The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1919-04-24
! MAN DOING A MANS WORK.
o,,,t chancey Wallace Leaves for Red
Cross Work In siberia.-Writes
Old Friends.


this city last September, and, up unit
fen days ago, was stationed at Cam
Hancock, Augusta, Ca, left Seattle las
Tuesday for the difficult and hazal
dous tasks Of this great organizatio
in far away Siberia, he having bee
selected from among ten other con
testants for this real "man's 8 work. ;
His many good friends of this count,
and section will fully appreciate tn
advance information of his prospec
tive exploit contained in the follow
ing letter and newspaper extract
from him:
Seattle, April 1911
Dear Bill:
The call is too great to resist ant
l am on my way to Siberia. We sal
from here April % on the japanese
passenger boat, Kashima Maru, fol
Vladivostok via Yokahoma.
L suppose my Nezperce and Lewis
county friends will want to know
what I am going to do and what my
duties will consist of. In answer to the
former, will say I am in the Red Cross
work and my duties, while I have not
been there, are described in the article
herewith" The Train of Death -
written by Rudolph Bukely, Red
Cross man in Siberia, and published in
the April number of the Red Cross
magazine.
L suppose the Herald readers have
wanted to hear from me and wondered
why they have not. In this connection.
/ was advised, if I wanted to succeed
in the work, to keep my eyes and ears
open and my mouth shut.
In view of that advice the following
facts will bear me out and furnish me
legitimate excuse for not writing:
"a British soldier, while home on
leave told some of his friends about
his work He described how he was
stationed at secret, camouflaged ar
tillery observation post on high tree
on high hill, which had command
lily view VI luc COuILTY.
He told the names of the Flemish vii
lages he could see and the length of
the German lines in plain view.
"Two days after he returned to
Flanders and was back at this post, it
was subjected to a violent lombard
ment by the enemy, so that it was
rendered untenable, and constantly
thereafter the Germans kept the posi-
tion under fire.
"The fact that the post was so often
shelled attracted the attention of a
war correspondent, who wrote back to
his paper that somehow the Germans
had discovered its existence. Some
one who had heard the soldier tell of
his position informed army head
quarters in London. An investigation
was ordered and it was found that the
soldier had been killed by the first
bombardment.
"The same story might be written
of some American soldier. We love
to talk 1t is a national weakness
to want to be able to tell something
"that is not in the newspapers" We
love to get and give "inside dope''
"Perhaps the hardest military les
son we soldiers can learn is to keep our
mouths SHUT It's a great tempta-
ton to answer any question put to
us by a civilian when we know the |
answer. It takes real moral courage |
to say, ~ don't know, when we DO |
know. BUT WE MUST"
In conclusion, let me say that each |
of the countless number of waves that
1 meet, rolling toward the good old |
U. S. A., will bear my best wishes for
good luck to each and every one of |
The Herald readers and may God bless
you all and watch over you until we
meet again.
Chancey.
p. S. Send me the good old Herald
to Vladivostok, Siberia, care of The
American Red Cross.
The following story gives good idea
of the task Capt. Wallace has under
taken:
It is the eighteenth day of Novem-
Der, 1918. 1 am at Nikolsk- Ussurisk
in Siberia In the past two days I
have seen enough misery to fill a life
time. I will try to set down in my
own manner what I have seen.
have read many times of the Black
Hole of Calcutta. I have been told
of Russian prisoners returning from
German prison camps wrecked by star
walton and tuberculosis. Only four
weeks ago, as four minute man, I
was preaching the doctrine of "hate. I"
To-day, I humbly ask forgiveness for
my thoughts of hate, and pray from
the depths Of my soul that may be
allowed to play my part, though a
small one, in trying to improve the
condition of men, whatever their ma
tionality, so that perhaps some day
this world may emerge into the great
Brotherhood, and that such things as I
have seen may become impossible.
have seen the dead, through whose