The County Democrat. (Tecumseh, Okla.), Vol. 25, No. 27, Ed. 1 Friday, April 4, 1919 Page: 2 of 8
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THE COUNTY DEMOCRAT. TECUMSEH. OKLA.
Horses for
France
T ' ' “
Sergeant Arthur Guy
Empey
Author of “Over the Top,”
“Fii* CaU." Etc.
0-00
Mr. Empey’s Experi-
ences Du ring His Seven-
teen Months in the Firs*
Line Trenches of the
British Army in France
—2—
It wu 1914, and tha great world
War waa on, and here wu I In the
United States and nentral. For thir-
teen years I bad been soldiering but
bad never been under fire. In iny
Imagination I could hear the guns
booming on the western front I ad-
mit I was a trifle afraid; nevertheless
I had a great desire to get into the mix
np. How could 1 get over? I planned
out many ways, but none of them
were practical.
One day while walking down Green-
wich street. New York, 1 passed an
employment agency. Staring me in
the face was a great flaring sign,
“Horses for France.” Under this
“Hen Wanted." Here was my chance.
Upon returning to my office I Imme-
diately got in touch over the telephone
with two prominent men In New York
whom I knew to be distinctly pro-ally.
After ouUinlng my desire, an appoint-
ment was made for me to meet a cer-
tain gentleman at the Hotel Astor at
four o'clock that afternoon. I met
him. He Introduced me to a French-
man. At that time In my eyes a
Frenchman was a hero, a man to be
looked up to, a man fighting In the
Great Cause. But now a Frenchman
to me Is more than a hero. After
being Introduced I went up Into the
Frenchman’s room and talked offer
the matter of horses for France for
about twenty minutes.
Upon leaving the Frenchman I was
told to report to him three days later,
at the same time and place. I left,
bubbling over with enthusiasm and
anticipation.
During this interval of three days I
mapped out a etory of my life to pre-
sent to him upon our second Interview.
The eventful day at last came, and
once more 1 was closeted with him. I
started to tell him my stpry. He
Interrupted mt by waving hls right
hand to the right and left. It re-
minded me of the butts on a target
range during rifle practice, when the
man marking the target wigwags a
miss to the firing line. My heart sank.
Then he spoke, and I was carried
from despondency to the greatest
height of expectation. Hls words:
"Pardon me, monsieur, I already
know your life,” and In an amazingly
short time be told me more than I
knew about myself. I had been care-
fully Investigated.
My instructions received from him
are confidential, so I will not go Into
them. Anyway, he handed me nn en-
velope and told me to follow out care-
fully all details as contained therein.
I immediately went back to my of-
fice, opened the envelope and on a
typewritten sheet I read: ‘‘Report nt
Goldsmith's Employment agency. No.
—— Greenwich street. Ship as nn
ordinary horseman and during voyage
carefully follow the verbnl Instruc-
tions received by you during our In-
terview, making careful note of all de-
tails Immediately after happening. Be
cautions In doing this. Upon landing
In France report to the prefecture of
police, Bordeaux, and to the letter
obey bis Instructions. Good luck.”
I went home and put on my oldest
clothes—an old black suit, olive drab
shirt, a pair of heavy army shoes and
• woolen cap. I had let my beard grow
and certainly looked rough.
Going down Greenwich street,
slouching along, looking at the ground,
I ran plump Into a young lady of my
acquaintance. I had a feeling of af-
fection for this particular young lady,
but It soon died out upon hearing her
remark as I collided with her, “If you
cannot look where you are going, I
will have you arrested.” Of course,
she did not recognize me and I took
no pains to argue the matter with her.
I was glad enough to slink by.
When I came to the agency there
was a long line of bums, two and thibe
deep, trying to ship as horsemen for
France.
It would be Impossible to get a
rougher and more unkempt gathering
of men. It looked as If some huge
giant had taken a fine comb and care-
fully combed the gutters of New
York.
I fell Into this line and waited my
turn. Upon arriving at the desk. In
front of me sat a little fat, greasy
Jew. To describe hls manner of han-
dling the men as being Impolite would
be a great exaggeration. The way he
handled that line of human cattle
would do the kaiser’s heart good.
It came my turn, and this conversa-
tion ensued:
“What do you know about horses?”
