davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1925-05-24
May 28 Events in the World Conflict

the great artilleristS of all times, and
his orders and barrage charts are still
quoted in French and British schools
for field artillery.
The ex-memberS of the 1st Division
do not forget their claim to May %,
and they, too, hold a dinner on that
date in Washington, a dinner that
attracts former officers and men from
all parts of the country. This year
the 1st Division dinner will be held
in the Arlington Hotel, and, following
the custom set last year. the Baltic
party, headed by its first member
who also ranks as the first member
of the 1st Division and as commander
in-chief of the A. +. F., will join the
1st Division, in time for the post
prandial exercises. 1t is fitting that
the Baltic party should join with the
other diners, because a very large
number of the officers who were in
Gen. Pershing's party on the Baltic
afterward were in the 1st Division for
a period.
This year Gen. James A. Drain
national commander of the American
Legion; Maj. Gems. Robert L. Bullard
and Charles 2. Summerall and Brig.
Gen. Frank Parker, the latter three
comprising the battle commanders of
the division. are all expected to be pres
ent, as well as a great many other Of
ficers who served during what the
godfather of the division, Premier
Georges Clemenceau, the tiger, him
self has called them, the great
dayS."
Evening star., 1925-05-24

that have not been told. Among them
is this one: Cantigny was already
destined to be known to military meE
at least, for it was the site of a CO.
lossal tactical blunder on the part of
the German high command. 1t was
the place where the Germans should
not have stopped Almost on the line
between the French and British
troops, where the armies of the two
nations Joined hands on the Western
front, it was the place which marked
the definite break-through of the Ger
mans, when the British fifth army
under Hough had been almost oblit-
Grated. Cavalry patrols had reached
BeauvaiS nearly 40 kilometers back
of Cantigny, and only two hours out
of Paris; allied reserves were not
present, and at the time the Ger
mans stopped there was little but the
army permanently defending Paris
between the Germans and the con.
quest of the French capital. But the
Germans elected to make their line
at Cantigny, and the French brought
up sufficient troops to make that de.
cision necessarily a permanent one.
1t was here that the Ist Division
composed of tried Regulars, the pick
of a National Guard division from the
Northwest, and a large number of
National Army men, who had been
sent to France and assigned to the
LIST Division, the whole composing a
group OF regiments of Infantry and
Field Artillery which had been Sc
lected by Gen. Pershing himself from
the troops under his command on the
Mexican border-selected at time
when he believed that they were go
ing to constitute his command when
he went to France-was to stage its
first offensive.
x x
THE division had been in the Can
tigny sector for a month previous
to the capture of the town. During
that time the Germans had shelled
and shelled. and then had added an
extra measure of shelling. For three
and one half hours one night they
had subjected one of the infantry
regiments, the 18th, TO the heaviest
gassing any American troops suffered
during the war. During this time
more than 10000 gas shells, mixed
with high explosive and shrapnel. fell
on the regiment, and the casualties
Evening star., 1925-05-24

totaled more than 500, of whom only
small proportion suffered from in
halation of the deadly fumes. The rest
were sent to the hospitals suffering
from body burns, an unavoida bic re-
suit of gaSsing-un unless the
gas service furnishes rubber suits to
wear during such an attack. This was
the occasion when an inspector for the
gas service inspected" the regiment
from a safe vantage point on a hill
three miles away, and then reported
that the heavy losses were due to the
extremely poor discipline of the regi-
ment. a report that caused the whole
division, starting with Brig. Gen. Fra nix
Parker, then colonel comma nding the
18th, and ending with Gems. John L.
Hines and Robert T.. Bullard, brigade
and division commanders respectively
to say plain things about inspectors
that would not brave the proximity
of the front lines to see actual con
ditions as they were.
Cantigny was not a difficult town 10
take for the 2Sth Infantry, command
ed then by Col.-now Maj. Gen.-Han-
son L. Ely, commandant of the Army
War College in this city. 1t was, how
ever, much different problem to hold
the town against the determined coun-
ter attacks made by the Germans
time and again. But the 2Sth had
never given up a foot of ground in
trusted to it's care, and it did not pro-
pose to give up any ground taken
from the enemy, either, and it didn't.
1t held the town, dug its trenches and
caused heavy losses to every wave
that came out of the woods in front
of it. And then the Germans, after
seven of these counter attacks, cried
enough, and the town never again fell
into alien hands. The fight was not
won without suffering heavy losses,
both of officers and men. While the
28th took the town the regiment was
supported by the other troops of the
division and had behind it the great
est collection Of modern artillery ever
assembled for American troops up to
that time. This artillery was under
command of Maj. Gen.-then Brig
Charles p. Summerall, now command
ing the Second Corps Area, with head
quarters at Governors Island, New
York Harbor. The artillery was in
safe hands for the battle of Cantigny
for Gen. Summerall has ranked among
Evening star., 1925-05-24

