Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 270, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 November 1915 — Page 2

DISTINGUISHED GUESTS AT BALL GAME

President Wilson and Mrs. Galt, his fiancee, were given a great reception at the Philadelphia ball park when they appeared at the second game of the world's series. In the photograph at Mrs. Gait’s left is Mayor Blankenburg.

FACE DEATH ID KEEP TELEPHONE LINES WORKING

The Job of the Soldier Lineman Is Most Hazardous in Battle Line. DEATH CONSTANT COMPANION Letter Describing Operations of Armies “Somewhere in France" Tells of Daring Work of Men Who Keep Telephone Lines Open. New York.—The following letter from a soldier in the British army, “somewhere in France,” has been received in this city by the father of the writer: “I expect you are wondering what we are doing up here for the past week or so* As operations are concluded now—or anyway those in which our division has been concerned —1 think Tm at liberty to give you some idea of what’s been done without fear of falling foul of the censor. ‘'You’ll recollect all the trouble a short while back about a chateau, its stables and a crater —which we have continually been disputing over with the Boches —which they finally kicked us out of with liquid fire and sundry other horrors? Well, the division on that section got pretty badly mauled and the position became most uncomfortable. So about ten days ago our division was told off to prepare an attack and to restore the situation if possible. “We were well away to the left of this zone, and as they did not propose to move us until the last minute we were busily employed in constant Journeys over there to reconnoiter and prepare the ground. I was given the Job of doing this for our battery and the brigade. I also had to range the eight-inch and 9.2-inch howitzers. I really had a very heavy week's work. Firstly, this new zone was about a four-mile walk and under fire all the way. No horses could be used and a bicycle was harder work than walking, owing to the mud. All the time the’ weather has been vile —tons of rain and very hot and muggy. I had to get off each day about six a. m., and dididn’t get back till eight p. m or so. Always Getting Cut. “We had to run miles of telephone wire—and as this was always getting cut by shell fire you can guess that I and my telephonists had some pretty hot times keeping our communications going. All observation had to be done from our fortified trenches. These were Mimply hopeless— battered to mere mud heaps and perpetually bombarded by the enemy—and the infantry holding them had a frightful time of it. These particular trenches run along a crest of a slope and have been alternately held by us and the Deutschers several times during the last few weeks. It’s almost impossible to describe the confusion and beastliness of them —the soil is very loose indeed and the rain and the shelling have turned them into a gigantic sort of hog-wallow, like you have in the center of * farm. “The smell 'js horrible and all over the place are dead bodies, scattered equipment, refuse, etc. One feels it’s perfectly Idiotic to fight over the tenjurs (A such • fffls hole-every tree is

