Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1919-05-23
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.

In the Chicago Daily News.
Nashville, Tenn.-He began his MIL
itary career as religious conscien-
tious objectOr. He was convinced OF
the need for killing Germans by argu-
ments drawn from the Bible. And ne
acted on this conviction by killing "a
Germans in a machine gun nest. with
his rifle, and capturing, with five as
sistants, 132 Of the enemy. including
four officers.
This achievement of Corporal York,
which has been called by General Per
shing the greatest single exploit OF
the war, has become famous. but the
man himself remains unknown. And
surely such a man deserves to be ex-
planned. You want to know what sort
of a chap he is. and what environment
fostered such combination OF moral
courage and physical skill.
The answer to these questions Is
found here In the section that pro-
duced Corporal York. 1t may be stated
in a sentence by saying that York be
longs to the vanishing race of old
AmerlCdnS. Mcu WIN WciC JUST 'A~~
him In their faith In God, their courage
and their straight shooting won the
Revolution and several subsequent
wars.
OF Pure American Breed.
Such men have become scarce In
America now. New breeds have come
In and the old breed has been changed
by changing conditions. But there Ia
one section Of America In which the
old American race still breeds true to
type, and more than that still lives
almost as 1t lived when the Boones-
boro men threw down their axes, took
their rifles and went out to extermi
nate General Ferguson's command al
Kings mountain.
The section referred to Is the south
ern Allegheny mountain region. TIT
place where Corporal York was born
and lived all his life until he was callet
to war, is a typical bit Of 1t. Hi
home post Office is Pail Mall. Fentres
county, Tennessee. about 100 mile
, east of this city. There Is nothing a
! Pail Mall except the post office, an
, the three forks of the Wolf riveI
, which come together there. On al
. sides are the wooded ridges Of the Al
; legheny mountains. Until two year
!. ago It was IS miles to the nearest raj
|, road. Many men who went to wa
. from this section saw q railroad trai
!, for the first time when they answere
. the call to arms. To all intents an
purposes they stepped out Of the eigh
. eenth century and into the twentieel
That is what Corporal York did.
!. ReoIon Where clsmens Was Born.
II All the people In this region are
!. Scotch, English, Welsh and Irish stocl
: Their ancestors came down throue
J. the mountains from Virginia and Mort
: Carolina in colonial days. and Il
: lands have been held by the same far
lilies ever since. One Of these famili'
L Is the Clemens family. which produce
Mark Twain. He was born at JAIME
y town. the county seat Of Fentress cou
- ty. His father owned large areas
land near there, which he sold al
Ne traded about in such a way as to II
n mortalize his name, for they are st
We trying to straighten out the titles
q the Clemens lands, and the old mar
be dealings promise to furnish occupati'
for many more generations OF la
a. yers.
r.. York is the 'third from the TOT
IS as they say down here, In a family
u. nine children. and IL twenty-sev
ca years old. His father having dit
an and his two older brothers married.
he became the head of the family a
nd took care of his mother and the IA
he ily homestead. He once described hi
self as being "a kind Of a momme
in boy"
M. He Is not, however, given to descr
-. ing himself ut length. In this count
m where people never talk much unl'
-. they are running for office, the YoI
H. had a reputation for silence. HIS
-. Their is said often to have gone throu
- a whole day in the company OF frie