The herald and news. (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, April 05, 1918, Page SEVEN, Image 7
Make This Bank
Did You Ev
a man w
Via Vta
11V WW
one. Bu
dozens of
I ted their f
>T<1
I ne answ
I
Open a Saving
The Excl
r Of New
"The Banl
g
j ZZIZI "
Alkali Ike started in and aimed
the right of the line of bottles inste
of the left, and the poor boob behl
the scenes started breaking the bott
on the left, and then the boxhold
turned loose; but outside of this lii
fiasco the performance was a huge s
cess, ar.d we decided to run it fo:
week.
New troops were constantly com
through, and for six performances
had the "S. R. O." sign suspended c
side.
CHAPTER XIX.
r
On His Own.
Of course Tommy cannot always
producing plays under fire but wl
in rest billets he has numerous otl
> ways of amusing himself. He is
* great gambler, but never plays
? ?1-? ~ ii? ??v.
lBTge Biases. urcuCTitiiy, ia trav.11 v*.
pany, you will find a regular Canfh
This man banks nearly all the gan
of chance and is an undisputed autb
ity on the rules of gambling. Wh
ver there is an argument among 1
Tommies about some uncertain po
as to whether Houghton is entitled
Watting' sixpence, the matter is tat
to the recognized^ authority and his1
dsion is final.
TVn T?At4 n/mnlor aromae <
JLUC inv UiVOW jAT^UiUi ih,uiuvo ?
"Crown and Anchor" afl House."
The paraphernalia used in "Cro
end Anchor" consists of a piece of c
vas two feet by three feet. This
divided into six equal squares. In th<
squares are painted a club, diamo:
heart, spade, crown, and an anch
one device to a square. There i
three dice used, each dice marked 1
same as the canvas. The banker s
op his gambling outfit in the corner
^ KHlftf on/) ofoi^o KoHt-Kaainor tinH
91 UillCk QUU Dial to L/UitJ UVViUfj uuvi
^ crowd of Tommies gathers arour
then the game starts.
||? The Tommies place bets on 1
WW SQuares, the crown or anchor bel
Br played the most. The hanker tt
? rolls his three dice and collects or pt
out as the case may be. If you pi
the crown and one shows up on 1
dice, yon get even money, If two sn
up, you receive two to one, and If thr
three to one. If the crown does not:
pear and you have bet on It, you lo
and so on. The percentage for 1
hnnkpr i? lar?** it pverv sniiflr**
played, but if the crowd is partial
say two squares, be has to trust
luck. The banker generally wins.
The game of "House" is very popu
also. It takes two men to run it. T
game consists of numerous squares
I cardboard containing three rows
numbers, five numbers to a row. 1
numbers run from one to ninety. Et
card has a different combination.
The French "estaminets" in the 1
/wv\/<AlmcrAn in fK A HnA
UtgTTB OtC UUiU Clivcu 1U IUC HIV
lag until one in the afternoon in
cordance with army orders.
After dinner the Tommies eong
$ste fit these places to drink Frer
jtoeer at * penny a glass and pi
TffPft' **
/ TTrffV v
y . . As afvf>B lis the estaqiinet is f?
I
i - . ;
I'
i)
Your Business Horr.e
i
er Kno w?
i
j
rho regretted the fact
id saved money / ... not
t! you probably know
men who have regret!
ailure to save. j
er is simple - j
l
s Account To-day !
!
|
lange Bank
berry, S. C.
f of the People"
m in !'$
(fAMOKMSOLMER
TWA T i TTf\T*IK ^ ^
(W YVLlN 1 v w
mummy
MNE GUfiMER,SERVING IN fRAffCE"
f
?1917 DY I A1
Aornfrf??iry morvl
-1
at ! Gently crowded the proprietors of the
ad j "House" game get busy and, a? they
nd j term it, "form a school." This consists ;
les j of going around and seHing cards at !
erf? | a franc each. If they have ten in the ;
r{;le school, the backers of the game de- f
uc_ duct two francs for their trouble and i
a the winner gets eight francs. |
Then the game starts. Each buyer
in? places his card before him on the ta- !
ble, first breaking up matches into fif-j
teen pieces.
One of the backers ?f the game has
a small cloth bag in which are ninety
cardboard squares, each with a num- j
ber printed thereon, from one to nine- j
ty. He raps on the table and cries
nnf* "Rvps ilnwn. mv Inrkv lads."
