El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1920-12-10


/ articles each day and paste them IN scrap
{ bookss they viii not be reprinted and back
7 numbers cannot be supplied
I IT ~ 3 hours past midnight as we roll
/ 1 into the village where we are Ia
stop for the time. Several Of our
units have already scattered out along
the byways- 1t is very dark and very
stiu here. Not a flicker Of light any
where. 4 sentry directs us TO the
house where our headquarters is sup
posed to be established. We pound and
pound on the heavy door and at last
waken the sleepers; the house Is full
of soldiers who show no leaping eager
ness to clear out at this unholv hour
and let rs in At their suggestion we
hunt UP the "town MAJOR
This an powerful but sleepy indi-
vidual admits that he has no billets
available and hadn't the slightest idea
we were coming into his town; what
do they think. he asks as. do they
think I can build houses here whenever
they want them9 We remind him
that we are here He finally consents
to 20 with us on a door pounding mis-
sion.
Entering a little house on Main street
we become conscious that part Of the
family Is evacuating the front ROOM
Another officer Outrauks me for the
one warm bed with its deep nest Of
feathers, and I unr0ll my blankets on
the floor, crawl under and compose
myself for a couple Of hours sleep.
1t is the 23d of August l0lS, one
year and a dav from my leaving FL
Paso TO enter the training camp. ]
think Of this as I hear plainly enough.
my ear so close TO the ground, the
distant pound and rumble of the guns
mp front 1t Is ~ miles to the Ger
man trenches; there seems 10 be some
thing doing up there, but I drop off
to sleep almost suffocated by the thick
ammoniac fumes of the hot wet manure
Of which a great pile is stacked against
the front Of the house under aud
around the one little window that gives
us access TO the outer "air." The fumes
are blended with solid Odor Of decaYed
vegetables and of something very dead.
A rat scutters across the floor, rubs
my hair in passing, and goes his way.
I am half awakened by the hum Of
an airplaue. There is a louder sharper
pound Of an explosion on somewhere
a long way off, and I conclude an
enemy plane has spilled something and
our scouts are after the raider. To isn't
near enough 10 botker about and I doze
off again
p August I9ls-This Is q very old
town. especially fine church tower. Few
of the Inhabitants remain. Soldiers
everywhere. French and Americans.
Peasants sell horses TO French army
in the market place; the peasants who
are stin tilling land are allowed TO re-
tam one or two work animals, and the
ones retained are always the best If
the peasants can manage to keep them
out Of the way Of the French pur-
chasing officers. These French horses
are huge heavy beasts. bigger than
Adams Express and Swift & Co. draft
animals in the old days before the
automobile.
Remarkable use Of solid stone, great
blocks most laboriously followed -eVt
and cut and carved, for wei curbs,
laundry wash tubs, feed troughs, water
troughs. arches.
Pershing's Mexican army all around
rs here. This had reference TO the
fact that the troops comprising the lst
division, which had been relieved in
the front lines BY the Goth, had not vet
entirely evacuated the sector and were
moving back steadily; these troops
were IN FL Paso and in the villa eI-
petition
Col Bailey Ashford of the regular
army happens in, a schoolmate Of mine
in the Washington, ID. C., high school
30 years ago whom I had not seen OF
heard from since.
The artillery Of the LIST division is
to remain with the Goth, since our own
artillery has not, yet left the base port
in France.
An day and at night we hear the
distant sound of the guns. Towards
evening a regiment of French light ar
tillery passes through the village on
the run, going forward. an wheels are
wrapped in straw and grass and sacks
to deaden the sound, all chains and
iron rings and links are bound with
cord and sacking. and there is nothing
to clink or clank; there is only the
hollow rumble and suppressed roar Of
the movement Of many heavy guns and [
animals and men, a seemingly I
endless line, long intervals, the faded 1
horizon blue Of the French troops, their /
grave quiet faces, patient, not keen, I
but steady.
Now the wonderful night movement 1
begins with the coming Of the dark. 1
By day there must be nothing to re- /
veal to the enemy airmen the presence /
and movement Of the troops, but at 4
night the double stream Of traffic is I
constant and full Of variety. Heavily I
loaded trucks 90 by with supplies and \
scores Of them, q hundred l
Yards OF more apart; French work 1
troops, engineers, artIllerymen, in long I
convoy moving up i'm the dark A
mile or more Of French machine gun
companies with the odd little carts, all 4
looking very business like and very
much Ike they belonged. Through the ]
shadows the iuterminable procession \
moves, no light to show, not a sound
hat can be avoided, hardly a word
spoken and then in lowest tones; the
silence and the shadows and the steady
always movement. the road
seems to move, and queer shapes pass
md others come and pass and still no
md to It. These French troops are not
moving into our sector but are to cross
he Moselle river a few miles east Of
IS to take their places in the French
ront on the east bank.
To the north the signal lights are
plainly visible, and we distinguish be-
.ween the German rockets sad our
lwn. We see the great flares, the star
.hells, and the flashes from the artil-
cry which we can hear in the distance.
AT hight, as 7 sit in the closely shut
Grad haaTnrrn rfnra roor1 with a nrud r