly stamped out in Cuba General Gorgas
performed the same service in the Canal
Zone. What it means in lives saved may
best be judged by considering the official
hgutes from Rio de Janeiro In thirteen
years 2S,07S persons had died there of yell
low fever. Selling quickly upon Dr. Reeds
discovery, that progressive Brazilian city
adopted scientific methods of fighting mos
quitoes, with the result that in 1906 the
deaths from yellow fevef aad fallen to a.,
in 1907 to 80. in 1908 to 4. The next year
yellow fever had been entirely stamped out.
What has been done in Cuba, in the
Canal Zone and in Rio de Janeiro the Cor
gas commission is about to attempt in the
lairs into which the beast has been driven.
When this scourge of the centrrias r,--
cumbs to the bright lance of science wnsss
is the plague that dares consider itself
safe7
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26

Philadelphia of 1903, gives many details
that are too narrowing to repeat, but has
this account of general conditions:
The CONSERVATION of the people of Phia-
delpha at this time was carried bevond
all bounds. Dismay and alright were visible
IN the countenances of nearly every person.
VI those who remained in the city, MANY
smut themselves up in houses and were
AFRAID to walk the streets. The corpses of
the most respectable citizens, even those
who did not die of the epidemic, were car
rled to graves on shafts of a chair (chaise).
the horse driven by negro, unattended bv
friend or relative and without any kind of
ceremony Acquaintances and friends avoid
ed each other in the streets and only signi
fled their regard by cold nod The old
custom of shaking hands fell into such
disuse that many shrunk back affrighted at
even the offer of the hand. A person with
Grape or any appearance of mourning was
Stunned like viper
And all the while the busy little lady
Stegomyia was buzzng about and biting
people and being considered only a sting
ing nuisance Which is rather strange at
that, for as far back as 1869 Athanasius
Alrcher, learned priest and naturalist,
published a book in Rome to prove that in
sects carry disease and declared very posi-
lively that diseases were spread by flies
Whlch allghted on persons that were i'll and
then communicated the disease to food
which was eaten by other persons who then
contracted the disease.
But it wasn't till the Spanish American
war that the deadly nature of the fly was
discovered, and the present war has taught
us that it s the "cootie" that spreads such
things as typhus. 1t is inconceivable how
many millions of persons have been slain
by flies and mosquitoes between the time
the learned Athanasius Kircher wrote his
book and the war with Spain took our med
icai men to Cuba. For it is out of that war
that has come the discovery of the typhoid
fly and the yellow fever mosquito.
To DR.. Carlos J. Finlay. president of the
Superior Board of Health of Cuba, belongs
the credit of FIRST formulating the theory
that yellow fever due to mosquitoes.
That was in 1891. For hundreds of wears
and up till after the war with Spain. Cuba
was never entirely free of the pestilence.
DR.. Finlays theory didn't get much support.
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26

that's mighty impersonal statement This
is how personal that fact was to that
Georgia minister one night last summer:
He was going up to his outposts. Shells
were breaking off in the woods beside him.
Then he heard one whistle past, vicousIv
low, and crash a few hundred feet behind
him. Almost Immediately one slashed in
ahead The next one struck closer ahead.
The one behind sounded trife further
away. Then he realized what had happened.
He was caught between two barrages
He watched the luminous face of his
watch. There was interval of minute
and a half between the two next shells.
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26

You could forgive almost anything but
that. And so these incidents set down here
as they were observed in France last sum
mer, may help to remove an undcserved
stigma from the work that was done by
men who had new probema to solve every
day.
Put yourself into strip of country that
is like the foothills of the Berkshires, or the
upper part of Westchester County. people
it with soldiers in the unexpected places
and try to imagine how you would contrive
to get to them the comforts and little lux
uries which made life bearabe. That was
the "Y' problem and it began solving that
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26
Truths About the "Y' Men Who Didn't Have to G0-Bu

into the soldiers nerves beyond endurance
They meant more to the boys than can
be put in words. The boys themselves got
husky throats when they spoke of their
Red Triangle friends. 1t wasn't merely the
comforts that these men brought, though
the Importance of such triie as a cookie
or a bar of chocolate can't be overempba.
sized when every nerve in your body calls
for it. 1t was the very presence of these
civilians in the "Y' uniforms that heartenea
the boys these men who didn't have to be
there, men we'll past military age. or de-.
clared unfit for military service, men wbo
might just well have been sitting :.
home reading The war news from safe
range
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26
Cheer From tie World
In Back