DC wv? V v"v " ?? ? %r
tila All noise ceases and every one is at-1
her tention. i
i a The croupier places his hand in the
for ! bag and draws forth a numbered
)m. j square and immediately calls out the
;ld j number. The man who owns the card .
aes | with that particular number on it,
or. | covers the square with a match. The j
? ! nno rchn tbp fiftppn numbers on
the 1 his card first shouts "House." The 1
int J other backer immediately comes over j
to j to him and verifies the card by calling
cen out the numbers thereon to the man j
(jg. with the hag. As-each number is
called he picks it out of the onfes i
ire picked from the bag and says, "Right.*' j
If the count is right he shouts, "House i
wn correct, pay the lucky gentleman, and!
aEh j sell him a card for the next school." j
jg The "lucky gentleman" generally buys j
age one unless he has a miser trace in ,
Q^j his veins.
or' Then another collection is made, a '
irJ school formed, and they carry on with
:he the game.
ets The caller-out has many nicknames;
for the numbers such as "Kelly's Eye" j
j ft for one, "Leg's Eleven" for eleven, j
1(j. "Clickety-click" for sixty-six, or "Top:
of the house" meaning ninety.
the game is honest and quite en[ng
Joyable. Sometimes you have fourteen
ten numbers on your card covered and
iyg you are waiting for the fifteenth to be
lay -called. In an imploring voice you call |
the out, "Come on, Watkins, chum, I'm
ow sweating on 'Kelly's Eye.'"
ee, Watkins generally replies, "Well,
??*_ lroun ntif nf o riroft VAll'll ffltph ('Old." I
VWV V* ,, I
se, Another game Is "Pontoon," played
the with cards; it is the same as our
is "Black Jack," or "Twenty-one."
t0> A card game called "Brag" is alsc:
to popular. Using a casino deck, the;
dealer deals each player three cards. I
It is similar to our pofeer, except for i
his the fact that you only use three cards J
?* and cannot draw. The deck is never
?* shuffled until a man shows three of a(
kind or a "prile" as it is called. The'
icil raitze of the hands are, high card, aj
patr, a ma, a flash or three of & kind j
ril- , or "prile." Tne limit is generally a
ro- penny, so it is hard to win a fortune
ac~ The next in popularity is a carc
game called "Nap." It is well named
re- Every time I played it I went to sleep
lc*! : Whist and solo whist are played In
'a*v i the highVirows of the company.
j When the gamblers tire of all othej <
- : | games they try "Banker and Broker.1'
I '
T spent a wool; frying in h some <
of the Tommies h??w i<> play poker, hut t
because I won thirty-five frai:<-* they >
declared that they didn't "fawney" the 1
game. *
Tommy plays few (tire? games; the
general run never heard of poker, en- s
dire, seven up, o* *Mnoehle. They have J
v. game similar to pinochle called l
"Royal Bezique," but few know how to 1
ril-.iv it (
k'A%+J **
Generally there pre two decks of ]
cards in a section, and in a short time I
they are so dog-eared and greasy, you
c::n hardly tell the ace of spades from <
the ace of hearts. The owners of these )
decks sometimes condescend to lend <
them after much coaxing. , j
So you see, Mr. Atkins has his fun
mixed in with his hardships and, con- <
trary to popular belief, the rank and 1
fde of the British army in the trenches a
Is one big happy family. Now in Vir- <
ginla, at school, I was fed on old Me- '
Guffy's primary render, which gave me
an opinion of an Englishman about
"* x l\o rtlrn#1 Tin
CKJUUl lO a <V> iUUlUlC iUUll o uai.n.cu
by a Sinn Feiner's. But I found Torn- i
my to be the best of mates and a gen- 1
tleman through and through. He never
thinks of knocking his officers. If one :
makes a costly mistake and Tommy
pays with liis blood, there is no general
condemnation of the officer. He
is just pitied. It is exactly the same
as it was with the Light Brigade at
Balaclava, to say nothing of Gallipoit
Neuve Chapelle and Loos. Personally
I remember a little Incident whert
Meeting a Gas anc
twenty of us were sent on a tfench
raid, only two of us returning, but 11 '
will tell this story later on. j
I said it was a big happy family, ana
so it is, but as in all happy families,
there are servants, so in the British
army there are also servants, officers' j
servants, or "O. S." as they are termed, i
In the American army the common j
name for them is "dog robbers." From <
a controversy in the English papers, j
Winston Churchill made the state- j
ment, as far as I can remember, that j
the officers' servants In the British j
fV?r/*??c nonrlv tvrn hnnrtrpfl !
