The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-04-06
TINY GENERAL HERE
ABOARD TROOP SHIP
Crippled Lad, ID, Stowaway on
Ell Oriente, Tells Tales Of
=
War Adventures.
NEARLY 1000 MEN HOME
Sunset Soldiers Come, All
f: With Exciting Stories Of
the Great Conflict.

The biggest thing in the way OF war
news and the smallest thing In the way
,of stature that drifted into the port
yesterday was General jacques Du-
scace, a little boy whose shrunSen leg
made his weakened body seem even
tsmaller than It really is. but whose
lima eination Is greater than the universe
ron a cloudleas night.
Jacques was lowered in lpo'sn's
chair over the rail of the transport FL
Oriente yesterday in GravesenL Bay
clutching a handkerchief wrapped about
$22 with one hand and waving 1areweh
with the other to the sixty-ffve soldiers
ton board and the ships crew, who to a
man were lined up along the rail stand
Ting stifly at salute or waving vigorously
according to individual opinion rs to the
tbest way of bidding such very small
!general good-by.
The ship he was lowered into was the
customs cutter Immigrant, which went
to greet the soldiers aboard Ell oriente
at Gravesend Bay and which remained
TO take away the most important person
aboard. as a unanimous vote undoubt-
edly would have shown even though that
person was a stowaway who had sue
ceeded in keeping his small body safely
screened from the gaze of the captain
until three days out of Bordeaux. Just
!, how he got aboard at Bordeaux Is what
10 known in detective stories as an ''un-
SOolvable mystery" but judging from the
number of cats, dogs, boys, goats and
other small units of the animal kingdom
direct from the firing line which have
arrived recently on troop ships the
,doughboys on board may know some
thing about II.
Jacques himself admits the ripe age
of IA, but the testimony OF his body
seems to be against this. Certainly he
has lived fourteen SCORE OF years In adj
venture II one-quarter of the vivid tales
OF the fighting line he. tells are chapters
from his own life.
why Worry for Future with $22f
His entry into a new hemisphere Is
20 him a small matter, and rs to what
In TO happen to him here he cares not.
Has he not S22 collected among the SOL
diers on board? Then why worry about
the future when It Is provided for? No
body on the cutter which was bearing
him into the official NAV of the customs
Office answered the question yesterday.
According to the story most frequently
+. related by Gen" Jacques yesterday he
. is a native of Alsace Lorraine. born of
! Belgian parents. Just before the start
OF the war he was visiting his grand
parents in Belgium when the Germans
burst through. His grandparents were
among their victims. his mother died
within a year. and his father like a
} good Belgian was killed fighting under
King Albert From ruined village to
ravaged countryside and from muddy
y trench to watery shell hole Gen
Jacques wandered, he says, until finally
he found himself among the Ameri-
cans He decided that the country from
which came these strange Americans
. stupidity unable to speak French. but
I. clever enough with their guns and very
generous in the matter of sharing ra-
/, lions with the small and hungry. that
this country was good country for
one who wearied of mud and shell holes
Consequently he came.
His shrivelled limb he declared that
the Germans had given him. but the
medical men who examined him shook
their heads and said that he had had
the affliction from birth. The memory
OF boy of his age concerning his owr
condition Ave years ago. before the Ger
mans started on the rampage, may bt
confused so Gen" Jacques may be un.
knowingly attributing this evil 20 thu
Germans. who were responsible for mos
OF the evils he saw. during his years Of
homelessness. Or Gen" Jacques may
be exaggerating no unusual thing for G
soldier to do when he yarns to CT
william.
Certainly, the surgeons are unable L
discover on the Generals small form
any trace OF the many bullets and bay
onets which the tiny adventurer claim
to have met up with in his career Blu
anyhow. Gen" Jacques and his 81.
are here.
How Private Won Captaincy.
Two other transports. the wilhelmin,
and the Edgar F. Luckenbach. also cam
into port yesterday with cargoes of sol
diers and stories. A hot water bottl
was absolutely the only reason VIII,
Louis Laplace, a consulting engineer o
2547 Thirty-first avenue. San Francisco
received a citation from Brig. Gen NJ
NJ. Walker. according to the story tn
man from San Francisco told on tn
Wilhelmina- II didn't seem a bit rea
sonable to the ship news reporter
aboard 1t was only after questions ha
been fired at friends of Laplace tina
It was learned that the reason why
earned him his citation was that h
carried 1t into action in the terrih
pghting In the Argonne strapped to hi
head. He had been wounded badly sbou
the head two days before by shrapne
and hot water applications seemed I
be the only thing that soothed him. TIL
trick hot water bottle and a few othe
little Things which were not hauled oil
into the cold light OF publicity yester
day explain the fact that Laplace wen
Into the war private and came ou
a Captain.
The transport also carried 1871 off
GERS and men of the 18TH Regiment an
casual companies. all being commando
by Brig. Gen. A. NJ. futile of Munci
ARK. Lieut.. L. ]. Woodwork of Jane.
Vile, Wis, of the 360th Field Hospita
had rather interesting experience wit
piece Of shrapnel. While doing fir,
aid work in the Argonne-the fore,
where dead men outnumbered the trees
a piece of shrapnel imbedded itself
his head under his ear. 1t worked alon
near his brain and finally came O,
again over his left eye. During n
journey Lieut.. Wordsworth was In u
hospital
Califonia's own. the Sunset Division
was represented on the transport Edge
f. Luckenbach, which locked at Pier
Bush Terminal. Brooklyn, after a tr
OF fourteen days from Bordeaux Tt
Californians, who are the % officers an
zoos men OF the 159th Infantry OF Il
Fortteth or Sunset Division, will 3
TO Camp Mills for a time. Many
the men were recruited from the motto
picture city Of Los Angeles, and had q
opportunity to show all the way aero!
that 1t is luck. not the feet, OF Charl
Chaplin that gave him a yearly salaI
out of which he pOuld nav rArp,a ~