Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 204, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 August 1915 — Page 2

MEN WHO GO UP IN AIR TO FIGNT ARE REAL HEROES OF THIS WAR

Two Astounding Facts Noticed on Battle Lines by Edward B. Clark Are That It Is Almost Impossible for Artillerymen to Hit an Aeroplane and Almost Equally Impossible for an Aviator to Hit Seleoted Target With a Bomb.

By EDWARD B. CLARK.

(Oaf Corrr*i>ond<-nt of tho Wettorn N(*lpap«r Union.) Paris. —Pont-a-Mousson on the Moselle river has been bombarded by the

forces of troops within its limits, and •Iso to keep them from placing batteries at a notably valuable strategie point Thousands of shells have fallen into this Moselle river village and almost every day they continue to rain down. There is a curious thing to be noticed in Pont-a-Mousson. Only one part of the village is destroyed, for nearly all the shells have fallen within a limited area A good many civilians, old men, women and children have been killed in the streets of the village, but the loss of life has been due largely to the neglect of some of the villagers to take refuge at the first warning in their bomb-proof cellars. Why the Germans have concentrated lire on one section of Pont-a-Mousson It is hard to determine, but the fact 'that the major part of the village has escaped destruction leads one to comment on the escape of many another target at which shell fire has been directed. Two Astounding Facts. Two of the most astounding facts Which came to my notice on the batitle lines of France are these: That it la almost impossible for the artillerymen of any country to bring down an aeroplane, and in that it is almost equally impossible for an aviator to drop a bomb successfully on the target which he has selected for destruction. - Why is it that the batteries can’t hit their flying mark, and why is it that the man on the flying mark can't hit the batteries or anything else that he 4ims at? These questions must be left probably for answer to the scientists, whether they be in the army or in civil life. Nqw it must not be understood that the batteries never hit anything, or that the aviators never hit anything. Sometimes they accomplish their objects of death or destruction or both, but much more frequently they fail. Readers of the papers learn only of the successful attacks. Much Wasted Effort. Before this 1 have told about seeing a French battery doing its level best to bring down a German taube which was bent on flying over the city of Nancy for the purpose of dropping bombs on the houses and the people. The German machine made its way through a perfect Btorm of shrapnel and did it unscathed. It finally was tiriven back, but it was uninjured. Shells broke all about and scattered the shrapnel bullets like hail. But the operator went serenely on his way with the machine until the fusillade became too hot even for him, and he was forced to turn back toward the .German line where he landed safely. Stories like this could be multiplied indefinitely. On another occasion at the actual front a German aeroplane came over the French line not far from the Bois-le-Pretre or in English, the Wood of the Priest, one of the most hotlycontested fields along the entire western battle front. The German intruder was fired at by every gun, large and small, which the French could bring to bear. Seemingly the day of miracles is not over, for this aeroplane escaped without barm. Like the other it was compelled to turn about and to make its way back into the German lines, but the French counted it a very small victory simply to force the retreat of the air foeman. Fooled by Biplane. In Paris one day a biplane appeared over the city. Every German air visitor for months had come in the form of a monoplane and so «*en the biplane appeared the French in one aviation camp thought that the visitor was a machine from a camp of their *»ontrymen. for the French largely Mse biplanes. The machinedlsplayed the French colors and this fact helped, ft unimpeded on its way. The visitor sailed around over the Garden of the Tuileries, the Place de la Concorde and the Qua! d’ Orsay for nearly an hoar. Later 1 was particularly interested In the movements of this biplane because my wife all ooeonsniour of danger, had bean sitting

Germans two hundred and twenty times since lsst September and yet Pont -a-Mousson is still on the map. This little French village is under almost constant bombardment, not because of any particular desire perhaps of the foe to destroy it ruthlessly but proba b 1y because the wish is to prevent the French from assembling large

