Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 February 1915 — SCOUTS DEFY DEATH [ARTICLE]

SCOUTS DEFY DEATH

Oaring Exploit by Company of French Chasseurs. Go Daily on Scouting Expeditions as One Goes Out to Hunt —Mother With Children Trapped Belt tween Lines.

By RENE ARCOS.

(Correspondent of the Chicago Newa) Baccarat, France. —The French and German lines are separated by a distance varying from half a mile to four miles, and this neutral zone is traversed ceaselessly by patrols of the two adversaries, * whose mission it is to compel the other to remain quiet while more important combats take place on other parts of the front. However, no day passes without rifle shots and a few shells being exchanged. I was a witness of one of these daily combats from a distance of about half a mile. A company of chasseurs went forth on a scouting expedition through the magnificent snow covered forests, but the men were soon stopped by the enemy’s volleys. I was able to see very little except that the entiro wood seemed to be alive and quivering. The chasseurs threw themselves flat on the snow and answered the fire. The engagement grew in intensity and the cannon began to growl. Then the chasseurs, .having accomplished what they had set out to accomplish, namely, to see what force the enemy had in front, returned to the rear, bringing one comrade killed and two wounded on improvised litters made from branches of trees. Some were singing, all seemed happy and they carried themselves proudly. A captain with whom I was talking said: “It is difficult to believe how the instinct of the chasseurs guides them. As soon as they see a German they almost fight among themselves for the privilege of killing him. They start out on scouting expeditions daily as one goes out to hunt.” While shots fired by the Germans were reawakening the echoes in the forest we met peasants peacefully re turning to their homes. Many of these peasants live between the hostile lines, careless of the terrible dangers they run. One poor woman had a sad experience one day. When firing sounded near her house she set forth with her six children, hoping to reach a distant village, where she could take refuge

with relatives. Her husband is in the army. She waited near by until night, and then, avoiding the roads, sought the thickest parts of the forest. She lost her way and wandered for a day and a half with the children, carrying the youngest, a babe, in her arms. On the morning of the second day she suddenly found herself between the lire of the French and the Germans. She ran hither And thither, maddened with fear, until finally she met some French artillerymen, who called to her: “Come this way! You must be crazy! You will be killed with your children! The woman remained several days with the artillerymen, who did everything possible to nourish the family and find milk for the babe, which, nevertheless, died from privation. The men had great difficulty in tearing thef mother from the child’s corpse and they saw her walking a long time carrying it in her arms, the other five children following her. She is now back in her own house, not far from Baccarat. Fright still seizes her when she speaks of her adventure and she dreams every night that she and her children are under the terrible rifle fire and amid the bursting shells.