The Bamberg herald. (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, April 25, 1918, Image 1
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One Dollar and a Half a Year. BAMBERG, S. C., THURSDAY, APRIL 25,1918 , Established 1891.
AMERICANS ROUT GERMANS
HEAVY TEUTONIC ATTACK REPULSEI)
WITH LOSSES.
Germans Succeed in Taking Part of
Trench System, Only to be
Driven Out by Americans.
With the American Army in
trance, April 21.?Aiier me neavv
German attack of yesterday the
American main positions remained
intact and this morning after a brief
bombardment the American troops
. attacked and drove the enemy out of
the old outposts v. hich they had
maintained, thus breaking down an
offensive which it is believed was intended
as the beginning of a German
plan to separate the Americans and
French.
Quiet Sunday.
There was a comparative lull today
along the sector northwest of
Toul. The Americans engaged in pie
terrific hand-to-hand fighting vesterJ""
oti/vn-a/1 tho mnet ilorintr hrflvprv
ua.? 3UU " tU LllV uvoi. UU11UQ V. w v ,
stories of which are already being
recounted.
As indicating the violence of the
loffensive, French ambulance men,
who went through the famous battle
of Verdun, declared today that, comparatively
speaking, the German artilleiry
against the Americans was
heavier than in any single engagement
on the Verdun front at any
time.
Attacked in Waves.
German forces which attacked the
American positions west of the Rennens
forest northwest of Toul, Satur/
day, came across bio Man's Land in
three waves. They had been especially
trained for this operation. The
Americans, although greatly^ outnumbered,
fought for every inch of the
way, giving ground slowly and pouring
a deadly machine gun, rifle and
automatic fire into the advancing
enemy.
The German barrage began just
before sunrise, after a heavy oombardment
of the American front and
rear positions in the course of the
night. In an atteknpt to put the
American batteries out of action, the
Germans used an unusually large
number of gas shells.
/ Caught in Barrage.
A counter-barrage"set down by the
Americans caught the advancing, Germans
and killed a number of them
before they had opportunity to reach
v the American trenches.
The Germans entered the shell
torn village of Seicheprey in the forenoon
but only remaiQed a short time,
being driven out again by a brilliant
counter-attack made by the American
infantry. The commander of
one unit holding an outpost reported
at one stage of the attack that his
/ men were slowly giving ground, but
that they were fighting every inch of
the way.
^ i?i
Frowns on Barbecues.
Columbia, April 20.?Political barbecues
during the forthcoming campaign
in South Carolina will be
frowned upon by the United States
food administration. William Elliott,
food administrator for South Carolina,
holds that the enormous waste
of food incident to the political barbecues,
as held heretofore every year
in this State, is out of place at this
time when the world cry is for food
and every agency is being employed
to emphasize the absolute necessity
of the strictest economy, It is urged
by the food administration that in
holding the State and county campaign
meetings during the coming
summer, the barbecue feature be
eliminated, and it is felt that this appeal
will meet with loyal response on
the part of The patriotic people of
South Carolina.
Club Meetings.
The Colston Democratic club will
meet at Colston school house on Saturday,
April 27, at 3.30 o'clock, to
raoreanizft and attend to any business
that may come before the club.
C. M. VARN, Secretary.
There will be a meeting of the
Bamberg Democratic club held in
the court house next Saturday, 27th
instant, at 3.30 p. m.v, for the purpose
of reorganizing and to elect-delegates
to the county convention. All members
are urged to be present.
J. B. BLACK, President.
It is reported from Germany that
wood is being largely used in place of
celluloid, ivory, and other substances
for the manufacture of combs. Excellent
toilet combs are made from
thinly cut birch and beech-wood.
WOMEN' FOKCED TO SUBMIT.
Awful Condition in Territory Captured
by Germans.
The following is a report by J. A.
Marion, Esq., of an address made in
Columbia on April 9th by Dr. Esther
C. Lovejoy, of the conditions prevailing
in territory captured and held by
the Germans. The report was published
in the v Yorkville Enquirer,
which makes this editorial comment:
The careful attention of every
reader of the Yorkville Enquirer is
called to the story of the recent Red
Cross meeting held in Columbia, as
reported by J. A. Marion, Esq. The
woman who told the story or how
French women are being compelled to
bear German children, told only what
she saw. To those who say they do
not believe the story, we say they are
ignorant fools. In the light of direct
testimony from our people, we do
not need the lessons of history on
this subject. History, however, is full
of the fact that the fate of these
French women has always been the
fate of conquered peoples. If Germany
shall finally overrun the United
States we may look for the same
thing here. What are our lives and
property against such conditions?