thousand. He claimed that-this re- ?
moved two hundred thousand exceptionally
good and well-trained fighters
from the actual firing line, claiming
that the officers, when selecting a riaan
for servant's duty, generally picked the 1
man who had been <5ut the longest ajid
knew the ropes.
But from my observation I find that J
a large percentage of the servants do
go ovi>r the top. but behind the lines
-1' AM?yn/T/v ?n /ti <vrtri ncr I 1
lllt*y vci v ^t-iuuiu in j
parties, fatigues, parades or drills, j
This work is as necessary as actually !
engaging in an attack, therefore I think ! ]
it would he safe to say that the all- j
round work of the two hundred thou- j
sand is about equal to fifty thousand j
men who are on straight military du- j '
ties. In numerous instances, officers' '
servants hold the rank of lance-corpo- j !
rals and they assume tne same amies ;
and authority of a butler, the.one j
stripe giving him precedence over the j i
other servants. ]
There are lots of amusing stories <
told of "O. S."
One day one of our majors went into <
the servants' billet and commenced
"blinding" at them, saying that his i
horse had no straw and that he per- <
sonally knew that straw had been is- j 1
sued for this purpose. He called the ' 1
lance-corporal to account. The cor- ' 1
poral answered, "Blime me, sir, the j 1
straw was issued, but there wasn't
enough left over from the servants' j 1
beds; in fact, we had to use some of j i
the 'av to 'elp out, sir." j ]
It is needless to say that the serv- ! I
^ nn'fh f hail* cnft hpfls 1 1
IUi?? ui^|jriic?ru miui iuvn cvi t
that particular night.
Nevertheless it is not the fault of 1
the individual officer, it is just the sur- 1
vival of a quaint old English custom. ^
You know an Englishman cannot be '
changed in a day. >
But the average English officer is a 1
good sport. He will sit on a fire step
and listen respectfully to Private
Jones' theory of the way the war 3
should be conducted. . This war is *
gradually cruniDiing tne once msur- |
mountable wall of caste.
You would be convinced of this if
you coujd see fcing George go among
his men on an inspecting tour under i
fire, or pause before a little wowteo '
to.cr In some shp'l-jossed with
ears in his <\ves us he reads ih<- inscription.
And a little later perhaps
>end over a wounded man on a stretcher,
patting him on the head.
More than once in a hospital 1 have
;een a titled Rod Cross nurse fetching
ind carrying for a wounded soldier,
perhaps the one who in civil life deivered
the coal at her hack door. Toiay
she does not shrink from lighting
lis fag or even washing his griiny
?ody.
Tommy admires Albert of Belgium because
he is not a pusher of men; lie
on (is tnein. vmtii nun 11s uoi a
if "take that trench," it is "come on
md we will take it."
It is amusing to notice the different
haracteristics of the Irish, Scotch and
English soldiers. The Irish and Scotch
ire very impetuous, especially when it
[ (unes to bayonet fighting, while the
Englishman, though a trifle slower,
thoroughly does his bit; he is more
methodical and has the grip of a bulldog
on a captured position. He is
Blower to think; that is the reason why
tie never knows when he is licked.
Twenty minutes before going over
the top the English Tommy will sit on
the fire step and thoroughly examine
the mechanism of his rifle to see that it
is in working order and will fire properly.
After this examination he is satM/irwltr
4- r\ DQ
lfcjutru a LIvi icauj iu iiiv-ci tnv>
But the Irishman or Scotchman sits
on the fire step, his rifle with bayonet
Hxed between his knees, the butt oI
^Bi^lHSixHfiS@^^lv^'^liHlBS?jHR nj
1 kifantry Attack, * i
which perhaps is sinking into the rand
?the bolt couldn't be opened with a
team of horses^ it is so rusty?but he
Bpits on his sleeve and slowly polishes
his bayonet; when this is done he also
Is ready to argue with Fritz.
