Newspaper Page Text
WESTERN KANSAS WORLD The Confessions of -a Gentian Deserter Written by a Prussian Officer IVho Participated OosrUcntkr Ptrolt Tram Pw KAISER'S TERRIBLE ENGINES OF WAR RAIN DEATH UPON THE CITIES OF BELGIUM Synopsis. The author of these confessions, an officer in the pio neers' corps of the German army, a branch of the service correspond ing to the engineers' corps of the United States army, is sent into Belgium with the first German forces invading that country. Igno rant of their destination or of the reasons for their actions, the Ger man soldiers cross the border and attack the Belgian soldiers defend ing their frontier. CHAPTER I Continued. But there was no time to be spent in speculation. With fixed bayonets we went from house to house, door to door, and while the results were negli gible because we found no soldiers we did not come out quite empty-handed. We made the inhabitants deliver all guns and munitions and so forth In their possession. The mayor, accom panying the soldiers, explained to every citizen that all found with arms after the search would be punished according to the rules of war and German rules of war in Belgium K meant execution. An hour might have passed when we were again aroused by the sound of artillery and gunfire. A new battle had begun. Whether the artillery was busy on both sides cbuld not be judged from our village. The bombardment was tremendous. The ground shook from the growling and moaning that rolled backward and forward, always seeming to become stronger. The ambulance columns now brought In the first wounded. Cour iers sped by us. War had set In in all its phases. Darkness came over us before we had finished our house-to-house search. We dragged all the mattresses, straw sacks and feather beds that we could lay our hands on, to the community school and church to care for the wounded. They were made as com fortable as possible. From other sur rounding villages now. came the first fugitives. They may have been march ing, for they looked tired and utterly exhausted. Women, old men and children were huddled together in one mass. They had saved nothing except their bare lives. In baby buggies or on wheel barrows these unfortunates carried whatever the rude force of war had left them. In contrast to the fugitives, whom we had met before, these were extremely frightened, appearing to be la mortal terror of their enemy. When ever they looked upon one of us Ger man soldiers they cringed In terror. ' How different these were from the inhabitants of the village where we had first stopped, who bad met us in a friendly, even polite - manner. We tried to learn the cause of this fright and discovered that the fugitives had witnessed In their village bitter street fighting. They had become acquainted with war had seen - their houses burning, had seen their little property destroyed and could not forget the sight of their streets filled with corpses and wounded. It dawned upon us that not merely fear gave these people the appearance of hunted animals ; there was also hatred toward the Invaders who had fallen upon them and driven them from their homes by night. In the evening we departed and tried to reach our own regiment. The Belgians had concentrated somewhere to the rear under cover of darkness. We were quite near the neighborhood of the fortified city of Liege. Many settlements through which we passed " stood in flames ; the Inhabitants driven out. passed us In droves. Women, children and old men were buffeted about and seemed to be everywhere in the way. Without alms or plans, with out a place on which to lay their heads these poor people dragged themselves by. Again w reached a village, which ' to ail appearances had been Inhabited by contented people. Now indeed nothing but ' ruins could be seen. Wrecked bouses and farms, dead sol diers, German and Belgian, and among them many civilians, who had been shot by military order. Toward midnight we reached . the German lines. The Germans had tried to take a Tillage which lay with in the fortified belt of Liege and was defended tenaciously- by the Belgians. Here all forces had to be used In or der to drive the enemy out. house by bouse and street by street. It was not very, dark yet, so that we had to wit ness with all of our senses the terrible fights which developed here. It was a mau-to-man fight. With the butts of our guns; knives, fists, teeth we went against the enemy. One of my best friends fought with a giant Belgian. The guns of both had 'fallen to the ground. They hammered one another with fists. I had just dosed aa account with a twenty-two-year-old