Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 270, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 November 1918 — NOT IN COLD BLOOD [ARTICLE]

NOT IN COLD BLOOD

Solder Simply Could Not “Till” His Prisoner. But Though There Wa* an Impediment in Hi* Speech, Hl* Comrade* Found There Wa* Nothing Wrong With Hi* Courage. He was the “baby* of the company. This sobriquet was not applied in irony. Hislcomrades had dubbed him < this because of his youth and an impediment of speech. He couldn’t pronounce his C’s, K’s and S’s, especially when those consonants were the first letter of the word. And consequently his conversation had the sound of a three-year-old. But those of his mates who had poked fun at him one day learned that though his speech and manner might be childish, there was stern stuff beneath. During an allied attack the platoon* of which the “baby” was a. member was held up in an old trench by Boche machine gun fire and snipers. The “baby” discovered an enemy sniper in a shell hole and reported him to his lieutenant. “Go but and get him,” ordered the lieutenant. * Obeying orders, over the top the "baby” crawled, and creeping up behind the Hun, forced him to surrender. Unable to bring him back, he took away all his ammunition and crawled back to his own lines again.' . “What thal I do with him?” the “baby” asked the lleuteuant “Better kill him, he’s probably got hand grenades and a gun hidden about him and we’re in too ticklish a position to be bothered with prisoners,” answered the harried officer. Out again went the “baby,” all primed for the execution. The Boche saw him coming, dropped to his knees, clasped his hands in prayerful entreaty and begged for mercy—a habit of the Boche after they have exhausted all their ammunition killing and wounding all the Americans they can. Twice the “baby” raised his bayonet to run the Hun through. And twice the renewed entreaties of the terrified German sniper made him hesitate. Finally, with a gesture df despair, he ordered the Boche to crawl ahead of him to the American line. Reaching it, the “baby” put his prisoner in a dugout. Then he went in search of his lieutenant and reported: “Lieutenant, I tan’t till that d Boche, sir. Please get tomeone else to till him.” The officer couldn’t help laughing, '■ and sent the “baby” back to his post An hour later the “baby” was wounded by another sniper and ordered to the dressing station in the rear. “He’s all broken up, sir, because he couldn’t carry out the lieutenant’s orders,” said his comrade to the American Red Cross worker in the dressing station. —From a Red Cross Scrap Book.