in the Tuileries garden for more than half an hour while the machine circled above her head. Finally she started back to her hotel and bad just reached it when the supposed French biplane dropped eight bombs, one after another, in fairly rapid succession. The Eiffel Tower rears Its head one thousand feet above the plane of Paris. It is used as a wireless telegraph station and on the platform at Its top are mounted several antiaircraft guns. The German biplane which was disguised as a Frenchman was attempting to “take the life” of the Eiffel tower. The eight bombs which the German let fall were aimed at the tower, but the bomb nearest to the mark fell nearly half a mile away from It One of the Marvels. The poor success which aviators have in hitting the things they aim at is one of the marvels of the present warfare. Not long ago there was an account of an attack made through the air on a German depot at Bruges, Belgium. French and English aviators in considerable numbers flew over the place and succeeded in dropping bombs into a shipyard and on a freight depot and in doing considerable damage to both. This exploit was hailed as a great triumph of marksmanship. Nothing was said about the fact that before the successful raid, ten attempts had been made by many aviators acting together to hit the same mark and all had failed. To hit a thing once in ten times is not considered a particularly high average of markmanship on land or sea but it seems that the man who can "ring the bell’’ once in ten times from the air is considered a sharpshooter. I don’t want to get away from this marksmanship subject until I tell the story of something which happened in an English coaßt town which I visited but whose name I am not permitted to disclose. Some weeks ago the English authorities published the names of the towns and villages which had suffered from German aeroplane or Zeppelin attacks, but recently they have suppressed the names of the towns which have received the baptism of fire from above.

Shock Cures Paralysis. I went into one English village which had been visited the night before by a Zeppelin. Bombs had been dropped haphazard because it was impossible to pick out a mark In the inky blackness of the night. One bomb fell on a hospital in which there were about one hundred wounded English soldiers. Not one of them was hurt, but all of them except the legless ones made a hurried escape from the wrecked building, wounded and sick though they were. Qne soldier who had disappeared was searched Tor hurriedly by the nurses. He was found half a mile up the road. This man had been taken to the hospital completely paralyzed from the waist down. He had been unable to move T either leg and yet under the shock of the explosion and the resulting excitement he found the use of his legs and made a good half mile before he fell down exhausted. At the front In France the noise of the cannonading is almost continuous. The big guns roar away all through the days and sometimes through the nights when not a small rifle is being fired, and no charges of infantry are being made. Of course, the cannon have an objective for their shots, usually some battery of the enemy or some wood In which large forces of men are supposed to be assembled. Occasionally a battery Is put out of commission by a dropping shell and also occasionally a score or so of men will be blown to fragments by the

AUSTRALIAN GUNNERS AT THE DARDANELLES

A detail of Australian artillery in one of the naval longboats making a landing In the Dardanelles protected by the big guns of H. M. 8. Implacably in the background. ;

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, INP.

exploswa of a huge 'nvyctlle ffcfltnf in th«lr m'dxt but nevertheless fully 95 per cent of the shots miss tbs mark. Are Not Really Wasted. Is It any wonder that the ammunition bill is big and that results do not measure up to It? It must be remembered. however, that the constant dropping of shells keeps the morale of the foemen down and that when it is said that the shots are wasted the words do not express the full truth. One of the most interesting things which i saw on the battle front ia France, was the attempt of a French battery to “bring down” a captive balloon which the Germans bad sent up from their lines for observation purposes. The two Germans in the basket of that balloon must have been men of magnificent nerve. The range was not a long one and the first French shells burst at some distance from the balloon. Gradually, however, the shots began getting nearer and nearer to the mark, but the balloonists with their lives in their hands went on taking their observation amid a rain of projectiles until apparently the commanding officer on the ground below ordered that they should be pulled down to a place of safety. The men who go up in the air to fight, whether they be Englishmen, Frenchmen, Belgians, Germans, Russians, Turks or Italians, are perhaps the transcending heroes of this war.

FORGETS WAR AT WEDDING

Had it not been for the war which is engaging the German nation, the wedding of F*raeulin Isa von Beth-mann-Hollweg, the daughter of the German imperial chancellor, to Count von Zech-Burkersroda would have been a grand court fete, with all Its attending pomp and ceremony. But in keeping with the serious affairs of the nation, the ceremony wao marked by its simplicity. The photograph shows the German chancellor walking down the flower-strewn road with his daughter by. his side. In the happiness of the moment, the grizzled old veteran forgot everything else but the big event, the wedding of his daughter to the man of her ctioice.