It is not necessary to mention thfc
><Alnnia1c PanoHlans A nctrnlinns
and New Zealanders), the whole world
knows what they have done for England.
The Australian and New Zealander
is termed the "Anzac," taking the
name from the first letters of their official
designation, Australian and New
Zealand army corps.
Tommy divides the German army
Into three classes according to their
fighting abilities. They rank as follows:
Prussians, Bavarians and Saxons.
When up against a Prussian regi
liicui it 10 a tttoc ujl nccp juui uajjpti
below the parapet and duck. A bangbang
all the time and a war is on. The
Bavarians are little better, but the
Saxons are fairly good sports and are
willing occasionally to behave as gentlemen
and take it easy, but you can ot
trust any of them overlong.
At one point of the liDe the trenches
were about tliirty-two yards apart
rhi? sounds horrible, but in fact it was
easy, because neither side could shell
the enemy's front-line trench for fear
shells would drop into their own. This
eliminated artillery fire.
In these trenches when up against
the Prussians and Bavarians, Tommy
had a hot time of it, but when the Saxons
"took over" it was a picnic; they
would yell across that they were Saxons
and would not fire. Both sides
would sit on the parapet and carry on
i conversation. This generally consisted
of Tommy telling them how much
tie loved the kaiser, while the Saxons
Informed Tommy that King George
nas a particular friend of theirs and
loped that he was doing nicely. |
When the Saxons were to be relieved
3y Prussians or Bavarians, they would
yell this information across No Man's
Land and Tommy would immediately
tumble into his trench and keep his
bead down. j
If an English regiment was to be reieved
by the wild Irish, Tommy would
[ell the Saxons, and immediately a vol- (
ley of "Donner und Blitzens" could
ip heard and it was Fritz's turn to get j
i crick in his hack from stooping, an?
rhe people in Berlin would close their
windows. I
i
Usually when ?n Irishman takes over
i trench, just before "stand down" In
!he morning, he sticks his rifle over
the top. aimed in the direction ot tser-,
in, and engages in what Is known as
the "mad minute.'1 This consists of
Bring fifteen shots in a minute. He1
s not aiminsr at anything in particular
?Just sends over each shot with &
ffniTor, hoping flint mo of his strays
fall! pet some poor unsi-ncctin;; Fritz
In the napper hundreds of yards heWnd
the lines. It j?enerally does; that's
the reason the Bodies hate the man
from Erin's isle.
The Saxons, i hough bettor than the
I Russians and Bavarians, have a nasty
trait of trea<-hory in tbeir makeup.
At one point of the line where the
trenches "ere very close, a stake was
driven into the ground midway between
the hostile line?. At night vhon
It was his turn, Tommy would crawf
to this ;take and attach some London
papers to it, while at the foot he would
place tins of bully beel, fags, sweets
and other delicacies that he had r<>ceiv^d
from Blighty in the ever looked
for parcel. Later on *ritz would come
out and get these luxuries.
The next night Tommy would go out
to see what Fritz put into his stocking.
The donation generally consisted of a
paper irum xitrxiu, lc-ihu^ mw vr?o
winning the war, some tinned sausages,
cigars, and occasionally a little beer,
but a funny thing, Tommy never returned
with the beer unless it was inside
of him. His platoon got a whiff of
his breath one night and the offending
Tommy lost his job.
One night a young English sergeant
crawled to the stake and as he tried 10
detach the German paper a bomb exploded
and mangled him horribly. Fritz
had' set a trap and gained another victim
which was only one more black
mark against him in the book of this
war. From that time on diplomatic relations
were severed.
Returning to Tommy, I think his
spirit is best shown in the questions he
asks. It is never "who is going to win"
but always "how long will it take?"
CHAPIfcKAA. JjpJ"Chats
With Fritz."
We were swimming in money, from
the receipts of our theatrical venture,
and had forgotten all about the war,
when an order came through that our
brigade would again take over their
sector of the line.
The day that these orders were issued,
our captain assembled the company
and asked for volunteers to go to
the Machine Gun school at St. Omar.
I volunteered and was accepted.
-L 1^*4
rsiXTeen men irum our unguuc icxi.
for the course in machine gunnery.
This course lasted two weeks and we
rejoined our unit and were assigned to
the brigade machine guil company. It
almost broke ray heart to leave my
company mates.
