New-York tribune., 1919-01-20

+ 'NN CHC unuStStrOO tue case ana guess
/ the explanation will have to come from
the Germans later"
Alfred F. Criado, Of 616 West 116th
Street. OF tie l17th Infantry Machine
Gun Company, vas wounded by shrap-
mel at Mount KENNEL last September r
and returned = patient on the Comfort.
I'VE were lost in smoke screen and
could not find our company" he said.
81 fell into shellhole while was
eroping around. IS fell fc.t some
thing hit me and knock my rife from
my hand. 1t was q machine Gun bullet
I fired by German snirer IN in a tree.
Another doughboy bandaged my hand
j and we were imprisoned for ffteen
hours without food or drink. was
getting pretty weak and tho Germans
were sending I'D fare Ii~hts to try to
, locate us when eeured it was time to
get away or not at all. | crawled half
m!lc to the American lines and then
WAS nearly shot by oar own sentry,
! who challenged ne; | was too weak
! to answer
- WAS with battalion headquarters
and one night We slept in barn with
crowd Of Australian troops" said
Charles Casey, Of Company E. 10th In
fantry, whose home is at 23 Jeqerson
Street, Brooklyn. can American was
lying near my feet, end I asked him to
come and share my blanket 1t was
just S we'll that he did, for at . o'clock
in the morning German arman
dropped bomb which exploded at my
very feet end buried twenty-sx of us.
An iron girdcr fell at the very spot
whore he was sleeping before | called
to him.
after we craw,ed out of The debris,
{ 1t seemed the Huns were determined to
r. f,,,
the fist big drive at Bellecourt ard /
got packet of shrapnol in The left
loot
Fought Against Bolsheyiki
A. j. Tobn. of Austin, Tex. boil
ermakcr on the U. s. S. Olympia, and
who was one of the first American sea-
men to land at Archangel, Northern
Russia, was on the hospital ship.
I'VE fought two months against the
Rolsheviki, and had my arms smashed.
The Reds are nothing more or less than
robbers. They are certainly not fighters.
They looted banks and houses and took
eterything of value. They hated the
French and English, but were partial
to the Americans. On one occasion the ),
showed us an ammunition dump con-
tanning 900 rounds. They issued
paper money the same as we do cigar
cite coupons. Time and again I have
read stories that they cut off girls
ahir and sold it. In fact. it had become
quite tho rage with them.
John w. Perry, OF Woodhavcn, Long
Island, Of Company II, l06th Infantry,
fought at Mont KENNEL and St. Quen-
tin. Here he went over the top and
Vas hit in both legs, remaining in
shell hole two days and two nights
In the meanwhile blood poisoning set
IN. The Germans discovered him and
took him to their hospital and ampu-
lated his right leg. Three weeks later
they took off the other foot
Hospital Conditions PitiabIc
"1he hospital conditions were ter
rble,' Perry said yesterday "For two
months had no change of linen on my
cot, nor was | given bath"
When the English captured the town
ne was taken to a base hospital in Eng
land.
A rcmarkablc story of U-boat opera
tons and the pare United States yes
sells played was told by Lewis Emery
Burgess, of Denver. who was a patient
on the Comfort He was seaman Oh
the United States destroyer Vcnetia,
operating n tire Mediterranean from
October II until two weeks ago The
ship had four distinct skirmishes.
The last encounter was off the coast
of Algiers, when a big tanker which
was part of a convoy fell behind and
was torpedoed. The Veneta dropped
depth bombs, but the result was doubt
tut. But it was on MAY II that Burgess
mad his second encounter with a U-boat
his was twenty-four miles off the coast
of Gibraltar. The Venetia, with num-
Der Of other destroyers, was convoy
ing fourteen cargo ships and sub
marines had sunk nine of them One
OF them alone had cargo worth S15,-
o00,00O 1t was loaded with ether,
which exploded, killing every man
aboard
"At the same time it was believed
that we had been torpedoed too," he
said "but we went after Che attacking
subs and we eventually got credit for
sinking one and chasing another into
Carthaglnia, Spain.
Depth Bombs Ended the Boat
"On the third occasion we were in
the Gulf OF Lyons, near Genoa. A
sub mad Just gotten whaleback tanker,
which stayed up four hours after the
torpedo struck Our ship stayed by and
rescued all hands. Then in company
with the L. S. S. Wheeling, we went
after the SUD and dropped fourteen
cans big heap of wrcckage came
to the surface ana | guess we can
officially claim sinking her
my last scrap was when a French
snip named Susanna was torpedoed
carry one morning We only had
elghty-poun cans on board, but a few
OF them were sufficient to bring the
sub to the surface. Then we chased
nm TOR thlrty-ive minutes We only
MAD three-incn guns. He got away, but
TOUR weeks later in the Adriatic he
} was captured and on his log was found
1ull account of their experience with
us"
,, The transport Wilhemna dockcd at
i,obokcn few hours after toe hos
pital ship. She carried 800 Officers
and men, 405 of them sailors from
the naval radio station at Cloix d'IIires,
near bordeaux, where they were en-
gagged IN constructing four radio towers.
he ship brought several artillery and
aero units from Illinois and the Middle
" est. Some of the avators wore the
H. 5. {. and the Croix de Guerre. and
nave been otherwise cited.
Among these were lieutenant Will
IAN bclgor, of Helena, Mont, attached
to the 135th Aero Squadron. He wore
the ID. 5. c. and is officially credited
win bagSlng two enemy planes. TIe
was hylng alone 1900 feet in the clouds
when he was attacked by two Germans
mere was pitched battle, but he sue
ceeded IN bringing them both to the
ground.
Captain Z. w. Rucker, who before
the war was a public school suDerin
tendent IN 81. Louis. wore the d. s. c.