Belgian and was going to as sist my friend because his antagonist was of superior strength. My friend succeeded suddenly in biting the Bel gian en cb chin so deeply that be tore piece of lesh out with his teeth. The Belgian's ixtin must have been terri in the Ravaging and Pillaging of Belgium ble. He released my comrade and ran away with an Insane cry of pain. Everything developed by seconds. The blood of the Belgian ran out of my friend's mouth ; a terrible nausea and indescribable loathing seized him. The . taste of warm human blood brought blm almost to the verge of in sanity. In the course of this night battle I came in contact for the first time with the butt of a Belgian gun. During a hand-to-hand fight with a Belgian, a second enemy soldier struck me on the back of the head with the butt of his gun so hard that my helmet was forced down over my ears. The pain was fearful and I fainted. - When I revived, I was lying In a barn, with my head bandaged, among other wounded men. My wound was not severe. I only had a feeling as if my head was twice its normal size. The other wounded soldiers and the ambulance men said the Belgians had been forced back within the forts and that hard fighting was still in prog ress. Wounded men were brought in con tinuously and they told us that the Germans had already stormed several forts and had taken a number of main and auxiliary defenses, but could not hold them because they had not been sufficiently supported by artillery. The defenses inside lie forts and their gar risons were still intact. The situation was not ripe for a storming attack, so the Germans had to retire with enor- Played the Searchlight on Them. mous losses. The reports we received were contradictory. It was impossible to get a clear picture. ' In the mean time the artillery bombardment had become so intense that it horrified even the German soldiers. The heavi est artillery was brought Into action against the steel and concrete de fenses. No soldier so far knew anything of the existence of the 42-centimeter mor tars. Long after Liege was in Ger man hands these soldiers could not understand how It was possible that the defenses, which consisted of dou ble six-meter walls of steel and con crete, were reduced after only a few hours' bombardment. I myself could not take part in these operations. , being wounded, but my comrades told me later how the cap ture of the several forts came about. Artillery of all caliber was trained on the forts, but it was the 21-centimeter mortars and the 42s which performed the real work. From a distance the 42-centimeter projectiles were heard to arrive, to the accompaniment of a . fearful hissing that sounded like a long drawn-out screech which filled the whole at mosphere. Wherever it fell, every thing was destroyed within a radius of several hundred meters. ' The air pressure which the bursting of the pro jectile produced was so terrible that It made breathing difficult for those of us who were holding the advanced po sitions. To make this witches' holiday com plete, the Zeppelins appeared during the night to participate in the work of destruction. The soldiers suddenly heard above their heads the whirling of propellers and the noise of t tie mo tors. The Zeppelins came nearer. They were not discovered by the ene my until they were close to the forts, which immediately played all the n l 1 searchlights at their disposal on them. hunting the firmament for the flying foe. The whirling of the propeljers of the airships stopped suddenly. In stead, high in the air a brilliant light appeared, the searchlight of the Zep pelin, which, for a moment, illuminat ed the entire landscape. Suddenly all became dark again. A few moments later powerful detona tions revealed the fact that the Zep pelin had thrown off -ballast."' That went on a long while. Explosion fol lowed explosion. These were followed by clouds of fire. In the air, exploding shrapnel, which the Belgian artillery fired at the airships could be observed. The whirling of the propellers started up again, directly above our heads. It became quieter and quieter, until the powerful ships of the air disappeared from our vicinity. - Thus the forts were leveled. Thou sands ofJBelgians lay behind the walls and under the fortifications, dead and buried. A general storming attack followed. Liege was In the hands of the Germans, who had paid. In dead alona In this battle, 28,000 men. CHAPTER II. I went to Aix-la-Chappelle to a hos pital. I met many more wounded men who had fought In Belgium. All were of the opinion that the Belgian dead numbered as many civilians as sol diers. Even