The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1919-05-31
BY FREDERIC j. HASklN.

Nashville. Tenn.-He began his mil
itary career rs a religious cOnScien-
tiouS objcctor. He was convinced Of
the need for killing Germans by argu-
ments drawn from the Bible. And he
acted on this conviction by killing "A
Germans in Il machine gun nest, with
his rifle. and capturing, with five as
sistants. 1872 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 Il man deserves to be eX-
planned. You want to know what sort
of chap he is, and what environment
fostcrcd such Il combination of moral
courage aud physical skill.
The answer to these questions is
found here in the section that pro-
duced Corporal York. 1t may be stated
in Il sentence by saying that York be-
longs to the vanishing race of old
Americans. Men who We're just like
him in their faith in God. their courage
anu tllt'tI SllootilS N'ii VIC
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 is
one section of America in which the
old American race still breeds true to
type. and more than that still lives
almost as it lived when the BoOnes-
hOro men threw down their axes, took
their rifles and Went out to extermi-
nate General Ferguson's command at
Kings noun ain.
The section referred to is the south
crn Allegheny mountain region. The
place where Corporal York was born
and lived all his life until lie was called
to war, is typical hit of it. His
home post office is Pail Mall, Fentress
county. Tennessee, about 100 miles
east of this city. There Is nothing at
Pail Mall except the post office, and
the three forks of the Wolf river
which come together there. On all
sides are the wooded ridges of the AL
leyheny mountains. Until two years
ago it was 80 miles to the nearest rail
road. Many men who went to war
from this section saw a railroad train
for the first time when they answered
the call to arms. To all intents and
purposes they stepped out of the eight
zenith century and into the twentieth.
That Is what Corporal York did.
Region Where Clemens Was Born.
All the people in this region are of
Scotch, English, Welsh and Irish stock.
Their ancestors came down through
the mountains from Virginia and North
Carolina in colonial days, and the
lands have been held by the same fam
flies ever since. One of these families
is the Clemens family, which produced
Mark Twain. He was born at james
town, the county seat of Fentress coun-
ty. His father owned large areas of
land near there. which he sold and
traded about in such a way us to I'M
mOrtalze his name, for they are still
trying to Straighten out the titles to
the Clemens lands. and the old man 5
dealings promise to furnish occupation
for many more generations of law
yers.
York is the third from the top
as they say down here, in family OF
nine children, and is twenty-sever
years old. His father having died
and his two older brothers married, he
became the head of the family and
took care of his mother and the fam
lily homestead. He once described him
self as being "a kind OF a mommer's
boy
He is not, however, given to describ
ing himself at length. In this cOuntr.
where people never talk much unles:
they are running for office, the York'
had a reputation for silence. His ia
Their is said often to have gone through
a whole day in the company of frien(