The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1921-02-05
Varied Fortunes and DiIemmas
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 1t.

New York.-Five thousand American
"A. w. o. LIS are still wandering about
France-2,OOO 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 sled 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 arnistice who went joy-rid-
ing, busted the machine into smith
Greens, got scared and ran. Now ne
drives q laundry wagon into Paris
from one of the suburbs. He has no
discharge papers, has lost the. pay ne
had coming, and also his fare back
home, and is scared stiff every time he
comes to Paris. The French abuse him.
and vet he dare not quit. He can't
70 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.
wv. o. L. who had been more fortu-
nate: aIt's h." In Paris the Ameri-
can ex-soldiers are held to. be desper-
ate characters. The D. @. !. depart
ment OF Criminal Investigation) are
afraid Of them and let them alone. II
is said that the project Of police stated
some time ago, in friendly way, that
All the automobiles stolen in Paris are
stolen by these remnants OF the A. =
r. 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 ne
gained from lad who, with more iucR
than most Of his companions. was
ready to start home with roll OF :. OU
francs in his possession. OF TINS
youth Heilfg tells us:
Fool Was 4 Scientist.
Jameson, will call him. student
OF Massachusetts Tech, came ovel
with the army and was used In the
front line for electrical work. Demob
alixed In France, he went with French
foundry near Nantes. In the states
10 learned a lot about making steel
allows and could produce steel harder
than BY any process known to these
Nantes people Working with then
For French wages, but with sense
enough not to show them how NJ
ala It he at last got homesick ane
told his boss that he was going e
r,,,t The frenchmen were in conster
nation. They had built up reputa
t,on for this steel did not know
how to make IT.
.srhe kid Is only twenty-three year,
aid. explains his buddy "and beinf
Z Zoo, he sold his process to thu
French for these 5000 francs. HI
.n,yht ais well have had 1O0.OOl
: francsl'' :,
This young man told the writer o
several fellows he knew and what hat
ssfo,,an them. He said he knew ont
u q. L. who struck II rich.
= .1n country road he met a Frencl
- NV -, 4 si1iny bike. Hello, Amer
ten soldier!' he sings out. Tn goin'
80 10 ! cowboy and I've got 300 francs
w. :, carry fiji. Runaway kid. sure
- +his 4. w. o. L.--iad was tempted
Ts a right. He took care OF IN
..anav and they slept in hayrack
Next morning, when ne was atninkinl
s ,., "a shake the kid. big nine tour