if the German soldiers who fought in Belgium do not admit the cruelties committed against the Belgians, it cannot be denied that at least 80 per cent of the cruelties known to the world to have been com mitted in Belgium were only too true. A young soldier who lay next to me in the hospital told me that his com pany, during a street fight in Liege, was given orders to kill everybody without discrimination. Systematical ly, one house after another was set on fire. The inhabitants either fell in the flames or became the victims in the streets to the gun barrels of the Ger man kultur-bearers. At the time I doubted the words of my neighbor, even though I had seen what German warfare meant. After a few . days I was released from the hospital and again restored to my der tachment. Partly by auto,' partly by foot, I reached my detachment by ten o'clock In the evening. Our transport moved this time over Trier to Luxem burg. The little grand duchy of Lux emburg was overrun entirely by Ger man soldiers. The Germans who had made their homes in Luxemburg had everything taken away from them, es pecially the farmers, all food, without thought of payment, so that in Luxem burg at this time there was a shortage of food. The people here as well as in Belgium were very friendly, yet they harbored a terrible bitterness against the German government, which had loosed Its troops like a band of robbers and murderers over their peaceful country. Belgium and Luxemburg, the two first unhappy victims of the damnable German politics and its 'drunkenness with power! That the Luxemburg citizens detest ed Germany an incident showed me which happened in the village of Mar moth. We were in a friendly conver sation with a Luxemburg farmer. Two officers approached and listened. One officer, a captain, asked the Luxem burger, "What do you think of the war, and of the quickness of Germany! There is only one Germany, isn't there?" "Yes," replied the farmer. "Thank the Lord." For-those-four words the farmer was arrested at once and transported to Germany as a court prisoner. I could never learn what became of him. Streets, sidewalks, houses in the town of Neuve Chateau are heaped with dead and wound edcivilians and soldiers after the town is taken by the Ger mans in a hand-to-hand encoun ter. The next Installment tells how the German soldiers car ried out the orders of their offi- -cers to show no mercy. (TO BE CONTINUED.) Bright Eton Boys. The schoolboy "howler" Is quite com monly amusing, but Its very frequen cy is apt to make it something of a bore. It is doubtful, however. If a more representative collection of the genus has ever been got together than that recently given to the public, out of his own" experience, by the vice provost of Eton. First there was the exquisite, though not absolutely new one of the boy who explained that Homer was not written by Homer, but by another man of the same name. Then there was a dissertation on beads In the terms that. "A bede Is a very old man known as a venerable bede. and sometimes called Adam Bede." But. the gem of the whole collection was undoubtedly the definition of a vacuum as "the place where the pop lives." After this to be told that grav ity la "a limit of ten miles an hour" is In the nature of aa and-cllmax. I unuAf'nnrcnT im fUJI"iULl..LIII ill WESTEIill CANADA FARI.1 LO PRICES Stories of phenomenal advancement and prosperity in Western Canada have been told the reading public for some years past. The stories were told when there were hundreds of thous ands of acres of splendid land adja cent to railways and projected lines, which could be had on the payment of a mere $10 entry fee. and under culti vation and living conditions. As was prophesied then, the day has come when these are few'. There are still available thousands of these; they are some distance now from the railways. The land is as good as ever, but pio neering conditions will have changed. A great many are still taking advan tage of this free offer from the govern tnent. The story was told when good lands near lines of railway could be bought for from $8 to $10 per acre and the prophecy made that these lirices would double In a few years, for the intrinsic value was far more than that. That day has come more quickly than expected. The immense crops of 'grain that could be raised has brought about the change, and the demand for low priced lands with maximum re turns has prompted the keen pur chaser as well as the owner of higher priced land from which no greater re turn could be looked for. Prices of land In tVestern Canada are still ad vancing. nnl will continue to