The gun we used was the Vlckers,
Light .303. water cooled.
I was still a member of the Suicide
club, having jumped from the frying
pan into' the fire. I was assigned to
section 1, gun No. 2, and the first time
"in" took position in the front-line
trench.
During the day our gun would be
dismounted on the fire step ready for
instant use. We shared a dugout with
the Lewis gunners. At "stand to" we
would mount our gun on the parapet
and go on watch beside it until "stand
down" in the morning. Then the gun
would be dismounted and again placed
In readiness on the fire step.
We did eight days in the front-line
trench without anything unusual happening
outside of the ordinary trench
routine. On the night that we were to
"carry out," a bombing raid against the
German lines was pulled off. This raiding
party consisted of sixty company
men. sixteen bombers, and four Lewis
machine guns with their crews.
The raid took the Boches by surprise
and was a complete success, the party
bringing back twenty-one prisoners.
The Germans must have been awfully
sore, because they turned loose a
Tiri t h Q "Mill
imiiagc ui .-MJia]iiici, Klin u iv .f ?
nies" and "whizz bangs" intermixed.
The shells were dropping into our front
line like hailstones.
To get even, we could have left the
prisoners in the fire trench, in charge
of the men on guard and let them click
Fritz's strafeing but Tommy does not
treat prisoners that way.
Five of them were brought into my
dugout and turned over to me so that
they would be safe from the German
fire.
In the candlelight, they looked very
much shaken, nerves gone and chalky
faces, with the exception of one, a
great big fellow. He looKea very mucn
at ease. I liked him from the start
I got out the rum jar and gave each
a nip and passed around Some fags,
the old reliable Woodbines. The other
prisoners looked their gratitude, but
the big fellow said in English, "Thank
you. sir. the rum is excellent and I appreciate
it, also your kindness."
He told me his name was Carl
Schmidt, of the Sixty-sixth Bavaria?
Light infantry; that he had lived six
years in New York (knew the city bet
ter than I did), had been to uoney
island and many of our ball games. He
was a regular fan. I couldn't make him
believe that Hans Wagner wasn't the
best ball player in the world.
From New York he had gone to London,
where he worked as a waiter jj\
the Hotel Russell. Just before the war
he went home to Germany to see his
parents, the war came and he was conscripted.
He told me he was very sorry to
hear that London was in ruins from
the Zeppelin raids. 1 could not convince
him otherwise, for hadn't he seen
moving pictures in one of the German
cities of St. Paul's cathedral in ruins.
I changed ibe subject because hf
was so stubborn in bis belief. It was
my intentirn to try $nd pump him for
information as 10 the methods of thei
German snipers, who had been cans-'
in? us trouble in the last few days. ;
T broached \ho mhjerf and he shut
up like :i c!rn\ After a few iLinuies
Jie very iLnoccntty* ;
"Gorman sn'pors srot paid r*~
for killing tho English."
I eagerly asked. "What are
Ho answered:
"For killing or wounding an Er.cAa? private.
ihf> sniper gets ono mark. FW
killing or wounding an English otf^e*
he gets five marks, but if he kilts a
*jap or ttngnsn gpnerai, uic smpvr
twenty-one days tied to the wheel (? ?
limber as punishment for his etfiv exn-ness."
Then he paused, waiting for te.*r ia*
bite. I suppose.
I bit all right and asked him why tt*
sniper was punished for killing a*
English general. With a smile he replied
:
"Well, you see. if all th*? Engfish g?-*r
erals were killed, there would W sum
one left to make costly mistakes."
I shut him up, he was getting:
fresh for a prisoner. After a whJ'V
winked at me and I winked bade. 'hem
the escort came to take the pr>s<?. to
the rear. I shook hands and w?>bafi.
him "The best of luck and a safe >.? *ney
to Blighty."
I liked that prisoner, he was a
fellow, had an Iron Cross, too. 1 adfrvised
him to keep it out of sigftt. ?rsorae
Tommy would be sending it
to his girl in Blighty as a souvenir.
One dark and rainy night while ?*guard
we were looking over the !?p>
from the fire step of our front-.!*???
trench, when we heard a noise ?crtaediately
in front of our barbed
The sentry next to me chaHeo^-aiL.