I answered : "Six years In the United
8tates cavalry.”
The Agent: “What regiments?”
“Fleven.il and Twelfth."
"You’re a Bar. You never saw the
cavalry.”
I felt like punching him on the nose
but did not do so. I wanted to ship
a« a horseman. I showed him (py
discharge* Hs said: "They're faked.
What did yoe da, desert or wars you
kicked out?”
I wos getting sore and answered:
“Deserted the Twelfth; kicked out of
the Eleventh."
“What’s your name?”
"Arthur Guy Empey.”
"You’re a German.”
This was too much even for me,
and I answered: "You're a damned
liar.” I saw my cliuncea of shipping
vanishing In smoke.
The Jew grinned and rubbed hls
hnnds and said: “You're all right.
Go Into that room and get a card mnde
out, and com# back at two o’clock."
I received a card and went to a
hennery across the street and had a
wonderful meal of corned beef hash,
muddy coffee and huge slices of bread,
minus butter. This cost me fifteen
cent*
At two o’clock I reported back, and
with seventy-two others was herded
like cattle, and In r long, straggling
line, flanked by three of the employees
of the agency, we marched to the
ferry and landed “somewhere In New
Jersey.”
The ship, a bage three-stacker, was
lying alongside. We were shoved Into
single file, ready to go tip the gang-
plank. Then our real examination
took place. At the foot of the gang-
plank were a group of men around a
long table. They certainly put us
through a third degree to find out if
there was any German blood lq us.
Several men were turned down. Luck-
ily. I got through and signed for the
voyage, and went on bonrd.
At the head of the gungplank stood
the toughest specimen of humanity I
have ever seen. He looked like n huge
gorilla, and had a big, crescent-shaped,
livid sear running from hls left ear
under hls chin up to hls right eye.
Every time he spoke the edges of the
scar seemed to grow white. His nose
was broken and he had huge, shaggy
eyebrows. Hls hand was resting on
the rail of the ship. It lpoked like a
ham, and Inwardly I figured out what
would happen to me If that ham-llke
fist ever came in contact with the
point of my Jaw. As we passed him
he showered us with a few compli-
mentary remarks, such as “Of all the
lousy scum I have seen, this bunch of
lubbers is the worst, and this Is what
they give me to take thirteen hundred
horses over to Bordeaux.” Later on
I found this Individual was foreman of
the horse gang.
We were ordered aft and sat on the
after hatch. The fellow on my right
was a huge, blue-gummed negro. He
was continually scratching himself.
I unconsciously eased away from him
and bumped Into the fellow sitting on
my left. After a good look at him I
eased back agnin In the direction of
the negro. I don’t think that he had
taken a bath since escaping from the
cradle. Right then my uppermost
thought was how I could duck this
trip to France. The general conversa-
tion among the horse gang was:
"When do we eat?”
We must have sat there about twenty
minutes, when the second foreman
came aft. I took fifteen guesses at hls
nationality, and at last cnme to the
conclusion thnt he was a cross between
a Chinaman and a Mexican. He was
thin, about six feet tall, and wore a
huge sombrero. Hls skin was tanned
the color of leather. Every time he
smiled I had the impression thnt the
next minute he would plant n stiletto
In my back. Hls name was Pinero.
His Introduction to us wns very brief:
“Get up off of that blankety blnnk
hatch and line up against the rail.”
We did as ordered. Then he com-
manded : “All the niggers line up
niongslde of the port rail.” I guess a
lot of them did not know what he
meant by the “port rail” because they
looked very much bewildered. With
nn onth he snapped out. “You blnrik-
ety blank idiots. The port rail is thAt
rail over there. Come on. Move or
Til soon move you.” He looked well
able to do this nnd the niggers prompt-
ly shuffled over to the place designat-
ed. He quickly dlv'ded us Into squads
of twelve men. then ordered; “All of
you who are deserters from the army
or who hnve seen service In the cav-
alry step out In front.” Four others
besides myself stepped out. The first
man he cnme to he informed: “You’re
a straw boss. Do you know what a
straw boas Is?” This man meekly
answered. “No. sir.” With another
oath, the second foreman said: “All
right, you’re not a straw boss; fall
back.” I got the cue Immediately.
My turn came next.