wrecked and blackened and there isn’t a vestige of greenery left, bar the beastly green fungus-like patches where the H. E. shells have burst. Even the rain water and mud goes bright green from this cause. Talk about the ‘blasted heath' of Macbeth — it isn’t in it with the ruin and desolation of this part of the world. *1 don't know if I’ve managed to convey to you any idea of the part I've been existing in lately, but it's been like a horrible nightmare to me—and I’ve seen a few horrors this last year. Shelled All Day Long. “All day long we have been shelled up there, and they’ve also had several trench mortars at work throwing 90pound bombs by compressed air. This particular brute is called a minenwerfer, and you can see the bomb coming. It goes up miles in the air, turns a somersault and then begins to drop. One gets an idea after a time as to where it will fall, and then there’s a rush for cover. The beastly thing lies on the ground for about two seconds before bursting, and altogether it's a thoroughly nerve-racking brute. The infantry loathe them and keep a perpetual lookout for the “soissidge,” as they call it. It’s also called the aerial torpedo. The effect is terrific, and I believe it does more harm than most shells. Glad to say we have got onto several of these things recently. “Every hour or so all the German guns would open a prearranged bombardment of this position, and then we get it with a vengeance. You can’t imagine how rotten it is. You crouch down in the very bottom of the trench, and it seems as if it's impossible to come through it alive. The air is full of a colossal and deafening rushing sound, the whole earth trembles, parapets and sandbags fall in, and showers of splinters and smashed-up things fly shrieking all over the shop. Every instant the explosions seem to come nearer to you, and finally when you have made up your mind that it’s all up with you, the row dies away, and you go back to the ordinary intermittent shelling and bombarding w’hich, then, seems almost peaceful. Dead Are Everywhere. “Of course we had plenty of casual ties and the gunners didn't escape. The last day I was up there our wire got blown to bits somewhere out in the open behind the trenches for about the hundredth time, so I went out with one of my telephonists to try to repair it. We were in the midst of registering our targets for the attack, and we had to go over some awful places —dead Deutschers everywhere. Suddenly as we crept along a hedge there was a terrific bang, a cloud of smoke, and my man, about fifty yards ahead of me, disappeared entirely. Of course, I flattened out at once. I thought the poor chap had been completely blown to bits, as the shell had burst right at his feet. However, I heard a yell after a few seconds and made a rush for the spot, taking what cover I could, because it looked as if we'd been seen and the Deutschers had fired one of their forward guns at us. I found the poor beggar still alive and conscious, but horribly cut. I made him as comfortable as I could", told him to lie still, because he could be seen and would very likely be shot at again, and then bunked off to try to find a stretcher party. “We were some way from our trenches and in a part that's strictly avoided on account of the attention paid to it by the Deutschers —I suppose because there are some of their old trenches there that we took with the bayonet. Luckily I hadn’t gone far before I met a sergeant and two men. So I collared him and, sending off one man for the stretcher bearers, the rest of us went back and got my chap out of ft. We tied him up as best we could, and then had to carry him pig-a-back to the fire trenches, where the stretcher bearers dressed his wounds

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

and set about getting him off to the casualty clearing station. I think he’ll recover all rigbL but he had a rotten time of It Came "The Day." “There have been a good many wounded in the battery recently, but none killed. We have had two guns hit and knocked out aa well, but I feel sure the enemy haven't really located us, because they’ve never been able to stop us firing, and only put over half a dozen rounds during the big show yesterday. "The other battery in our brigade has not been so lucky. They’ve had two officers wounded and quite a number of men killed. “Well, to resume: I eventually got all our reconnoitering and registration done, but not until I’d spent several days tn this horrible zone and was almost worn out. Then, yesterday morning at a quarter of three a. m., came ’the day.’ It started with halt an hour’s bombardment of the Deutsch er’s trenches by all our guns, and during this time our infantry crept up under cover of darkness. Next, at an arranged moment, all guns were turned to the left, and onto other pre arranged points, so as to form a flanking wall of fire while the Infantry got in. Finally we all switched on to our final points and kept up several hours’ bombarding of the enemy's communication and reserve trenches, while our infantry consolidated the positions gained. It was all perfectly successful, and we accomplished everything we were ordered to do. Thanked for Their Work. “All through the day the Deutschers tried to counter-attack, but we easily beat them off each time. Last night was absolutely quiet and we all got a good night’s sleep. We have received telegrams from the commander of the Second army and also from the commander in chief, thanking us for doing the Job so well and generally buttering us up. Our corps commander has also wired to us of the artillery, thanking us for the ‘perfect co-opera-tion’ afforded by the gunners. So we’re all pleased, and the Sixth division is very bucked at having brought off the Job O. K. Furthermore, they say that he couldn’t have continued to hold Ypres without taking the post tions we’ve got, and better still, they say that the division is now coming out for a rest. "I suppose this has only been a minor show, but there were a good many thousand men engaged, and we really had a battle with the Boches and whacked them. “I do wish the end would come in sight, for I’m absolutely tired of .the whole thing, and want to get home, it rather looks as if we're in for another winter out here. “We had unlimited ammunition for this little show, so perhaps things are bucking up in that direction. All the same we didn’t Are nearly as much aa we could have done, but specialized in accuracy. They say that they found all our registered points full of dead Boches and smashed-up machine guns.”

BIG BROWN BEAR IS BAGGED

Nevada Stockmerk While Out Hunting for Cattle Tree and Shoot 300Pound Bruin.

Nevadaa City.—A 300-pound brown bear was killed by Albert Buck and Henry Bever while hunting their stock in the vicinity of Moores flat. The footprints of the bear had been seen for weeks. The dogs got the scent and soon had the animal treed. Buck took one shot and brought the bear to earth. There have been several bears seen in the northern part of Nevada county, and they have been a menace to the stockmen.

