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I THE TRAGEDIES OF WAR. Vieved by Writer on Visit to Verdun. Gen. Hellouin, commander of the 5th army corps lying on the left flank of the army before Verdun, led the way to a high elevation which commanded a sweep of the vast war panorama?the German trenches plainly visible only six hundred yards away; to the right the historic town of Varenne, torn to pieces, and the famous house in which Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette sought refuge ' ? . from the Terror, a mass of ruins; further on another town wiped off the map so that not even ruins appeared above the level sand, and through the vista of trees the outlying defences of old Verdun?Avacourt, Harcourt, Mort-Homme, Chattancourt? midway between Verdun and the point where the party stood, outlined dimly through the mist and curtain of smoke. A terrific bombardment wras in progress and the crash of shells and whiz of bullets echoed all along the front, and on to the Verdun hills, where the battle was at its height. But for /'this terrific din there was no > sign of movement or activity, no hurrying troops, no clash of battle lines ?only a vast battlefield of green hills and devastated towns, with now and then a puff of smoke from hattorv and thft ever Ov'iliV iiXUUVAl ~ t* ' # lasting din of giant weapons racking ||J^ the ears. "That's melanite shell," said Gen. iHellouin, as a crash more terrible . than the rest fairly rent the air. The commanding general turned to M. Painleve, a member of the Briand ministry, and to the Associated Press representative >who was privileged to accompany this notable party. Surveying the Scene. "Come up here," said the general "and get a good survey of the scene." And climbing to this point of vantage the party looked out on one ppint after another designated by Gen. Hellouin as those on which the ravages of war had fallen heaviest. "See that sandy hill," said the ^ : general, pointing to a barren crest of . yellow sand. "Who would ever ;/> ; think that was the site of a goodSi/:-" sized town only a short time ago? It had solid stone houses and a stone v church with double towers of . stone, ? and seven hundred people living a peaceful and prosperous village life. And look at it?not a thing remains, ? * ? " XT^v if in Klrtf f o/l Alii uoi'yvtfii rums. inu, n 10 uiuncu uui : of existence. First the houses and ;church were bombarded into ruins; then the ruins were bombarded into |ilust, until?well, look at it, as flat aa the desert of Sahara, and not a ) mound to indicate that hundreds of V people lived there only recently." The party were grouped around . ' the general, speaking in whispers, for just over there were the German " gunners a few hundred feet away, on the alert for any voice or movement V giving them opportunity for a shot. Carefully the general and M. Painleve looked through the foliage screening the high parapet, their heads protected by steel helmets. Doesn't Fear Bullets. fe: - . Apparently the Germans had dii - I vined the presence of a party, or had heard the low voices. For suddenly the line of clay trenches immediately nnnnoifa vi'Vii/-?Vi ViqH Kaon cilont until VT UlVii UUU ?/VV44 I^IAVUV UM'VA* now, burst into a sheet of white ygS?a i, # smoke as the guns were trained on the point where the party stood; Gen. Hellouin was undisturbed amid the whiz of shells, until two staff officers, ; urging the risk of his exposed position, induced him and M. Painleve to / seek the security of the trench. The start to the trenches had been made at daylight. The route lay through a number of small villages, one' of them torn to pieces by a bombardment, with only jagged stone walls and chimneys standing gauntly along the road. Long lines of trucks, ' looking like "prairie schooners," stretched for miles along the route, and thousands of horses and mules and carts were parked at close intervals, all taking some part in this huge task of keeping up the steady supply * * * ' f of food, equipment and ammunition \ for several