MONKEY GETS A MONUMENT

Pet Buried at East Summit, N. J* With Jeweled Collar Around Neck. East Summit. N. J.—There has Just been set up in the grounds of the Humphreys home in Morris avenue a monument to the memory of Snookie, a pet monkey of Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Humphreys, which died last fall. The stone is of Vermont granite and bears the following inscription: “In loving memory of Snookie, a Brazilian marmoset, died September 29, 1914.” The monkey was buried in a specially prepared coffin, and around its neck was placed a jeweled collar

MACK REBUILDING MACHINE WITH KIDS

Slowly and laboriously, but withal cheaply, Connie Mack is building a chassis for a new machine. His material is costing him nothing, and all the elongated leader is out is the time he puts in training in the way it would Bhoot. By this same simple method, Mack built up the most famous machine in two decades—the late lamented Athlethics—only to see it cough, splutter, and finally go headlong into the ditch in October, 1914. Mack, it will be remembered, paid practically nothing for Collins, Mclnnis, Barry and Baker, the four members of the farfamed “SIOO,OOO infield." One cog netted him $50,000, which was practically so much clear profit, and but for the defalcation of J. Franklin Baker, the Athletics’ stockholders probably would have stuck another $50,000 in their pockets. So these hot summer days find the fdmous leader in exactly the same position he was In the days of 1908 and 1909, when the Tigers were on the topmost pinnacle of fame —laboriously building and planning for the future. There has been a constant flow of college and semi-pro boys through Shibe park this season. No school has boen barred from sending Its proteges to Mr. Mack’s institution of

NOTES of the DIAMOND

Rollie Zeider seems to have taken a second lease on life. • • • Boone of the Yankees has fallen off in his batting to an alarming degree. * • * While batting only* .237, Bancroft of the Phillies still Is playing a brilliant short field. • * • Most of Mordecai Brown's defeats this year with the Whales have been through errorß. • • * "Bobby” Jones, third baseman of the San Francisco club, has been sold to the Detroit Americans. • * • In the American league just as soon as a team develops a winning streak Walter Johnson comes along. • * * Some day a ball club will score a run against Grover Alexander and he’ll be taken out of the box. • K.* Herzog has laid down a strict rule that none of his players are to take a glass of beer during the season. • • • The pirates have a clever young catcher named Murphy to help out Gibson and Schang behind the bat. • • • Mathewson, under a tropical sun, can pitch as well as ever. He’ll win many a game before the race ends in October. • * * Eddie Collins is playing a wonderful game and furnishing more than his share of the aggressiveness for the White Sox. • • • Since Cobb started swinging three bats instead of two, nine out of ten of those .198 hitters go to the plate with three waSr clubs. • • • • Bresnahan figures that the Cubs will win the pennant because they will play nearly all of their games at home after Labor day. -* • • Tom Seaton is far from being the terror of last season. His main fault seems to be in fighting the umpires and then losing absolute control. % • • Dave Fultz wants ball players to cut out “unnecessary arguments with umpires.” Have you ever seen a necessary argument with an umpire? Or a winning one? •• • _ Eddie Murphy, purchased from Connie Mack by President Charles A. Comiskey, consideration unknown, is one of the fastest players in the world in beating out a bunt.

Mack Keeping Tab on Game.

learning. Return tickets are always supplied, and most of them used. Connie always gives them a fair show, too. A good example of this was seen recently when the New Yorkers were playing the Mackmen a doubleheader. Mack started a young collegian named Haas on the mound. The Yanks drew 16 hits and 16 bases on balls off the youngster and walloped the Philadelphian, 16 to 7. Yet Mack didn’t take the kid out—he let him stick and take his medicine. The kid, though, used his return ticket to Worcester academy that night. That same day, however, Mack drew what looks to be a diamond in the rough. He is a young collegian named Crowell from Brown. Pitching his first professional game, he let tho Yanks down with three hits, but lost by the tough-luck score of 3-2, when his mates kicked the game away. There is probably another reason why Mack is laboring so diligently to build up a new machine —he wants to give some of his knockers the big guffaw—those who knocked him following the series with the Braves. The roar of the multitude still is sweet to the tall leader, too, and it doesn’t seem right to him that he should be completely out in the cold as far as praise is concerned.