II
the wife of youthful news
~ paper man of Paducah, KY.
She was Miss Laura Spen-
GER Baker. He was Irwin S. Cobb.
They went to live in Paducah.
Mrs. Laura Baker Cobb spent some
three or four years getting an ade-
quate low-down on her husband. Then
she concluded he had in him the
makings of some one worth while
| If only he could be gotten into the
| right environment.
| Very opportunely Mrs. Cobb heard,
about this time, rumor which, as
| the wife of a journalist in Paducah,
| highly interested her. This rumor,
which was to the effect that news.
| paper men in New York City often
made salaries of as much as $50 per
| week, moved her to decide that it
was time for her husband to migrate
eastward.
| "I don't believe it." said Mr.. Cobb.
He knew all about newspaper salaries
according to the Paducah standard
land the story didn't sound plausible.
| He had no hankering to leave Padu-
cab. He had been born there and al
ways lived there. His newspaper eX-
perience had been gained there. He
had risen to be managing editor of the
Paducah News-Democrat and was cor.
/ respondent of a Louisville paper. He
was contributing a humorous column
that was giving him some reputation
1t was a pretty fair snap, any way
you looked at it, and he didn't see how
a fellow with a wife and child to SUD-
port could give up a sure thing to &c
chasing off for chimerical salary OF
$50 a week.
Luckily for him, Mrs. Cobb was OF
| a different temper. Granted that ii
wasn't true that you could earn Coz
geD $50 per week in New York, she
argued, still, from all reports, the
newspaper men.
you ought to make try, at least,
she said.
"If 1 had been left to myself" Irwin
Cobb told me, Il would never have
left Paducah. But my wife kept after
me until 1 had to 60
II had no money-not a cent. But
she attended to that. She financed
me herself with loan of 5000, which
she got from her father
When you've got hustler like thai
for a better-half you've got to make
good. Irwin S. Cobb journeyed tc
New York, and, having done so, con-
quered.
But if Mrs. Cobb was the first tc
size up her husbands real ability, il
remained for another person to dis
cover in what particular line tha'
ability would best show itself.
Cobb arrived in New York in 1904
in the month of August, the wors
possible season in which to be hunt
ing a newspaper job, although ht
didn't know it then.
He spent three weeks trying t.
break past office boys so he could
lay his wares before some impress
sionable managing editor. 1t couldn'1
be done. and return trip to Pa
ducah seemed in order.
Then his irrepressible sense of hu-
NOR came to his aid. He went te
his boarding house and composed
land copied off a circular letter. which
he mailed to every managing editor
in New York.
"In the letter." he says, "I told them
just how good I was. l informed them
Evening star., 1925-05-24

the very beginning she knew 1 was
remarkable.
Il remember that in 1915, after my
return from Europe, where l had
been having a private view of the
World War, number of noted per-
sons gave dinner in my honor at
the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
MY mother came on from Paducah
to be present. There was a lot of
speaking, with me as the object, and
while 1t was at it's height some one
went into the box where my mother
was seated, taking it all in, and
asked:
Aren't you thrilled to know your
son is receiving such public recog-
nition9'
Not at ALL replied my mother.
I've been telling him he was a great
man all along and / can't understand
why this affair has been delayed so
long. He ought to have two dinners
like this every night in the week. -
Anent being discovered" Cobb
tells one story which may be old, but
is worth repeating.
After l became established" he
says, II was SO ill-advised as to write
musical comedy. The morning
newspapers criticized it brutally.
From that day has dated my com
plete aversion for morning papers.
Il sat up all night in order to read
the reviews as quickly as possible
Just as 1 was finishing the last one,
wire came from a friend in Savan-
nah, my wife's home town, who did
not yet know how my production had
been received
ct congratulate you and the
American public on the fact that you
have now been discovered, he said
Il telegraphed an immediate an
swer. I haven't been discovered;
I've been exposed, I told him."
(Copyright, 1925)
Evening star., 1925-05-24