million men. *The Argonne forest was entered about 9 o'clock, with Gen. Hellouin leading the way with M. Painleve. Here and there great trees had beeen splintered by shell fire, and one giant spruce had been cut as with a knife twenty feet irom tne base, tne top branches shooting down and sticking upright in the earth like a new tree. Spring flowers were thick among the moss and ferns, and the birds kept up a constant twitter amid the rumble of artillery fire and the "crack," "crack" of the seventy-fives. But gradually the singing of the birds ceased as the exposed front was approached. Here the foliage disappeared from the trees, which were scarred and burned as though a forest fire had just swept by. Telegraph wires were strung through the trees linking all parts of the front and rear with headquarters. Incessant Firing.. Entering the forward trenches, Gen. Hellouin and all the party put on helmets, for the fire was now heavy and incessant. Hardly a hundred yards had been covered when a wounded soldier came limping back from the firing line. He was very pale, with a great splash of blood on his coat, but on his feet and walking without support. Another soldier was ahead, and one behind, ready to give assistance. "It is nothing, only a ball in the hip," he said, "but. my companion was killed outright." "It is nothing," he kept repeating, as he held up the flag of his coat, showing a small round hole cut as nicely as with a pair of scissors. But it was not this, or the ball in the hip, which was giving him pain?it was his companion killed at his side. "f+Ar. t V> i o Qnnthpr PTPW OIIUI H? anci luig WUVV..V. some incident interrupted the exploration of the trenches. An officer of high rank arrived suddenly to report to the commanding general?a mine had just been exploded, killing Capt. G and wounding two lieutenants and forty men. This he told hastily as the general paused to receive the report. Capt. G , he went on, had lived long enough to write a few words to his family. The explosion of the mine had not only scattered deadly fragments among the officers and men, but most of them had been overcome'by gas fumes. Merely an Incident. x This tragedy, hastily reported to the general as the party trudged through the trench, was only one of the incidents of this greater tragedy going on night and day all around here. Gen. Hellouin spoke of the gallant service of Capt. G , gave directions for suitable care of the body, and the party passed on to inspect the trenches. It is no easy thing?this walking through the front trenches. They have tried to floor them, to keep the men raised out of the sticky clay. But the floor is of round saplings, about the thickness of telegraph poles, laid side by side, making a bumpy surface. It is all right for the poilu in his wooden sabots. But for a civilian it is like going over railroad ties. And besides there is the zig-zag, for the trenches turn sharply every twenty feet. And the width of these clay walls is not greater than four feet?much like excavations one sees in the street for a sewer or gas main. Every hundred feet the visitor's head strikes one of the heavy timber bridges thrown across the trenches. "See how this works," said a young officer commanding this section of trench, as he pointed to a cheveaux-de-frise balance above the trench, ready to drop and bar all progress should the Germans break through. The cheveaux-de-frise was a stocky frame laced and wound with ugly barbed wire. A long wire ran away to a point of observation. Barrier to Trenches. "Close the trench," shouted the young officer, and the .cheveaux-defrise came tumbling town, fitting exactly across the trench, and immovable in its barrier of twisted wire. Every few feet the clay wall of the trench showed a large black hole? the entrance to the subterranean pits, where the men sleep and eat and live. Gen. Hellouin wanted the party to see everything?the real living condition of the men?so down one of these black holes the guests went. Soon the daylight disappeared and there