The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-01-27

'oieI through W. ii a pien,y Of
"a.
v N Died Like Dogs.
Il MAS during second Ypres. which
S n" occasion when the Hun first
used his gas. you rene M Der, and our
men died Like dogs in their holes
lungs rotted and all that sor, OF bea st :
~ barbarism. II was nip and go with
the English; I don't mind saying now
mo military secret that, even then.
The Germans knew they had us
against the ropes and yearning for the
bell before ne should go down
Second day l think il was. in or
der 10 cover falling back OF one
end of our line. orders came from
g. II. .. for two battaiions of the
King to make a counter thrust
against the Germans. clear them from
"A little wood where they had one of
their nasty machine gun ness. and
hold the position until nigh fall. when
they should retire
Hold Until Hell Falls"
Until nishfsii.' Get ti,at? When
The order was delivered. ne her bY
telephone or runner, / do uot KNOW
IT said: Hold undi nell TAILS. aoulr
ghastIy ,ransitteratipn sonsN ueIG
along the line, You say. IAghtu.
out into tina, dripping weller OF htoo4
ana naehlne-gun bullets, and .neS
TOOK that wood, while the rest OF the
hne fell back. The Germans dad not
organize their cou.. or until alter dark
Our 9. IL. u. of course, expected ma .
mole force to give way and re,rc al
ter nIghdal. Ii did MOI. IL n4cc tho
counter Ike a rock, - nd the Germans
wnose planes by that time had tod
tnen our line had fallen back to new
positions, realized solae Mre .cn.d err
ror had been made. They closed
around those Two battalions Ike a
nasty gray tide sucking al the feet Of
Il man caught in quicksauu, and in
'heT beasuy method4cal way planned
70 annihiiate the battalions holding
that wooa mot quickly. ulind You, b4.
NIth SLOW, lingering torture"
The padre broke off 10 tight a cica-
rette. AS the nliiech fiared up al .ne
semi gloom Of the restaurant | saw
The two hard lines that lay where tho
flesh of his forehead had r.dsed itself.
Worse Than Indians.
Man, I've r,"d wacu WAS d
youngsters abou, yout Keu Ind ans
and their eurnings with spiinters ana
all that sort OF beastty pssttne, but
tnat WAS not scieuiitic torture. Here
wood ii was a little sas~~-rlp-rip Win
a dozen or so ribbons of machine gun
carridges--an occasional ii. r.. Just
To send their hearts down and Lhen "a
Whit of gas again SLOW, methodical
defamation.
And the dreadful thing was We
could not rescue them, At tina: crit
icsI stage of the game We could moi
risk the force necessary 10 cut
through the German ring and bring
back the remnant Such things are
terrible but true in war, Those fine
fellows who'd made possible the re-
storation Of our line were doomed
doomed,
Fought TO Last Man.
Three days they stuck 10 H. our
air scouts brought hack reports sin
lighting! Plenty of so in them yef.'
and SO on. In our minds eye We
could see those unbes table men. sans
wter. sans food, ripped and torn Wfth
eel, soaked in gas. still sticking 10
it. For three days the Germans wen:
about their metkodical looping OF
and then--it was The 23d of the m on II,
things were quiet over in that wotx
The last man had been done in"
The padre stopped and began twist
ing precious bread into little pills
But about the ghosts finally in
simulated
Quite 80. quite So he answered.
Those woods came into our hands in
the course OF time-~a CHASTITY bit Of
ground with torn shreds OF trees here
and there. And the e3d of the month
swung around. My men began com
ing 10 me with stories of seeing the
wood filled with Kings Fusilliers that
night-pale shapes working shadow
machine guns from behind logs and
ousheS-cteatures with pale blood
stiff on the banadges they wore
That night and every Fad of the
month thereafter the same stories
about the ghosts of the wood near
Ypres." :
And what did you tell the men
who reported these stories TO YOU. 7
ventured,
Man. what could 1 tell them >" the
padre answered
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