through their indifference to the real
situation, was that Gen. Pershing had
been directed to select the troops for
one division, which, it was contem-
plated. he would command, and that
he had quietly Strengthened out many
of the tangles in the War Department
when he arrived from the border. and
had made plans for more than one
division.
His party went to New York with
out attracting attention, went aboard
the ship without securing even pass
ing notice from those directed TO
watch the departure of individuals
from this country, and. as has been
stated, arrived in England safely, and
a short time later in France, in equal
safety. What has happened since that
momentous trip is history. And the
Baltic trip is forgotten by all except
those who made it, They do not for
get, and every year they gather
around Il dinner table and renew ac-
quaintances and "reminiscences. This
year the Baltic party will be held at
the Metropolitan Club in Washington,
and it is contemplated that a perma-
nent organization will be perfected.
Just a year from the day that Gen.
Pershing started for France the first
offensive action against the German
For some months these troops had
been in the line. first east of Nancy in
what Is known as the Sommerviller
sector, and then in that sector SO
often styled 'the sector north OF
Toul'' by the war correspondents, but
which was named the Ansauville sec
tor. They were seasoned, those men
of the 1st Division, before May 28, 1918
but they had had an opportunity to
take the offensive until It was decided
to try them out against the village Of
Cantigny, which lay in front of the
sector that the 1st Division had taken
over from the French in April. And
thus it was that, on May %, a day
already historic, the 1st Division was
to add additional glory to it, and to
couple 1t forever with the name of a
little, obscure village situated in the
region known to the ancients as
Picardie, but which was now por-
ton of the Department of Disc.
Much has been said about Cantigny
and the first American effort, and
more has been written. But there are
still several facts regarding the battle
Evening star., 1925-05-24
C0bb's Wife His Chief Disc0verer

that for three weeks I had been try
| ing to get their attention. This, l said,
was the last call. And l added that
| in failing to hire me they were over
| looking the best bet-the best news
paper bet-of the Christian era
Having posted this epistle, he sat
| back and waited.
He felt very much like a man col
| lecting a large jack pot on a busted
received four offers of jobs, one of
them from the noted Arthur Brisbane.
Tommy Dieuade, managing editor
of the Evening Sun, was the man
| whose offer made the biggest impress
sion on the now exPaducahite. 1t
carried with it a weekly emolument of
| SIS and a promise of something bet
ter soon. At any rate, the Sun was
| the lodestone which drew all news
paper men of that day.
In almost no time Dieuade's recruit
| was editor of the Evening Suns hu-
| NOR section. Within a year Mrs. Cobb
came on. Another year and the World
grabbed him off as special writer and
staff humorist on its evening and Sun
| day editions. After that 1t was only
| Il short jump to magazine and play
writing. Before he knew it he was a
| national celebrity.
TO an outsider 1t looks as though
Mrs. Cobb and Tommy Dieuade were
Irwin Cobb's discoverers, with most of
the credit going to Mrs. Cobb. How
| ever, Mr.. Cobb claims some credit for
| discovering himself. Also, he says his
| old nurse and his mother had a hand
| in the business.
Immediately my nurse saw me-"
| he declares, "she said 1 was a re-
markable looking child. The first
photos taken of me proved she was
| right. Nothing has ever happened
since to make her out a liar.
Then there was my mother. From
Evening star., 1925-05-24
The Tenant of the Lighthouse
BY E. PHILLIPS OPPENIEIN1
Come Dramah Incidents