was darkness* of a tunnel and the damp earthy smell of being underground* There was a call for candles, and then suddenly this cavern was brightly illuminated as the electric current was turned on for the general and his party. Now the men could be seen plainly, some in the narrow banks ranged against the clay walls, others at a table with o lonffirn ' At thp further pnd was a Ol 1U1XI/VI U* AJkb >* v J- V?w small separate hole in the earth?the quarters of the officer commanding the trench. He had put up photographs on the clay sides, one of them a picture of Gen. Joffre, and his little table had several books and trinkets. "It is not so bad," he said with pride, as he showed his things, "and it is very practical, and even comfortable, when you get used to it." Telephone System. A telephone stood handy to the commander of the section, and the telephone wire, encased in a wirewound rubber hose, could be seen leading off to all the ramifications of the trench, permitting the commander to communicate with any part of his section. It was a fighting sec-j tion, and the commander pointed out his poilus .coming and going to the guns. Two hours is the allotted time for a man to work the guns under fire. Then another man takes his place, and then another, with as much regularity as the force and the urgencies of the fighting permit. A sauad of these men. in a trench battery, were manoeuvring their guns so as to get a good aim. The opening through which the muzzle of the gun projected was only five inches wide, sweeping the field east and west. Steel rails had been utilized for the protective armor, and the muzzle of the gun swung between an upper and lower rail of steel. The pit was low% requiring the men to bend double and increasing the weariness of their task. There were hundreds of these guns at intervals, each giving off its bark and adding to the carnage and devastation ahead. Big Gun in Hiding. In a heavily wooded ravine stood one of the big guns, inactive for the mrtni/wif on nmroroH n-itli tflrriQ illin i IHUIIlCllt auu VU ?? I,uit'uuiiu, I Dense shrubbery in front and above' kept the places screened from the ob- j servation of enemy field glasses on! over-flying aviators. Nearby, in a j high tree, an encircling ladder ran' up to an observation platform, like! the steel observation masts on Ameri- | can warships, but all screened in the j thick foliage of the tree. The gunners stood about the big gun ready for an attack, and Gen. Hellouin had! them take off the tarpaulin and put the huge monster through its courses. (Continued on page 7, column 1.) A. B. UTSEY I LIFE INSURANCE Bamberg, South Carolina Southern PREMIER CARRIE PASSENGER EFFECTIVE JAJ All Trains No. Arrive Bamberg From 24 Augusta and intermediate stations 5:05 a. m. 25 Charleston, Branchville and intermediate stations 6:25 a. m. 18 Augusta and intermediate stations 8:43 a. m. 35 Charleston and intermediate stations ....10:57 a. m. 22 Augusta and intermediate stations 6:37 p. m. 7 Charleston, Branchville, and intermediate stations 8:17 p. m. Trains Nos. 17 and 24?Through s and Atlanta. N. B.?Schedules published as info \ , For information, t H. W. McMIl THE SOUTHERN SI I f DnYnnrWnr I I Save Work! I I Save Worry! ? I I Phone No. 81 for H fl demonstration of B JP I all electric heating H B and cooking de B vices and electric B fans. BE On Display II Herald B< 11 Commissioners B I Phone 81 We Invite Y< TO OUR STAT1 and it should appeal to yoi Safety, First, Last an We have no overdraft! A large cash surplus to meet the niomenl Your money will be absolutely sj to open an ac RESOURCES CLEAR OF ] RESOURCES. Loans and discounts 59,649.49 Furniture and fixtures .... 640.36 Banking house 2,000.00 Duo from banks and bankers 19,701.54 Currency 708.00 Gold 241.00 Silver and other minor coin 976.47 Checks and cash items .... 