Who would withhold his life or his
property at such a cost? The object
of the Red Cross is to give as much
relief as possible to the unfortunates
of France, and the object of the bond
issue is to enable our brave American
soldiers to save us from such
conditions here at home.
Dr. Lovejoy is a physician who
several months ago returned from
Greece where she had been engaged
ever since the beginning of the war in
relief work. Her story, told in plain
and direct way, and yet with all the
earnestness and fire of one who had
seen and learned first hand of unspeakable
horrors, brought home to
her hearers in a most vivid way, the
utter inhumanity and barbarity of the
Huns. "This term," she said, "is not
mine but that of the kaiser himself
who first pronounced it to his troops
and held it up as a model they should
follow." j
Dr. LovCov said that for several
months she had been located in the
town of Evian, literally now the gateway
to France, and located on Lake
Geneva on the French side. It was
through this town that the broken
debrifc of humanity that has been
rejected by German military machine
as useless for military purposes,
found their way and groped their
way back into theip^ native country.
For, said the speaker, the method
Germany had in dealing with the inhabitants
of the French provinces
which they had overrun, and now
have finder subjection, has been literally
a weeding out or culling process.
Of course inhabitants, all the
boys over 14 and all girls over 16
aye retained?the boys to be kept
from becoming soldiers of France,
the girls to become the involuntary
mothers of a race of barbarians who
were destroying their native land.
All women with one child under
three years of age were also retained
because it being well known that
most of the children born in this
territory for the last three years
have been of Gerrqan paternity. In
the conquered towns one of the
standing orders of the Germans was
that no doqrs were to be locked
against the troops, and as a consequence
of this there was no right bn
earth that had not been violated at
the hands of the Huns, and there was
nothing sacred that they had' not
besmirched and stained. All of the
old men, old women, children under
14, women with several children were
sent back into France as being useless
for military purposes, and for the
French to feed and to support. It
was these very lines of refugees who
day after day in unending procession
poured down through the little town
of Evian?broken, miserable driftwood
of waf. Thousands of orphans,
children who had forgotten how to
play, furtive-eyed, shrinking, whose
very soul had been seared by the
flame of German hate, homeless,
without means of support except
what is provided for them through
the instrumentality of the Red Cross:
broken old women who could do
nothing but eat, women helpless and
despairing?all these came through
the little town on their journey to the
seared and broken land behind. To
most of these the Red Cross offered
the only solace and comfort that
they had.
In contrast to this sorrowful and
saddened line coming in, the speaker
said that she had seen a division of
American soldiers going to the front,
strong, noble, clear-eyed and fearless,
and said she "I knew that no
I evil could stand against them." They
are indeed the hope of France today.
The speaker declared there was
but one word that would express
what France had been through during
the past three years and that was
vivisection?that literally they had
been vivisected physically and spiritually.
The utter horror of the situation
however was best depicted as
to the women. Taken by their con
' querors as spoils of war and neid in
| conditions worse than slavery, they
I remained to become the mothers of
[ German sons, conquered and subJ
jected. A French mother always
; seemed proud that she had had sons
to give to France and to die, but
when the daughters were mentioned
there was always the hanging of the
head and the knowledge that those
who had been carried off by the Germans,
while they might live, would
j never return 16 their native land?
j conquered through an instinct stronger
than even love of country?moth!
er love. The unconquerable spirit
I of the race however was shown in
the sentiment of the boys, *who though
! just out from under the awful domi
IN THE PALMETTO STATE
SOME OCCURRENCES OF VARIOUS
KINDS IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
' State News Boiled Down for Quick
Reading.?Paragraphs About
Men and Happenings.
Rev. C. W. Smith, of Louisville,
Ky., has assumed the pastorate of
the Baptist church at Fairfax.
T O TJTotlrino nf Clonic f\n nnl 1 otro
U . O. f? atUlUO) Vi. Vivuikiuii v\y*. v/Q w,
won the medal in the intercollegiate
oratory at Greenwood Friday night,
the second place going to E. C. Kolb,
of Furman university.
An official report states that John
Callahan, a negro who was drafted
from McCormick county, has been
killed in battle in France. Callahan
is the first soldier from McCormick
county to have been killed.