advance until, of course, the limit is reached when returns will warrant no further Increase. That day Is not far distant. Bur, In the meantime, there are large tracts of land owned by land compa nies and private Individuals that have not felt the advance that has been shown In other districts. The oppor tunity to purchase these should not be lost sight of. and if there are those arnongst the readers of this article, which is .authorized. by the Canadian government, who wish cheap land, such lands as pnoduce from 25 to 40 bushels per acre, and 'will pay for themselves out of one year's crop, ad vantage should be taken of the present opportunity. Coming to Alberta with his family thirteen years ao, his assets consist ing or a small outfit and $20 in cash. Mr. O. F. Maimberg has accumulated by farming and live stock raising as sets to the value of more than $300, 000, and has a personal credit, worth on demand. $100,000. He has not specu lated in land, but bought only to farm. Near Blackie, Alberta, he operates 3. 10O acres of wheat land. He has just purchased an additional 11,500 acres near Cardston, in Southern Alberta. His personal credit enabled him to finance this deal in Calgary in n little over three hours. The ranch just pur chased is a fully equipped stock and grain ranch. At the present time it carries a thousand head of cattle and several hundred horses, and Is fully equipped with buildings, machinery, corrals, sheep sheds, dipping vats, etc. That Is a story from one district. Let us select one from a district some hun dred or more miles from that. - "Peter A. Klassen. who recently moved to Herbert, Sask., from Kansas, has purchased a section of prairie land in the Hillsboro district, about 24 miles northwest of Herbert, for which he paid $12,000 cash. He is erecting tem porary buildings to live In while put ting the plnce in cultivation, and, this summer plans to erect good buildings on the farm and equip it for a home. Mr. Klassen recently sold his 80-acre farm in Kansas for $ lo.OOO and is in vesting the proceeds In Canada." ;Vith the proceeds of the sale of his land in Kansas, this farmer purchased la Saskatchewan a piece eight times as large as he had previously been farm ing, and had a balance with which to purchase equipment, stock, etc.. of $3,- Wei VA2J i f i - nj """m -xx mm t-. "V Emm E. PMKIHIM'S OOtt. Moreover as land In Saskatche wan may be expected to yield twice as much grain per acre, he will be able to produce sixteen times as much as formerly.. The average value of farm land for the whole of Canada, including land Improved and unimproved, together with dwelling houses, barns, stables and other farm buildings. Is approxi mately $44 per acre as compared with $41 in 1916, according to the latest re port of the Census and Statistics branch at Ottawa. The average value of land In the Prairie Provinces is as follows: - Manitoba .$31.00 Saskatchewan 26.00 Alberta 26.70 - It Is the low prices at which land can be obtained in Western Canada which is rendering this country such an Important factor in the production of foodstuffs at the present time. It is enabling men who have been farm ing small areas In older districts to take up and farm with the same capi tal areas not only many times as great, but which are also capable of produc ing considerably larger crops to the acre. Advertisement. To Some Extent. "Mrs. Gaddy claims that she made her husband." "So she did ; she made a fool of him." ' " - ... - -Doubtful. "How's your war garden, old man?" "There's a cutworm drive on at present" the INFANT MORTALITY is something frightful. We can hardly realize that of all the children born in civilized countries, twenty-two per cent., or nearly one-quarter, die before they reach one year; thirty -even per cent., or more than one-third, before they are five, and one-half before they are fifteen t We do not hesitate to say that a timely use of Castoria would save many of these precious lives. Neither do we hesitate to say that many of these infantile deaths arc occasioned by the use of narcotic preparations. Drops, tinctures and soothing syrups sold for children's complaints contain more or less opium or morphine. They are, in considerable quantities, deadly poisons. In any quantity, they stupefy, retard circulation and lead to congestions, sickness, death. There can be no danger in the use of Cas toria if it bears the signature of Chas. H. Fletcher f as it contains no opiates or narcotics of any kind. SStfr, -g. Genuine Castoria always bean the signature of 'w'Vjtyjf S-Cc4cJ(UiZC nines Keep a close watch on your stom ach this summer. We need