Polk County news. [volume] (Benton, Tenn.) 191?-1983, 1921-01-06
Faced by Soldiers Who
Ran Away.
POLICE ARE AFRAID OF THEM
American Ex-Soldiers Are Held to BE
Desperate characters-Many Who
Stayed in Search of Excite
ment Found II.

New York.-Five thousand American
A. w. o. LIS are still wandering about
France-2O0O of them being in that
dear Paree." They are the youths who
were simply dying with ennui after the
armistice was signed and hence start
ed out to seek excitement. Apparently
most of them have found it until they
are entirely fed up" to judge by all
reports of the dOings of these runaway
doughboys, remarks the Literary d.
gest. Take the case of one army driver
after the armistice who went 1oy-rld-
ing, busted" the machine into smith
| Greens, got scared and ran. Now ne
drives a laundry wagon into Paris
from one of the suburbs. He has no
discharge papers, has lost the pay he
had coming, and also his fare back
home, and is scared stiff every time he
comes to Paris. The French abuse him,
and yet he dare not quit. He can't
go home to the United States without
papers, and he is In constant danger
of being nabbed by the French authori-
ties. AS he explained to another A.
w. o. J.. who had been more fortu-
nate: cts n" In Paris the Ameri-
can ex-soldiers are held to be desper-
ate characters. The d. G. /. depart
ment of Criminal Investigation are
afraid of them and let them alone. 1t
is said that the project of police stated
some time ago, in a friendly way, that
all the automobiles stolen in Paris are
stolen by these remnants of the A. T..
f. At least such Is the talk of the
boulevards, according to Sterling Hell
Zig, who gives an account of the ex-
soldiers in an article in the Pittsburgh
Dispatch. Some of his information he
gained from lad who, with more luck
than most of his companions, was
ready to start home with roll Of 5000
francs in his possession. OF this
youth Heilig tells us:
Fool Was a Scientist.
Jameson, will call him, student
of Massachusetts Tech, came over
with the army and was used In the
front line for electrical work. Demob-
ilized In France, he went with a French
foundry near Nantes. In the states
he learned a lot about making steel
alloys and could produce steel harder
than by any process known to these
Nantes people. Working with them
for French wages but with sense
enough not to show them how he
did 1t, he at last got homesick and
told his boss that he was going to |
quit. The Frenchmen were In conster- |
nation. They had built up reputa-
ton for this steel-and did not know |
how to make 1t
"The kid is only twenty-three years
old" explains his buddy, land being
a fool, he sold his process to the
French for these 5000 francs. He
might as we'll have had 100000
francsw
This young man told the writer of
several fellows he knew and what had
befallen them. He said he knew one
A. w. o. l.. who struck 1t rich.
ION @ country road he met French
kid boy on a shiny bike. Hello, Amer
can soldierl' he sings out. I'm going
to be cowboy and I've got 300 francs.
You carry itp Runaway kid, sure;
md this A. w. o. l.. lad was tempted.
That's right. He took care of the
money and they slept in hayrack.
Next morning, when he was thinking
low to shake the KID big blue tour
ny car comes rushing down upon 'em.
\. w. O. L. does quick thinkin'
Please don't tell them that l dubbed
wept or shed tears) last nightP the
lid begged. Leave 1t all to mep the
/. w. o. L. answered, and when the
dds folks jumped out he laughs a
,ood laugh. Here we are, o. X, all
boundv and winks to the
mother. confidential. Here's our
money! he says to her later; you
madame, had better keep 1t till we
tart Off for America again, some dayP
By gosh. they took him home with
hem. He's with them yet. Teaches
he kid to box and talk United States