Fire of an unknown origin destroyed
Armstrong's Pharmacy, Wharton's
dry goods store and Demulder's art
studio in Greenville Wednesday entailing
an estimated damage of $.">0,000,
practically covered by insurance.
O.'J. Meyer, conductor on the
branch road from Union to Lockhart
Shoals, was arrested Thursday
on the charge of making disloyal remarks
aril was placed under bond.
He says his remarks were misunderstood.
The name "Germania" has been
eiminated from the titles of two
banks in Charleston, the name "Atlantic"
replacing it, while a local fire
insurance company has shed "Germania"
and adopted "The Peoples"
instead.
The war department announced
that there is absolutely nothing in
reported stories from Spartanburg
that several young men from that
place, serving with the American engineers
abroad, had been taken prisoners
by the Germans in one of the
recent battles. How these stories
originated the war department does
not know but it may be authoritatively
stated that they are without the
least foundation. .
f
member.
Food
rQ) 0^
Puzzle-find
nation of the German military machine
which had tried earnestly to
crush out of them all spirit of liberty
came back to their broken homes
singing a song about the kaiser
which they had secretly nurtured and
cherished in theid captivity to the effect
that "he would never be happy
until he had his head cut off." The
spirit of such people, the speaker declared,
is never conquered or broken.
Dr. Lovejoy also spoke of the joy
with which the Americans were being
received in France and that the
firm conviction of the people was
that as LaFayette came with his
Frenchmen 140 years ago to help in
the struggle of liberty in the new
world that at this latter date the
descendants of these people who had
gained their liberty through his aid
are coming today to pay their debt of
* J-? in f Iinir hnll r r\ f
nonur 10 uis pcufio m uicu
need.
Dr. Lovejoy exhibited a mask which
she said was a ga9 mask for a little
child. Probably the sight of this and
her next words more than anything
else struck home to the hearts of her
hearers: "Is there any father in this
room who will not say that the kingdom
of heaven on this earth is the
kingdom of little children? The Huns
have invaded the kingdom of heaven
for they are destroying little helpless
children."
A pldin and direct message from
the very heart of the war, Dr. Lovejoy
makes the duty of the American
people who are at home clear, and
her message cannot be passed over.
^ i?> ^
a l Ar.nn aIi ncatto orirl A f ir?lt icra ri phfll)
1 d^OCl Vll liottto Uii V* .'i v ?r
ters of the Daughters of the Revolution
are .establishing "mending
rooms'* in cantonments. These departments
are opened for hospitals,
where hundreds of garments are
mended each week.
1 TREATED OFFICER ROUGHLY.
I
I
Maj. Birkner, Tarred and Feathered
i by 400 Convicts.
Santa Fe, N. M., April 17.?Four
hundred convicts in the State peni|
tentiary this afternoon tarred and
j feathered and led around with a rope
I about his neck Maj. John M. Birkner,
' of Camp Cody, Deming, N. M.# held
in the penitentiary as a federal pris>
| oner. He is charged with violation
j of the espionage act.
Birkner was allowed out in the
'! Drison vard for exercise with 400
; I * * ~
; convicts. The warden knew nothing
| of what was going on until he heard
i loud cheering and rushed out in the
I yard to find Birkner tripped and covered
with tar and feathers. The
prisoners, with loud hoots, were leading
him about the yard with a rope
around his neck.
Assistant Superintendent Dugan
rescued him. The prisoners evidently
in accordance with a prearranged
1 plot, had secured the feathers from
their pillows, but where the tar came
from is a mystery.
Birkner is alleged to have made
disloyal utterances such as "you cannot
beat the Dutch," and "the Germans
will sink American transports
as fast as they are sent over." Birkner
claimed the charges were spite
work by subordinate officers whom
he had disciplined.
Major Kirkner, who was born in
Nuremberg, ?ermany, but who had
been in the American military forces
for more than thority years, was arrested
last Friday at Camp Cody,
where he was an officer in the 127th
field artillery. His home is in Lincoln,
Neb.
Swung Up, Then Released.
Collinsville, Okla., April 19.?
Henry R. Heimer, suspected of disloyalty,
was hanged by a crowd of
fifty men here tonight, but after he
had swung fifteen seconds and had
become semi-conscious, the police
persuaded the would-be executioners
' to cut him down on the promise that
| he would b& given a hearing before
! the council .of defense tomorrow.