Owl Causes Auto Smash.

Peru, Ind. —Marion Dillman took a party of friends automobiling and when near Chill an owl struck him in the face. Dillman let go of the steering wheel and the car ran down an embankment and against a fence. None of’the occupants was hurt, but Dillman’s face was scratched by the owl’s claws.

BRITISH CHIEF OF STAFF

Major-General Sir W. Robert Roh ertson, K. C. V. O w was recently appointed chief of staff of the British army.

FOOTBALL PROSPECTS ARE BRIGHT AT YALE

(By FRANK G. MENKE.)

Yale’s football prospects are brighter Just now than for many, many years, and the Eli enthusiasts are sure that the Bulldog will come back into his own this year. Yale was hit by graduation last June—and hit in quite a number of places. But Yale isn’t groggy as a result. With the exception of Captain Talbott, Yale doesn’t seem to have lost any man that she will miss—or mourn. The absentees were among the best Yale had last year —but Yale’s best in 1914 was not up to the Yale standard. Lack of real footballers handicapped Coach Frank Hinkey last year—and it was that that enabled Harvard to give Yale the worst beating it has suffered in all its football history. But this year things are different. Yale Has Great Backfield. The Yale backfield for 1915 seems sure to gain fame as one of the greatest in the country. Alex Wilson, captain, is a certainty for quarterback; Guernsey will be at left half, Scovil, a terrific line smasher, will play the other half, and the wonderful Hairy LeGore will be at full. Wilson and LeGore were regulars last year; Scovil and Guernsey were first-string substitutes. Yet the four played together often enough to perfect team work, and with Hinkey to school them further in the trickeries of the open game, and with the quartet ranking as one of the speediest in the game, there’s a promise that some brilliant and dazzling plays will feature the operations of the Yale backfield. LeGore will do the punting and the drop-kicking, as he did last year, unless Hinkey finds a “rookie” who is better, which seems almost outside of the range of possibilities. Wilson and Guernsey boot with eclat, power and accuracy, and can do the relief work whenever called upon. Brann and Hillman, ends, and Conroy and White, linesmen, are among

Capt Alex Wilson.

the men that Yale lost in June. But none of them ranked as stars. Knowles and Ainsworth also were graduated. Both were good halfbacks, but Scovil and Guernsey look good enough to hold down their jobs. Hinkey has left from the 1914 team enough linesmen to form the nucleus of a stonewall line this year. The sophomore class of 1915 will send to him as candidates at least ten candidates who are sure of being in the battle for line jobs. Hinkey Aims for Speed. “The backfield always has been my greatest worry,” said Hinkey. “I always feel that when I have a powerful backfield that I can build a strong

Guernsey, Yale’s Speedy Left Halfback.

line in front of it. And that is how I feel now. “It is too early just now for me to predict what men will make up the line, because I haven’t had a chance to see all the candidates in action. But I am confident of the future, because the material that is offered to me looks so good naturally that I am sure it won’t take much work to develop it. “I want weight in the line, of course, but more than anything else I want speed. The new football rules place a premium upon speed—and Yale will have speed this year above all else.’

YOUNG PLAYER IS SIGNED BY MACK Jack Doyle, who scouted for the White Sox last year, tells a good story how Connie Mack got Davies, now one of the Athletics’ young outfielders. “I got a tip about Davies last year,’’ says Doyle, “and I watched him in several games up in New England. Then I followed him to his home in New Hampshire and decided to sign him for Comiskey. “As Davies was under age, I had to call in his relatives to witness and approve the contract. His father, mother, sisters, brothers, cousins and aunts were all there when I fished out the document. Then, to my astonishment, I learned that Connie Mack had signed Davies when he was seven years old, and that the boy was only seventeen. Connie gets them when they are infants.”

