Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 181, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1916 — WANTS TO FIGHT, BUT IN AMERICA [ARTICLE]

WANTS TO FIGHT, BUT IN AMERICA

James Bracy, Black, of Portsmouth, Doesn’t Care for Foreign Legion. “SCRAPS” AROUND WHOLELOI Isn't Afraid of the Germans, but Wants to Battle With Them at Home Where He Knows the J _ Country. By FRED B. PITNEY. Paris. —“Yo all is Americans, isn’t ye?” It was a very plaintive query, indeed, and I turned from the automobile in which I had ridden into La Yall bonne, the headquarters of the foreign legion, to see a small and very black negro in the uniform of the French army watching me anxiously. “Yes,” I replied, “we are Americans. Are you?” “Yassuh,” said the negro. "Je snis Americain. Parlez-vous Anglais? Ah comes Tom Po’tsmo’th, Virginia. Mah name is James Bracy, suh. James Bracy, B-r-a-c-y. Is yo’ got dat name right? Perhaps, yo’ wants to write it down?” James was not martial. He was feline. He was like a small kitten, playing around, begging to be scratched behind the ears. “How do you come to be here?” I asked. “Ah come in a grand ship to Bordeaux, wrastlin’ hosses,” he replied, “an’ when Ah got there, there wasn’t no way to git back, so Ah ’listed.” “How long ago was that?” “Eight months, suh.” He Knows Norfolk. “I suppose you know Norfolk, James.” “Norfolk?” exclaimed James. “Why, of co’se Ah knows Norfolk. Ah comes from Po’tsmo’th.” “And Old Point Comfort T “Suh?” “Old Point Comfort, Chamerblain's hotel, Fortress Monroe.” “No, suh. Ah don’t know none of dem.” “But if you come from Portsmouth and know Norfolk, you must know Old Point. It’s only eight miles away.” “Aw-h,” said James, “you means Hampton -Roads. Why, yassuh, Ah knows Hampton Roads. Ah sailed outtah Hampton Roads when Ah come heah.”

James crept a little closer, and became confidential. “Does yo’ all reckon America is goin’ to git into, de wah?” he asked. “Do you want America to come in?” I queried. “Yassuh,” he said eagerly. “Yassuh, Ah suo’ does want America to come into dis heah wah.” “Why?” Wants tb Fight Germans. “Cause,” he replied, “ev’ybody ronn’ heah says if America comes in we all Americans ’d be ’matically released an’ could go home. An,” he added, pleadingly, “Ah sho’ would like to weah some clo’es again—some reg-las clo’es. Dese heah ain’t clo’es, rightly speakin’, an’ Ah sho’ would like to weah some clo’es again, suh.” “But don’t you want to fight the Germans, James?” I asked. "Yassuh, yassuh,” he said. “Yassuh, Ah wants to fight de Germans. But Ah wants to fight ’em at home. Ah sho’ wants to lick de Germans to a finish. But Ah wants to do it in de United States of America. Ahse eager to fight de Germans. Dey ain’t nobody moh eager’n Ah am to fight ’em in Po’tsmo’th, Virginia, wheah Ah knows de country an* de people an* Ah can fight ’em right* “You must have had some experience already, James,” I said. “Yon have been In the legion eight months; you must have done some scrapping.” “Oh, yassuh,” he replied. “Ah done right considahbul scrappln’.” “What part of the front have yon been to?” I asked.

Scraps Around a Whole Lot. “Ah ain’t been to de front,” he said. “Theah’s a couple of other fellahs an’ me scraps aroun’ heah a whole lot. Sometimes we wrastles an’ sometimes we scraps, but mostfy we scraps.” We had gone to La Vallbonne to see the American members of the foreign legion who were still at the depot, and I asked. James if we would see him In the squad. “No, suh,” he said, “Ah ain’t goln’ to be in it.” “Why not?” I asked. “Ah heahd yo’ all was cornin’,” he explained, “and Ah went to- Sergeant Bouligny an’ Ah says to him, Ah says, salutin’ of co’se, “sergeant,’ Ah, says, •when de gemmuns comes to see de legion, Ahse ready, when Vo’ is. Yo’ can call on me,’ Ah says. “But Sergeant Bouligny comes from New Orleans, an’ he looked at me an’ he says, ‘We don’t need you,’ he says, an’ he turned Toun’ an’ walked away. Ah reckon it’s ’cause Ah’m eullud, so Ah come ovah heah to ask yo if yo’ all thinks Mistuh Wilson Is goin’ to do anything ’bout de wah so we all can go home.”