all our fighting strength. War work change of diet will make us all easier prey to stomach and bowel trouble than ever before. It is so easy to become overheated on a blazing hot day, especially after eating a hearty meal. And then the excessive heat makes us flood our stomachs with all kinds -of cold drinks. That's bad at any time; much worse even danger ous when there is the slightest feeling of stomach trouble. Keep the stomach sweet and cool and free from too much acid that's about all that is neces sary. It's not so much the diet as to keep the poison from start ing trouble. You can easily do this if you will just take a tablet or two of EATOHIC after your meals. Cuticura For Baby's Itchy Skin All droogists; Boss 26, Oint ment 26 and SO, TaJeozn 25. Sample each free of "OsU cerav. Dee. , Bestea." Mervous Motliers Should Profit by the Experience of These Two Women Buffalo, N. Y. "I am the mother of four children, and for nearly three years 1 8 uttered from in my back and side, and a general weakness. I had pro. fessional attendance most of that time but did not seem to get welL As a last resort I decided to try Lydia K. Finkham's Vegetable Compound which I , had. seen advertised in the newspapers, and in two weeks noticed -a marked improvement. I continued its use and am now free from pain and work." Mrs. B. IS. ZTKt.mswA, 202 Weiss Street, Buffalo, K". T. i ' Portland, Ind. " I had a displacement and suffered bo badly from it at times I could not be on my feet at alL I was all run down and so weak I could not do my housework, was nervous and could not lie down at night. X tooK treatments from a physician but they did not help me. Lydia iS. mnltham's Vegetable Uompouno. l tnea I it and now I am strong- and well again and do ' I w i t ti:,. V Pt.ik.ni. Compound the credit." Mis. Joaipalm. KTxnr.it, 935 West Kace Street, Portland, lad, Every Sick W Should .Try ,..-..,.... LTDtA CPIMKHAM kid::ey trouzle oftbi causes serious backache V : : - . . . I When yonr back aches, and your blad der and kidneys seem to be disordered, go to your nearest drug store and get a bottle of Dr. Kilmer's Swamp-Root. It is a physician's prescription- for ailments of the kidneys and bladder. It has stood the test of years and has a reputation for quickly and effectively giving results' in thousands of eases. This preparation so very effective, has been placed on sale everywhere. Get a bottle, medium or large size, at your near est druggist. However, if you wish first to test this preparation send ten cents to Dr. Kilmer & Co., Binghamton, N. for a sample bottle. ' When writing be sure and men tion this paper. Adv. - The first self-moving gun 'carriage was Invented in France in 1769. FRECKLES IUw Is Aw Tin U Gcft Rid l The Ugly Spf 1 There's bo lancer tbe slightest need of feeling shamed of your freckles, as Otblne double strengtn is guaranteed to remove tseae homely spots. Simply get aa ounce of O thine double strength from your druggist, and apply a little of It night and morning and you should soon see that even the worst freckles have begun to dis appear, while the lighter ones have vanished en tirely. It is seldom that more than one ounce Is needed to completely clear the skin and gala a beautiful clear complexion. Be surf to ssk for the double strength Othtae, : mm this ts sold under gwarantee of money oscs If It fails to remove freckles. Adv. He ts well paid that Is satisfied. 1 in MOlUlIu EATONIC is the wonderful new compound that absorbs the harm ful gases And juioes- and almost instantly drives away stomach misery. Instead of sudden and painful attacks of indigestion, after you begin using EATONIC you'll for get you have a stomach. And there will be no more heartburn, food repeating, sour stomach, gas pains, or that lumpy, bloated feeling you havo so often experienced after eating. Then your appetite you know how hard i ts to satisfy in hot weather eat one or two EATONIC Tablets a half hour be fore meals and you will enjoy the re sults and feel better in every way. These are a few reasons why yon should start using ATONIC today and fortify your stomach against the chance trouble this summer. It costs only 50o for a big package. Your druggist whom you know and can trust, will promptly refnnd your money if yoa are not more than satisfied. I Kin Ail Fiiesi nvKnnw naoed anywhere, Daisy Fly K liter attracts and km I all flies. Meat, eleaa, oraamentnl.eoneenlept and efaeave. Daisy Fly Killer by xpra, prm.d, 41.40. SO Og KALM AVsU, sWOOKLYN. Mefe a female trouble with pains able to do all my house Juy Aunt recommended. MEDICINE COL LYWW.MASi. t jfprrwm. JVW'j f. h. "B Made