RED SOX MAKE NO CHANGES

Boston Team Made No Bid for Players in Recent Draft —President Lannin Is Satisfied. The Red Sox, the pennant winners in the American league this year, will go into next season virtually unchanged. President J. J. Lannin said that he did not bid for a single player in the draft recently held at Cincinnati. “The team,” he added, “is a perfect playing proposition as now constituted.” Boston, however, has five players not considered regular members of the team who will be candidates for places next year. These are Pennock, formerly of the Athletics, and Cooper, once of the New Yorks, both pitchers; Haley, a catcher; McNally, an infielder, and Shorten, an outfielder. They were sent to the Providence Internationals during the season and recalled. They are now with the Boston club and mostly are being used to lighten the task of the men who expect to be called upon to face the Philadelphia Nationals in the world’s title tests.

Trying to Coax Sullivan.

Billy Sullivan, the former star of the White Sox catching staff, may be the next coach of the baseball squad at the University of Indiana. He has been informed that he is wanted for the place, but has received no proposition as yet. The Minneapolis team will not let him go without using all of its persuasive powers, for they believe he is the most valuable man on their team.

Sutton Issues Challenge.

George Sutton has Just issued a challenge for a 3,000-point match at 18.2 balkline for a side bet of >SOO. Sutton prefers to meet Willie Hoppe, but is ready to play anyone else for that amount of money.

PROVES HIS GAMENESS

Courage of Georges Carpentier Shown in Great War. American Fight Fans Thought He Had Streak of Yellow on Account of Actions In Fight Years Ago With Billy Papke. Most American followers of boxing have always .had an idea that Georges Carpentier, heavyweight champion of Europe and greatest idol in the history of French sports, has every qualification of a boxing champion with the exception of gameness. This was particularly impressed on their minds when he quit to Bill Papke, former world’s middleweight champion, in 17 rounds in Paris a few years ago. However, this idea has .been proved false since the greatest European war started. Carpentier’s European record in the big struggle has shown him to be a man of unusual courage. Within Gun Range. During the early months of the war Carpentier was used as a messenger. It was his duty to carry messages on a motorcycle from one general to another. Often he was obliged to come mighty close to the enemy’s guns—in fact, near enough to forfeit his life if he came in the path of stray bullets — as he was frequently within range. What do you think he is doing now? And it is the supreme test of courage. He is piloting one of those airships that have to go up many, thousands of feet in the air and get a line on where the Germans and Austrians are situated. At any time he is in danger of having his machine struck by shot —and then it is a case of “farewell, proud earth.” The work of being a "chauffeur in the sky” is the most hazardous of all duties that a soldier can perform. Even in times of peace an air pilot

Georges Carpentier.

is always in danger of death, but in war times the dangers of losing his life are multiplied. To Be Honored. If Carpentier’s life is spared, and the warring nations lay down their arms, he will probably become one ol the most prominent figures in Europe, and it would be no suprise if the French government conferred some high official honors upon him —maybe some big job in the employ of the nation. Carpentier is one of the most picturesque figures in the history ot sport. He took up boxing when it was inaugurated in France, and won championship after championship until he captured the heavyweight championship from Bombardier Wells. He has the honor of holding every ring title from flyweight to the topwelght class. He won on a foul from Gunboat Smith in London early last summer and earned a fortune for this victory. The result caused all kinds of discussion, it being a question in the minds of the American public whether Smith quit or whether Georges was really hit low. It would not be surprising to hear that when his country no longer needs him, Carpentier will come to this country and challenge for a fight for the heavyweight championship of the world.

Big Change In Basket Ball.

A committee appointed by the Amateur Athletic union to confer with the college athletic authorities regarding basket ball has Just announced that for the first time in the history of that game the amateur and collegiate rules this year will be alike. This result was attained through a number of open meetings held during the winter and by a mail vote. The principal point of disagreement was the dribble rule. The new uniform rule now. adopted is in substance as follows? Dribbling will be permitted, and at the end of the dribble a player will be allowed to throw for goal. If he makes the goal it will count.

Evers Proud of His Mouth.

"I am no rowdy and I won’t shut up. If it wasn't for my mouth I would be in the minor leagues. There are a lot of other players better than I am, but they can’t get their stuff over. In * game I shout, rasp, shriek at anybody. My words cut and they disconcert a player and they help win ball games.” All this from Johnny Evers, player of second base for the Boston Braves, and owner of the sharpest tongue in baseball