"Do you know what a straw boss
Is?”
I said: "Sure."
He said: “All right, you’re a straw
boss."
I had not the least Idea of what
he was talking about, but made up
my mind that It would not take me
long to find out. Then he passed
down the line, picking out straw
bosses. I asked one of the men In my
gang whnt were the duties of a straw
boss. He had been over with horses
before, and told roe that a straw boss
meant to be In charge of the gang to
feed the horses and to draw and keep
careful check on the straw, hay, oats
and bran. Having served In the cav-
alry, this Job, as I figured, wouid be
regular pie for roe.
In about an hour and a half's time
Pinero had selected hls straw bosses
and divided the men Into gangs, and
assigned ns to our quarters on the
ship. These quarters were between
decks and very much crowded; the
stench was awful.
ODe old fellow In my gang was a
trouble maker. He must have been
about forty years old and looked as
hard as nails. He was having an argu-
ment with a pasty-faced looking speci-
men of humanity, about twenty-stx
years old. To me this man appeared
to be in the last ntsges of consumption.
I told the old fellow to cat out hie
argument and leave the other fallow
alone. Upon hearing this he squirted
a well-directed stream of tobacco Juice
through hls front teeth, which landed
on my shoe. I Inwardly admired and
respected hls accuracy. I saw my au-
thority waning and knew thnt I would
have to answer this Insult quickly. I
took two or three quick steps forward
and swung on hls Jaw with my fist
Hls bead went up against the Iron
bunk with a sickening sound ind he
crumpled up and fell on the deck, the
blood pouring from the cut lb hls heaa.
I felt sick and faint thinking that he
had been killed, but It would not do
to show these signs of weakness oi^
my part, so without even moving to-
ward him I ordered one of the men to
look him over and see If he wus all
right He soon came around. From
that time on he wus the most fnlthful
man In the section and treatly respect-
ed me. The rest of ihe men growled
and mumbled and I thought I was in
for a terrible heating. Lying close at
hand wag an Iron spike about eighteen
Inches long. Grasping thin, I turned to
the rest, trying to be an tough as 1
possibly could:
"If any of the rest of you hums
think they are boss around here, start
something, and I will sink this Into
hls head." Although I was quailing
underneath, still I got away with It.
and from that time on I was boss of
my section.
Now every man was smoking or
chewing tobacco. Pretty soon the hold
became thick with smoke, and I wns
gasping for bseath, when the voice of
the foreman came down the compan-
ionway :
“Turn out on deck nnd give a hand
loading the horses. Look alive or I’ll
come down there and rouse you out
pretty---quick.”
I have been In a cavalry regiment
when hurry-up orders were received to
entrain for the Mexican border and
helped to lpad eleven hundred horses
on trains. The confusion on that dock
was Indescribable. The horses were
loaded by three runways. My gang
and I were detailed on the after run-
way. The foremah was leaning over
the rail, glaring down upon us and
now and then giving Instructions mixed
with horrible oath* He had a huge
marllnsplke In hls hand. On the dock
was the second foreman. In hls large
sombrero, a red neckerchief around
hls neck, wearing a blue shirt with the
sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and
In hls right hand a colled lHriat. It
did one’s heart good to Eee Mm rope
the horses which broke loose. Upon
watching hls first performance I knew
I was correct when I figured him as
having Mexican blood in bis veins.
A bleary-eyed drunk was trying to
lead a horse by the halter up our run.
He was looking back at the horse, at
the same time tugging und Jerking on
the halter. You could see the white
In the horse’s eyes, and I kndw right
away, from my experience with horses,
that this was a bad one, or, as we
would term him in the cavalry, an
"outlaw.” The drunk was cursing and
swearing and kicking up at the horse’s
head. The foreman saw this and di-
rected hls barrage at the offender.
“How In h—1 do you expect to lead
a horse while looking at him? Turn
your back to him, you lousy bum. You
arc blocking the whole run. Turn
your back to him, I say. You can’t
lead him that way. If I come down
there to you. I’ll soon show you how
to get him aboard.”
The bleary-eyed one became bewil-
dered and in hls excitement lost hls
footing on the slippery runway and fell
underneath the horse, at the same time
loosening his hold on the halter chain.