trembling forefinger. On the sands
hundreds of feet below, a woman was
standing. looking upward. Behind
her, a few yards from land, a power
fully built petrol launch was moving
slowly about, and, in midair already
half way down, a man was desce 40.
| ing thin rope ladder. Daniels eyes
flashed as he pointed to him.
There's the man you want, SIR" he
cried f1ercely. There's the man who
murdered that young waiter and
And he nearly had me-" Sir Fran
els interrupted.
Capt. Milton smiled.
"A clever idea, this escape, l sup
pose" he said, indulgently, although
trif1e melodramatic-more suited for
a cinema stunt than real life. They
can go off in that launch in whatever
direction they like and as far as their
petrol will take them, but they can
no more escape now than if the hand
cuffs were already upon their wrists.
Every coast guard station, harbor-
master and lighthouse keeper within a
hundred miles, will have their descrip-
tion within half an hour
Suddenly a dust-covered figure
sprang from a station taxicab and
staggered toward them. 1t was Ann,
breathless and white with excitement
Where is he?" she demanded
Evening star., 1925-05-24
The Storage Battery.

EVER since the days, more than a
quarter of a century ago, when
William Gibbs of Philadelphia, recog-
nizing the boundless possibilities of
the storage battery, organized stock
company and acquired all the patent
rights of value, there has been steady
progress in methods of manufacture
and quality of product. Even at that
early date there were several manu-
facturers in the field, each claiming
for his product superiority over all
others and a monopoly of all good
features of design. Each maker was
trying to show some result before his
financial hacker tired of advancing
funds. 1t was Gibbs who first realized
that the chaotic condition could not
last and that it threatened to strangle
in its infancy an industry that gave
great promise.
Strange as it may seem to us now, in
the early days the uses for batteries
were somewhat limited. 1t was the
search for an outlet for their product
on the part of the storage battery
manufacturers that gave an impetus
to the development of the electric
vehicle. With vehicle development
fairly under way, the battery manu-
facturers found themselves hard put
to 1t to keep pace with the progressive
demand for better batteries. From
that day on steady progress has mark
ed the path of both vehicle and bat
terry. Now each stands wellnigh per
feet in its respective field.
The storage battery of today bears
but scant resemblance TO its forebear
Of % or 80 years ago. To be sure, the
same materials in great measure enter
into its makeup, but the design has
been modified and simplifed until in
place of the heavy, cumbersome cell,
we have neat, compact, efficient cell
of very much greater capacity.
The title electric storage battery"
is somewhat of a miSnomer 1t is in
reality a converter and storer of
energy. The electrical energy given
to the battery during the process Of
charging is transformed into chemical
energy and stored away. When the
battery is discharged this energy is
again transformed. this time back into
electrical energy, and is available in
that form.
The principle on which the storage
or secondary battery operates was dis
covered by Plante in 1860. He found
that II two plates, one of pure lead
and the other of lead peroxide, were
Immersed in dilute sulphuric acid
electric current would flow through an
external circuit. After a time the sur
faces on the plate became charged and
the current fell to zero. Upon send
ing current through the cell in the
opposite direction the plates were re-
stored to their original condition and
the cell would again give forth curl
rent. This comparatively simple proc
ess is then the foundation of the
storage battery industry.
Many attempts have been made TO
discover some combination of ele.
ments other than lead and sulphuric
acld whlch would prove practicable as
storage battery components OF the
numerous combinations found COM
mercially successful has been one
which employs nickel hydrate and
iron oxide for the electrodes and a
solution of caustic soda for the eIec.
trolyte. Such a battery is known as
nickel iron or alkaline battery.
Evening star., 1925-05-24
Power and the Baby.

WHEN baby cries it means hard
labor for himself as well as
for his afflicted parent Drs. ]. r.
Murlin, r. E. Conklin and NJ. r.
March of the University of Rochester
have been conducting careful meas.
urements of the energy used up by
crying babies, and they find that the
metabolism, or rate of food use. by
crying babies is markedly higher than
that of infants contentedly cooling or
sleeping in their cribs. Crying 1 per
cent of the time increases the use of
energy / per cent; so that if a baby
cried all the time it would double its
energy requirements and hence the
amount of food it would need.
Assuming that a child could keep
up such distressing performance
for a day and night, and, assuming
further, that one-fifth of the energy
could be transferred into muscular
work, the doctors calculated that on
this basis this imaginary longtime
squaller could develop enough power
to lift himself to the top of the
Washington Monument
Evening star., 1925-05-24

