The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1919-02-06
Marvin Smith Tells
Of Fall of Man Who
Killed Roosevelt
Here are two fine letters from Mar
vim Smith written to d. E. Gibson:


Here are two fine letters from Mar
vim Smith written to d. E. Gibson:
Cob,enz. Germany. Jan. 3. 1919.
New Years was very ordinary. i
worked all morning and our dinner
was nothing more than usual. In the
afternoon l went over to an old Ger
man aviation field where the Huns
were making delivery of some planes
called for IN the armistice terms. Be
fore the machines are accepted by our
air men they are flown by German
aviators and thoroughly tested On
this day the flyer was Donhauser, the
one who killed Quentin Roosevelt a
few months ago.
He is a small fellow. no taller than
Haukole. who used to be in the OFFICES
there. but Is considerably heavier. He
is very young. % believe he said, but
has had four and one-half-years' expe-
rience in the army. and small
amount during times of peace previous
TO the war. Is very bright. talks good
English and is very likeabie.
He got into a small plane. smaller
even than the Folker plane. called a
Rolard- From the moment he left the
ground he began stunts that would
keep you up all night to see. He has
30 planes to his credit, and guess it
Is no wonder.
Then he came down to land. and
after all the evidence of skill he had
shown. he smashed his machine to
pieces and almost killed himself Be-
fore we could get to him he had
crawled out from under the machine.
but after a few yards on his hands
and knees he fell over on his face.
They brought him down here at
once. finding broken arm and inter
nal injuries. but which are not fatal.
He explained that from the moment
he left the ground he was scared to
death; there was something wrong in
the engine. but yet il worked well
enough that he get the work needed.
Then as he volplaned down for the
landing he put on the power as he
neared the field. but without response
from the engine. He lost what avia-
tors call their flying speed" and he
could NOT get the power TO get back
up into the air before striking the
ground He hit squarely. but without
choice of a good section of the field
His wheels struck in loose dirt and
mud. and the pl=.e made fiip-fiop.
The novelty of going to town has
worn on now. Everywhere you go
there are so many soldiers that IL Is
just like being in camp. so what is the
use. ] attempted to get my watch
iSed and believe every watch in the
Third army Is broken.
Everyone IS wondering when we
will be ordered home. TIE British
soldiers are told when thes are TO be
demobilized. and they know what to
expect. but we do not know whether
we are TO be released this year or next.
~ then. In my opinion ii Is not a ques-
tion OF what can and cannot be done
BY the army. II is a question of the
people at home demanding II done. II
that pressure is brought into play we
will get there In hurry. ad IL Il is
not we may be here a long time
There are rpmors that we will be on
pur way within the next so days. and I
Inn inclined to believe he will. So I
now look forward to being there by
Easter
There is still quite little influenza
in the army. but more pneumonia.
which Is even worse. From the pa
pers and letters I have recently had
\ imagine that the epidemic in the
states is under control in most To-
caii,ies, but surely it has been an ex-
cecd'rgiy hard proposition all fall.
Thanking you again in every way
possible for your most kind remem-
hrance. and hoping to see you soon
Cobienz. Germany. Dec. 25. 1918.
NY Dear Mr.. Gibson: On Decem-
ber IL we left vaubecourt in the Gus
tomary and far.famed French box
cars. and after fve days trip we ar
rived in Cobenz. II was in the dark
ness aud during the ever-present rain
OF that county. and I can assure that
we all were glad to be leaving II even
though we were adding miles from
home.
France is a wonderful country and
she possesses one ine army They
say her officers are as fine a bunch of
men as you can ever meet. How
ever we enlisted men never had had
the opportunity to see the best side of
the aife there nor have been in the
larger cities ard best places. We
were. from the day We landed In Cher
bourg. until the day we left too busy