39.64 Total $83,956.50 Ehrhardt E EHRHAK FRANCIS F. CARROLL Attorney-at-Law Office Over Bamberg Banking Co. GENERAL PRACTICE. BAMBERG, S. C. Delicate Woman Is Truly Grateful For Stella Vitaq ? Mrs. Paralee Frazier, of Long- | ^ view, Tex., who had been in bad I | health for two years, writes this I I heartfelt letter in behalf of this w I great preparation for women. I "I have taken a few bottles of STELLA I "VTTAE and am now almost well from a k long siege of sickness. I cannot say too I (much for this wonderful medicine. I had fl taken other female medicines for two years I with no good results. Iam truly grateful ' for the good Stella Vitae has done for me." k . MRS. PARALEE FRAZIER. E I STELLA VITAE is guaranteed. | i " If you are not benefited with the ^ first bottle, your money back if I you want it. Do not delay. Begin I taking it now. At your dealers' k in $1 bottles. 1 ITHACHER MEDICINE CO., J ^ CHATTANOOGA. TENN. j l Railway R OF THE SOUTH. HNS SCHEDULES aTARY 23, 1916. Run Daily. No. Leave Bamberg For 24 Branchville, Charleston and intermediate stations 5:05 a. m, 25 Augusta and intermediate stations 6:25 a. m, 18 Branchville, Charleston and intermediate stations 8:43 a. m, 35 Augusta and intermediate stations 10:57 a. m 22 Branchville, Charleston and intermediate stations 6:37 p. m 17 Augusta and intermediate stations 8:17 p. m, sleeping car service between Bamberg irmation only. Not guaranteed. Ickets, etc., call on LLAN, Agent 3RVES THE SOUTH. k Electrically I ^briDgonyoai-.l I unghoKseE^cm^F^ns^J I mmmmmmmmmmmmmmrnrn in Window of fl ook Store I of Public Works I Bamberg, 5. C. B H ??a kiir Attention rui A A^^VAAMVBI EHENT BELOW i who have funds to deposit, d Always, is our Motto, s. No borrowed money. > demands of our customers at any t's notice. ife with us, and we will be pleased count with you. ENCUMBRANCE $83,000.00. LIABILITIES. Capital stock paid in $20,000.0( Surplus fund 8,400.0( Undivided profits, less current expenses and taxes paid 2,971.61 Due to banks and bankers 249.01 Individual deposits subject to ck. .. 14,886.79 S a vi n g s deposits 34,827.26 Time certificates of deposit 8.90 49,722.9; Other liabilities, viz: Partial payment 2,612.8, Total $83,956.5( banking Co. !DT, S. C. THE SCIENCE should be studied by every ? young couple. Xo matter how small the income a little of it ought to be banked every 4 month, as a proviso for the fu- \ ture. We solicit deposits and allow ordinary interest. Your | savings will be secured and I they will grow in our care, j Come in and let us show you I the advantage of opening an account here. | Enterpri ' 5 Per Cent. Interest Paid on Savir I I Keeping Up 1 'I ' ? T THE MUTUA *5 House Phone 55 C. A. ASENt 5 DENMAR ninnmnm n sAf IpB I "I Can Cool on my New Perfect a gas stove and costs Lights at the toucl flame stays high, n turns out at once. The New Perfectioi the stove with the 1< roasts, toasts, boils, frys?anything, and cool. ml 1 M ne long Diue cmm odorless, even flame : tion, because it gi and puts the heat needed. Fuel cost?only 2 cent Saves time, strength anc New Perfections are ms sizes. Your dealer can Loo for The Lon ) Use Aladdin Secur the best results in 0 and Lamps ! STANDARD 01 (New J< Washington, D. C. BALTIC Norfolk. Va. MD I Richmond, Va. /*rTYw , se Bank igs Deposits. Bamberg, S. C. four Car? t lOmctimes the up-keep of * ear is more of a burden f ban its original cost. 1* )rivers who look to us for * epairs and supplies have ?? o complaint to make of i oor service and long bills. !? \Te are building up a pat- J* onage?not trying to get s* ich quick. f* 'all on us for anything in -9b utomobile sendee. -j? ku garage t )ORF, Prop. Shop Phone 45 7* fl >K, s. c. 7 M ?s- I flj / * I I H B B H I k Anything I ion?it works like I s -less to operate." I i of a match, the ledium, low?and i Oil Cook Stove, ong blue chimney, bakes, broils and , keeps the kitchen ney assures a clean, and lastingsatisfacves a perfect draft just where it is s a meal for 6 people. 1 money. Lde in many styles and I get any size for you. I g Blue Chimney I ity Oil to obtain 1 >il Stoves, Heaters I [l company I ;rsey) S [ORG Charlotte, N. C. I < Charleston, W. Va. I v Charleston, S. C. I /jSUJECHIMNEYJ ? ' /v,;: /, . fr. -.lii, L-~ -Vv klL