?- g '
THE SLACKER.
i
The Herald is in receipt of the
following from the headquarters
~ c AAri+Ann /14 rr leinn of
(J1 U1H OU U llicasici 11 uiuciuu, ai.
I Charleston:
, It has come tq the notice of this
office that many people fail to re;
port suspicious and dis'oyal acts
or manifestations of sympathy for
j the enemy, because of uncertainj
ty as to the proper official to approach.
It is very important that the
I government should have the assisj
tance of all citizens in detecting
i enemy propaganda or suspicious
activities of individuals, and you
i will do a service in notifying your
j friends that any communication
j addressed to "Intelligence Officer,
j Headquarters Southeastern Department,
Charleston, S. C.," will
receive attention and be transmit
3 nn/NrkAM Af th D
teu to me piu^ci umvioi ui
I government for investigation. The
j names of informants will not be
1 divulged, and there need be no
J fear, on the part of anybody, of
j getting into trouble in case susj
picions prove to be unfounded,
j Informants should indicate the
J nature and source of their inforj
mation, as well as the time and
j place.
I
| The order prohibiting the sale of
! flour in lots of less than 12 pounds
has been suspended. Licensed dealers
have been advised that they may
market several sizes of packages
weighing less than 12 pounds, ^vith
a 1-pound minimum.
< i?I ?
The State council of defense
in Maine has set aside c250,000 to
to be loaned to farmers.
LOOKS FOR HUN THRUST
OFFENSIVE MORE POWERFUL
THAN ANY LAUNCHED.
Against Allied Lines Expected by
Strategist of War Department.?
Enormous Sacrifices of Enemy.
Washington. April 21.?Another
German thrust at the allied lines,
more powerful than those that have
gone before, is looked for by the war
department's strategists if the present
drive at the channel ports fails.
The department's weekly review tonight
says the enemy's enormous
conrifipoe Iiovp hppn hnrrpd nf nrimarv
results, but adds:
"Looked at from a broad standpoint
of the general military situation
in the West it can not, however,
be said that the battle now raging in
this salient is the final nor even the
most determined onslaught of the
enemy.
"There are indications that should
the offensive here also fail to lead to
some definite result, the enemy may
undertake a further and even more
powerful thrust."
Selection of Foch Wise.
The review emphasizes the harmony
of action obtained through the
appointment of* General Foch as commander
in chief of the allied armies
in the West. It tells of increased activity
along the sectors held by
American throops, and ^discloses that
recently a numbe# of Americans who
had been captured and were being
3 - - ?A ? -3 ^1 XT T fA
UfjiluutJieu uirougn :uau o uauu \.\j
the German lines turned upon their
captors, escaped and made their way
back to their own trenches. No details
of the incident are given.
"In what has hitherto been held
the principal scene of operations, the
salient stretching from north of Arras
to south of the Oise Canal, with its
apex in front of Amiens," says the review,
"there has been no important
chahge during the week in the positions
of contending forces.'
"An apparent slackening of hostile
pressure north and south of the
Somme is recorded, though it would
be premature to assert that Amiens
objective has been abandoned.
"Along the front from the Avre to
Noyon, French counter thrusts netted
local advantages.
"Northwest of Moreuil, the French
launched a strong assault which resulted
in the capture of 300 prisoners.
A second attack in this vicinity
gained^some 750 prisoners and enabled
the French to advance their
line in the neighborhood of Castel.
"In the secondary theatre of the offensive,
: the new salient formed by
the pressing back of the British between
Kedkem and the La Basse
Canal, desperate fighting continued
throughout the week. Here the enemy
was able to win terrain of distinct
tactical value and by occupying
part of the Messines Ridge exerted
such a threat upon the British forces
in the old Ypres salient posted beyond
Passchendaele and the YpresMenin
Road as to force their withdrawal
along a line running east of
Ypres.
Detail Omitted.
"With the combat situation still in
fluctuation it serves no purpose to
discuss in detail the tactical phases of
the operations taking place.
"Wulverghem, Neuve Eglise, Meteren
and the area stretching to the
Lys was the scene of some of the
bloodiest encounters of the war.
"The fighting in the area centering
around Mt. Kemmel continues with
increasing intensity. The key posi-!
tion remains in British hands, though
the enemy gained a footing along its
southern slopes.
