Free trader-journal and Ottawa fair dealer. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1920-1927, 1921-02-04
5000 A. v. D. L.'S IN
FRANCE FEARING TO
RETURN TO HOMES
VARIED FORTUNES AND DlLEM.
MAS FACED BY SOLDIERS WHO
QUIT ARMY WITHOUT NECES.
sARY DISCHARGES - FRENCH
POLICE AFRAID OF YANkS.

TS1lSE nv nfNIC VT IHlNNSs
New York.--Five thousand American
A. w. q. LIS are still wandering ab0u
France, 900 Of them being in INA
dear Paree." They are the youths Wh'
were simply dying with ennui after the
armistice was signed and hence start
ed out to seek excitement Apparently
most Of them have found il unliI larI
are entirely fed up" to judge by an
reports of the doIngs of these runaway
doughboys, remarks the Literary III
gest. Take the case of one army oFlNtf
after the armiStCe who went Jul-ud
ing, "busted" the machine into smith
Greens, got scared and ran Now ne
drives laundry wagon into Parl'
from one Of the suburbs. He has no
discharge papers, has lost the pay he
bad coming and also his fare back
home, and is scared slif every time he
comes TO Paris. The French abuse him,
and vet 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. l.. who had been more fortu'
nate: ITS h" In Paris the Aneri-
can eX.sodiers are held 70 be- dcSper-
ate characters The II. {, l. depart
ment OF Criminal lnyeStigationJ 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 4. +.
+. At least such is the talk of the
bouleyards, according to Sterling Hell
Zig who gives an account of the eN-
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 a roll of 1900
francs in his possession. OF this
youth Helllg 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. Demon
nlzed IN france, he went with trehch
foundry near Nantes In the states
ne learned n lot about making steel
alloys and could produce steel harder
than by any process known to these
Nantes people. Working with them
Tor French wages, but with sense
enough not to show them how he
did It, he at last got homesick and
told his boss that he was going TO
quit. The Frenchmen were In c0nster-
nation. They had built up a reputa-
ton for this Steel-and did not know
how to make it,
THE Kid is only twenty-thrce years
old, explains his buddy, "and being
fool, he sold his process to the
French for these 5000 francs. He
might as well have had 600
francs"
This young man told the writer Of
several fellows he knew and what had
befallen them. He said he knew one
A. w. o. /. who struck 1t rich
"On a country road he met a French
kid boy on a shiny bike. Hello, Amer
lean soldier" he sings ont. I'm going
to be cowboy and I've got 300 francs.
You carry it" Runaway kid, sure
and this A, w. O. l.. lad was tempted.
That's right. He took care of the
money and they slept in a hayrack.
Next morning when he was thinking
how to shake the kid, a biz blue tour
ing car comes rushing down upon EN-.