"TT..U ?U ^ ?- *
nail, >viiu iuiucs uinci uim
his rifle to the aim. His chaH^nf.4 vr*t:
answered in German. A captain iu
next traverse climbed upon live ??5d&bagged
parapet to investigate??
but foolhardy deed?"CrackM weatr a*
bullet and he tumbled back into tic*
trench with a hole through his stotaaadk*
and died a few minutes later. A
corporal in the next platoon was so ?raged
at the captain's death that h*
- 1 * 5 _ i u J ? i 1 ~ -
ciiucKeu a anus uoiitu iu me
of the noise with the shouted warnJtac
to us: "Duck your nappers, ray luf ?3
lads." A sharp dynamite report, a finikin
front of us, and then silence.
! We immediately sent up twc< **mxt
shells, and in their light could see rto
dark forms lying on the ground < ?< *
to our wire. A sergeant and U-\u *
stretcher-bearers went out in front * :
soon returned, carrying two T
bodies. Down in the dugout, in tie
flickering light of three candles*, -.wsaw
that they were two Germaa oncers,
one* a captain and the other sr.
"unteroffizier," a rank one grade
than a sergeant general, but below thr-.
grade of lieutenant
The captain's face had been afc-rSl
completely torn away by the bomtfit ;
explosion. The unteroffizier was .
breathing with difficulty. In a few mm?
utes he opened his eyes and blinkeu-am*
the glare of the candles.
The pair had evidently been driving
heavily, for the alcohol fumes
sickening and completely pervart+*l :fec~
dugout. I turned away in
hating to see a man cross the Grva.c Divide
full of booze.
One of our officers could speak G*man
and he questioned the dying n*naiIn
a faint voice, interrupted by frequent
hiccoughs, the unteroffizier
his story.
There had been a drinking frmt*
nmons? the officers in one of the
man dugouts, the main beverage being."
champagne. With a drunken teer ?? *
informed us that champagne was jr? =???
riful on their side and that it rtitf refer
cost them anything either. About serm.that
night the conversation had t\ur?ta
to the "contemptible" English, ???3
captain had made a wager shaf ftar*
would hang his cap on the Eagi^k..
barbed wire to show his contemp*
the English sentries. The wager w*accepted.
At eight o'clock the cttfxtifi*and
he had crept out into No Msafl*.;
Land to carry out this wager..
! Thev had gotten about Fiatfvr*jr
t ~ ?
across when the drink took effect
the captain fell asleep. After alvmt
two hours of vain attempts the
offizier had at last succeeded io.
ing the captain, reminded him wC
bet. and warned him that he would fc*
the laughing stock of the officers" tsaemif
he did not accomplish his .
the captain was trembling atC o*.vin
insisted on returning to rfoe Gerumt .
, lines. In the darkness they lost ihci? i
bearings and crawled toward the Kdfrlish
trenches. They reached the barfietf.
, wire and were suddenly challenged figr
our sentry. Being too drunk to real* that
the challenge was in English ii*
j captain refused to crawl back. Fm&Hjr
! the unterofiizier convinced his sTTperioe j
that they were in front of the .>
j wire. Realizing this too late-. r0fcft- 'ajs1- i
tain drew his revolver and wirjfc ? xxvte!
tered curse fired blindly coward ?*bt
j trench. His bullet no- doubt killed oor;
i captain. t
i Then the bomb came over and there:
he was, dying?and a good job too, wr
; thought. The captain dead? WelL ftfe,
men wouldn't weep at the ae-ws?.
i Without giving us any farther? fnffce* inn
lion the unteroffizier tEetf.
| We searched the bodies for fdeatifS- ;
cation disks but they had left evetyI
thing behind before starting on liufir *
J foolhardy errand.
| Next afternoon we buried
i our little cemetery apart iuoo&i
! graves of the Tommies. If y>tti '
;ro into that cemetery yoc tkW: jk*
little wooden crosses in corner et:
the cemetery set away froui.thev^resV
; Tbey read:
| Captain
German ArmyDied
?191$
Unknown Jjpf
m??r i R. i. P. m. I
1: 1% ;m i
ji Tnteroffizier v2j*f J
. Carman Army
i ?K& i>!wi ? 191ft ?
! tJpjifP Unknown.
1 1 " (TO BE CONTINUED.)
I