"The Germans have been able to
gain a local advantage in Flanders, j
yet surveying the combat situation as I
a whole it can be affirmatively stated
that their enormous sacrifices and
heaped casualties have hitherto been |
barren of primary result. j
"The enemy while pushing with j
vigor towards the channel ports and)
increasing his pressure to a minimum
has been unable to force even a
strategic retirement upon the allies,!
much less disorganize their order of
battle.
Unity of command has materially
facilitated strategic problems with
w. ich the allies are confronted.
I "The official selection General
Foch as commander in chief of the allied
armies means that he now has
strategic control of the belligerent
strength of all of the allies in the
West.
"The complete harmony of allied
operations is illustrated by the bringing
up of a large body of trained
Italian units to take part in the bat
PILK OF SMOKING RUINS.
100,000 German Shells Reduce Once
lieautiful City to Wreckage.
Paris, April 19.?Rheims, which
has been on fire for a week, is now
nothing but a great pile of smoking
ruins. During the past week the
Germans have fired more than 100,000
shells into the heart of the city,
according to Le .Matin, and flames
can be seen by aviators sixty and
seventy miles away.
There are no traces of streets and
thoroughfares, which have disappeared
from view under the accumulation
of debris. Ancient buildings in
the place Royale a'nd the market
pla.ce and the musicians' house, which
dates from the sixteenth century,
have been reduced to dust and ashes.
The vaulting of th? famous Rheims
cathedral, the correspondent says, is
falling stone by stone, and soon there
will be nothing left of the edifice but
the west front and the pillars. .Shells
are bursting all around the building.
Notwithstanding the terrible bombardment
forty Paris firemen are still
in the city, working to save the furniture
and portable effects of the inhabitants.
Some of them have lost
their lives. With the Paris are some
local firemen, one of whom, Sergt.
Eloi, has been on duty in Rheims
since the outbreak of the war and has
been wounded fourteen times.
Rheims before the war a city of
more than 100,000, has slowly been
falling a victim to German hate and
spitefulness.
In the first advance in 1914, the
Germans held Rheims far several
days but the battle of the Marne
stopped their advance, and they fell
uchjk. lu it line a. iew uiiies uui lh auu
northeast of the city. Since that
the big German guns have been bombarding
the city and its famous cathedral.
The population of the city until a
few months ago was less than 18,000,
but these persons lived in dug- s
outs or in cellars and the city was
virtually dead.
Up to November 1, 1916, the Germans
had fired thousands of shells
into the city, 1,000 of which had
struck the cathedral. Since then,
whenever the German troops met
with reverses, the enemy guns took*
up the bombardment anew.
In January, 1917, Emperor William,
in response to a request from
Pope Benedict, said he would permit
repairs to be made to the cathedral
in his endeavor "to preserve from the
terrors of war venerable places of
religious worship and monuments of
art, which I consider as the common
property of humanity."
The German military authorities
have attempted to excuse the bombardment
of the cathedral on the
grounds that it was being used for
military purposes by the French. This
claim has been denied repeatedly by
I Archbishop Lucon, who until a few
weeks ago made his home in his residence
beside the cathedral, unmindful
of the German hatred.
* ? > ?
Patience?Why is your dog making
such a noise running around that
tree?
Patrice?Oh, he's just trying to
peel off some bark.?Yonkers Statesman.
Near beer and temperance drinks
coming within the designation of
malt liquor are included in the president's
proclamation limiting brewers
of beer to 70 per cent, of the amounts
of grains and other food materials
that were used last year.
tie in the West.
"Along the sectors in the front in
which our own troops are in action
there was a relatively greater activity.
"In the Meuse area the enemy
broke into our lines but was promptly
driven out with severe losses.
"Increased sniping and' machine
gun fire was noted both along the
Meuse and north of Toul. Our counter
battery work showed itself suffiI
n.'nnt i - Irnoninff /-?/-, r?-n hnctilo chpll
UIC11L 111 UV T* AX MMV4
ing which burst ih greater volume
and intensity in restricted areas.
"The first two enemy airplanes
brought down by our aviators were
shot down behind our lines north of
Toul.
"No operations of importance took
place in the Italian theatre aside from
intermittent artillery bombardments.
"In the East the enemy continues
to advance practically without opposition
along the main highways leading
to objectives of certain economic importance,
particularly in the Ukraine.
! "In the baiKans, ureeK ana ruuj
ish troops acting in cooperation crossj
ed the Struma ancaptured a number
j of villages.