And It was something else, too. It was
the smile and the friendly word that Went
with these Y. N. c. A. supplies. 1t was
the proof that the big world back here wes
backing them I'D, and there were times
when letters were held up, when that
seemed to be very much in doubt.
Take the case of forty year-old LAWYER
from Jackson, Tenn. He went I'd with his
troops when they went into position. He
didn't think any more of doing it than did
any of the other "Y" men who Got the
chance. He just went
But their position was particularly ad-
vanced and the shelter was only grove
of trees. For two nights he slept in his
pup tent next to two officers and an in
terpreter. Meanwhile he was going back
to meet the man with the camionette to get
his supplies each day. He had accumulated
quite store, and when the first dueout
was completed he was told to move in. he
put his stores away and climbed In beside
them to go 60 sleep.
Early in the morning he heard a shell
break especially near. He came out and
there where the shelter tents had been and
where his friends, the officers and the in
terpreter, had been sleeping there was moth
ing much left. All three were dead, hid
eously dead. 1t must have been a tempta-
tion to ask to be transferred back to zone
of comparative safety. 1t could have been
arranged. But the idea didn't seem 70 occur
to him. He stayed right where he was, and
he stayed as long as his troops stayed,
without even the short respites that came
to the men he served.
More than once it seemed necessary for
men like these to go out with their boys
to help bring in the ones that couldn't ees
back alone. The Y. N. c. A. list of casual
ties IS a story IN itself. 1t is a record OF
glorious achievement.
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26

problem successfully as soon as the troops
moved into .his area.
When a Methodist minister from little
Georgia town near Atlanta moved UP with
his artillery he helped to work out the plan
that was put into operation wherever his
division was stationed. Every night he met
the camionette which brought the supplies
Every night he hit the lone trail between
the reserve and the outpost Of his regiment
Part of the way he could go on horseback
for it was five kilometres between the two
points. The rest of the journey was afoot,
through the glades along the roads
When you say that region is under fire.
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26
The UnforgivabIe
Charge

But there is one charge which can be
answered only by The testimony of those
who searched into 1t at first hand. That is
that Y. NJ c. A men did not go to the
front lines-that they lodged danger.
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26
The Tests That
Convinced

Stiii the surviving members of the COM
MISSION were not satisfied. They decided
that all shadow of doubt must be removed.
A camp was formed where every form of in
lection was to be tried under conditions
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26

but after peace had come with Spain the
United States undertook the task Of solving
the yellow fever problem.
New-York tribune., 1919-01-26

A MAN who used to be in the
~ oil business in Montana stood un-
x "A der the caves Of stone hut in n
Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1919-06-11
Own Your Home Law.

Some new departures are made at
every session of congress and these
innovations in legislation, if they
may be termed such, are helpful to
a considerable portion of the citizen
ship of America. AS a sort of COM
panion law to that which assists
young men in purchasing and paying
for farm, measure has been intro
duced in congress providing fund
to be used in assisting heads of fam
lilies to own their homes. This is a
commendable step forward in estab-
fishing thousands of homes in Ameri-
ca upon a firmer foundation.
The Advertiser has always urged
men who are renting homes or farms
to purchase just as soon as they see
their way clear to meet the payments.
All things else being equal, the man
who owns his home makes better
citizen. He takes greater interest in
the community life, in the develop
ment of the schools, in the support of
the churches, in building and main
tanning good roads and in scores of
other ways he manifests a broader
spirit. He becomes more of perma-
nent resident, being more firmly an
chored by the ownership of home
or farm.
We trust that the measure to pro-
vide federal assistance with the view
of increasing the number of home
owners in America will become a
law.
Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1919-06-11
Good For Compulsory Education.

Good For Compulsory Education.
The Advertiser is not informed at
this time just what the increase will
be in school attendance in Edgefeld
county as the result of the enforce
ment of the compulsory school at
tendance law, but we see already that
some other sections of the State will
be very materially benefited. A dis
patch from Greenville states there
will be sufficient increase in school
attendance in the city of Greenville
and vicinity to make necessary the
employment of fifteen additional
teachers. That is fine. If the law ac-
complished no more than that, for
one county even, it would be worth
while. But is it not reasonable to sup
pose that every one of the forty-fve
counties in the State will be benefit
ted? In counties where the percent
age of illiteracy is high the beneficial
results of this much-needed law will
be greatest. The percentage of illit-
eracy among the white population of
Edgefeld' county is very low, proba-
bly, lower than the average county in
the State. Yet in spite of this record,
Edgefeld needs the law, if it be the
means of causing a dozen more chill
dren to attend school at least four
months of the school term.
We believe the law will be enforc-
ed in this county, and it should be en-
forced in every other county in the
State.
Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1919-06-11
Not Able to Own Bonds.

Brokers are bidding for Liberty
bonds and our people are selling
them. The South was able to buy
bonds but it is not yet able to own
bonds. 1t would be safe to stake a
goodlyN sum upon the assertion that
ninety per cent. of the eighteen bill
lions of dollars of war bonds issued
will be owned in eight of the forty
eight States in less than ninety days.
However, give US what our cotton is
worth for a few years and we will be
able to buy them back and some more
besides. All the South asks is half a
chance.