But Londe had caused a second set
of hooks to be fastened to iron rings
in the great stone, half way down the
cliff. These kept the ladder up, de-
spite Rockies efforts to dash it with
its burden to the ground.
Rocke would have liked to pitch
Londe to death, but the mad surgeon
had planned his escape too carefully.
From the ladder Londe climbed into a
tree as the group on the cliff above
watched. No one seemed able TO find
any words. Londe was walking to-
Evening star., 1925-05-24
AbAyEL a A~s ~

ward the boat, walking slowly but
without unsteadiness. By his side was
the woman, moving across the sands
with slim and effortless grace. A
thick-set man, with a southwester
pulled over his forehead, held out his
hand from the boat and she sprang in
with the light buoyancy of a girl.
Londe walked calmly through the
waves and followed her over the side
Already the engine was at work. They
were heading for the open sea.
(Copyright 1921
Evening star., 1925-05-24

Where am l and what do you
Il will explain" the other replied
courteously. Il am Sir Joseph Londe,
the Australian surgeon. 1 saved
thousands of lives in the war-I and
the lady here, who was my head
nurse and who is now my wife. I'm
fortunately, although I am a strong
man, the strain was too great for
me. l went mad"
Mad" Sir Francis muttered
mechanically.
Precisely. One little corner of
my brain alone is affected-a matter
of discoloration. / need a small
TRANSMISSION of what is vulgarly called
gray matter Yet believe me, my
| dear sir, 1 find it almost an impos-
sible thing to find a brain which will
afford me just what 1 want"
Sir Francis was slowly recovering
| his courage.
MY BRAIN" he declared, "is COW
cred with red patches"
II don't believe it," was the firm
| rejoinder. Judith! Can you see
| anything YETI"
The woman, who had been standing
at the window, turned.
Nothing" she answered.
| Londe looked down apologetically at
| his prospective victim.
You resent this delay without a
doubt" he observed. $50 do 1. The
| fact Is, there has been such a fuss
| in the newspapers and among the
police about a recent subject of mine
| upon whom I experimental a few
days ago that my wife thought it as
well to conceal my surgical instru-
ments for a short time. I have sent
for them, however, and they ought
| to be here at any moment"
"Will you tell me-" Sir Francis
asked, what that accursed stuff Is
that you used upon me at the sta
| tion?"
| Londe smiled complacently.
"The use of that stuff, as you call
| it," he declared, will, in due course,
be proclaimed as the greatest scien-
| tific discovery of the war era. With
a single Whit can make a baby of
the strongest man-ho has no will
and very little strength. With a
! double whiff 1t becomes a perfect and
| marvellous anesthetic. When oper.
| ating on you, for instance, you will
feel nothing-two whiffs and then
eternity"
Most consoling," Worton muttered.
II have some Indifferent implements
in an old case" Londe confided. II
will examine them. Make yourself
comfortable. Sir Francis. until my
return"
LIE left the room and the woman
IL turned slowly away from the
window. She came to the side Of the
couch and looked down at her hus.
bands prisoner meditatively.
you can't mean to stand by and
Evening star., 1925-05-24

Daniel took her by the arm and
pointed downward Londe was nearly
half way down now.
why do you stand here and do
nothing?" she cried furiously.
"'The handouts are as good as upon
his wrists the chief constable said.
Ann gave one glance at Daniel and
pointed toward the steel hooks of the
ladder, which had been secured to the
remains of a wooden bench. Daniel
nodded and took a quick step forward.
Evening star., 1925-05-24
The chief constable frowned.

The chief constable froWned.
That's murder" he protested.
"Is it?" was Daniels vicious com
ment as he flung himself on the
ground "If l had met him face to
face / should have put a bullet
through him without waiting for ques-
tions. AS 1t is-we'll try a hundred
foot drop onto the shingle."
Daniel wrenched away the Crap
pling irons and waited to see the lad
der collar apSe
Evening star., 1925-05-24
BY SIDNEY COULTER.

MERICA'S participation in the
World War lasted a few days
more than Is months. For IL
. months after the breaking of
relations with the central nnW-
Evening star., 1925-05-24
BY PRESTON WRIGHT.

~ n June u, 1900, a young lady
of Savannah, Ga, became
the wife of a youthful news
~ paper man of Paducah. KY.