BEST BAD BASEBALL PLAYER

Outfielder Gus Williams Holds His Job Through Inability to Capture Flies in Outer Garden. Gus Williams, formerly of the St. Louis Americans and who has just been released to the Toronto club of the International league, is the best bad ball player in baseball; likewise he’s a game guy. Anybody who would take the chances of getting maimed for life by liners that he faces every day deserves a Carnegie medal. No

other player In the history of the game ever capitalized his inability to catch fly balls into an asset that earned him a major league salary. Williams* muff of Hartzell's liner in a game with the Tanks was a classic. Gus didn’t more. He turned his eyes heavenward and held out his hands, like a blind man asking for alms. The pill rammed Gus amidships and bounded away with the resilience of a tennis ball hurled against a concrete statue. Awakening with a start, Gus pursued the elusive sphere and shot it to second, but Hsxtzell beat the throw.

Stallings Is Optimistic.

Stallings hasn’t weakened. He says the Braves will cop.

Gus Williams.

COMISKEY IS PRAISED

inventor of Means of Defense That Shocked Old-Timers. •* . Owner of Chicago Whits Sox Taught Pitchers and Second Basemen to Be Ready to Cover First Base —Tactics Now Used. If we look back a few years, says a St Louis baseball scribe, we will agree that no department of the game has changed like the playing of first base unless possibly it is the pitching. There was a time In baseball when hitting superseded everything else in connection with playing the game. A heavy hitter was the first player selected. It did not matter much if he could handle grounders or catch a fly, if he could only do execution with a hickory Btick he was "the best boy wanted” and considered the best player In the bunch. Roger Connor, Captain Anson, Dan Brouthere, Dave Orr, A 1 McKinnon and John Morrill were all sluggers of the old school and were hired for their ability to hit the ball. Fielding was made a second consideration. A first baseman was simply expected to catch what balls were thrown Into his hands, but as to the idea of his covering ground around first base, that was not considered at all. If the jball was not thrown directly into hiß hands the other fellow got the error. He was needed to make home runs and in a number 6t other ways make

President Charies Comiskey.

himself useful by knocking the cover off the ball. As for running bases, that was not to be thought of. To see a first baseman steal a base caused the most utter surprise and the fact was commented on for many moons. As the game progressed, it was seen that the fielding had about as much to do with winning games as batting. Charles Comiskey showed this to perfection while a member of the Browns. He began to play deep and teach both his pitchers and second baßeman to be ready to cover first. It was an every day sight to see a pitcher, be it Caruthers, Foltz, King or Hudson, taking the throw from Comiskey on the bags; the same can be said of Yankee Robinson, the second baseman. I have at this day and age yet to see the team work pulled off like the old Browns had working for hits toward right field. As the pitching improved in skill, batting deteriorated and fielding came to the front.

FOLLOW UP ALL TIPS

“It is a mistake not to follow any tip on a ball player -that may be sent in to a club,” remarked Hughey Jennings. “Had we taken advantage of a tip Walter Johnson would have been a member of our team now. Before he joined the Washington team in 1907 we had several tips on him, but because he was touted as having struck out 22 in a game we thought the tip came from some enthusiast who was exaggerating and we allowed Johnson to slip through our fingers. But since then there is not a tip comes to the Detroit club which is not run down, regardless of how much time and money it takes to do so. Good ball players are mighty scarce these days and a club cannot afford to overlook a chance to pick up one.”

Pitchers Hold Up Red Sox.

The consistently good work which: Joe Wood is doing for the Boston Red Sox makes that team’s chances look: brighter than they did earlier in the campaign. Wood recently has pitched several brilliant games. This seems to indicate that he has regained his old form and now can be relied upon to win a large majority of his games. Foster, another of the Sox pitchers, also is going well, and there are several other pitchers—Shore and Greggfor instance —who are apt to com* through.

Player by Name of Cobb.

A Detroit writer, commenting on Ty Cobb's chances to establish a new base-stealing record, mentions that Harry Stovey and “a player by the name of Hamilton” made steal records that Cobb hardly can beat. Wonder if, ten or a dozen years from now, they will be speaking of “a player by tha name of Cobb”?