The horse Jerked his head loose, reared
up, turned around and made a break
for the deck. The man on the gangway
tried to scramble out of the way. The
horse, In wheeling, let fly with bojh
heels and caught him belqw the right
ear with his near hind foot With a
piercing shriek the drunk clasped both
Swung on Hls Jaw With My Fist.
hands to his head, fell over backward
and rolled down to the foot of the gang-
plank, and lay there in a crumpled
heap, the blood pouring from his nose,
mouth and the wound below hls ear.
Upon hearing this shriek several of
the men leading their horses. In their
fright turned them loose, and there was
a mad stampede on the deck.
The pasty-faced horseman, whom I
had helped ont a little while before In
the argument about hls hunk was
standing near the rnnway, noldlng on
to a horse. He turned hls horse loose
and rushed to the bloody mass, which
was twitching with convulsive shud-
ders. The foreman, on seeing this ac-
cident, snapped out a long stria* of
curses, which almost froze my heart.
“What did I toll gout Didn’t I Ml
you not to look at him? I knew you
would get It. nnd n damped good Job.
too; blocking that run with your fool
tricks."
Then he noticed the pasty-faced
horseman stooping over the bleeding
man.
“Get Mm by tho heels, yen croon be-
tween a corpse and mummy, nnd drag
him out of the way. We’ve bloody well
got to get this ship loaded to catch
the tide.”
The pule-fnred man kept on with hls
examination without paying any atten-
tion to the foreman’s Instructions. The
foreman got blue In the face and bub-
bled over with/rage.
"Do you hear whut I tell you? Get
Mm out of the way. This ship hns got
to be loaded or I’ll go down there and
pound some obedience Into you.”
The mnn still paid no attention. The
foreman was speechless. In a few sec-
onds the stooping man straightened up,
and looking the foreman straight In
the eye, calmly replied: “He's dead.”
This did not seem to fease the fore-
man In the least and he bellowed out:
“How do you know he Is dead?” The
nian answered simply: “I’m a doctor.”
Then the foreman once again explod-
ed: “A doctor I Blawst my deadlights,
a doctor I Well, If you’re n doctor,
what In h—1 are you doing on a horse
ship? You ought to be rolling pills
for the highbrows.”
The doctor never took hls piercing
look from the eye of the foreman. The
foreman was now like nn enraged bull.
Spitting all over himself, he blustered
out: “Well, If he’s dead, there Is no
doctor that can do him any good. A
couple o’ you black skunks over there
(addressing two negroes who were al-
most blanched to a bluish white and
who were trembling near by), get
ahold of him and drag ’lm out of the
way.” One of the negroes, with a
leeer'ng grin, replied: “I shipped on
this here ship to handle hosses, and
I don’t allow nohow thnt it's my work
to tote corpses around.”
Just then the second foreman rushed
over, gave the negro a push out of the
way, and, grabbing the heels of the
dead man, pulled him away from the
run. I turned away, sickened with
disgust. The foreman then took an
empty oat sack and spread It over the
bloody head.
Just then the clanging bell of an am-
bulance was heard and a white-clothed
doctor, followed by two men with a
stretcher, pushed their way through
the crowd of horses and horsemen.
They were accompanied by a police-
man. The body was put Into the am-
bulance nnd taken away, while the po-
lice-officer went on bonrd the ship.
The pasty-faced doctor was holding
onto the rail of the runway and cough-
ing. I thought eneh gasp would be hls
last. "The second foreman was talking
to him. The doctor paid no attention.
Going up behind the doctor, the fore-
man coolly measured hls distance nnd
swung on the point of his Jaw. The
doctor crumpled up and fell on the
clock. At this cowardly and dastard-
ly act, I saw red and made a leap
at the foreman. An onrushlng light
flashed In front of me and a huge lo-
comotive, going 60 miles an hour, hit
me between the eyes; then blackness.
When I came to, I was lying In my
hunk In the hold. I had an awful
headache. Then everything came
back to me with a flash. I could hear
the gurgling of water on the ship’s
sideband knew we were under way.
Right then and there I decided never
again, especially while aboard ship, to
Interfere with the foreman. Araong^
that gang of human wrecks and cut-'
throats It was every man for himself,
nod the survival of the fittest. I had
two beautiful black eyes, and my nose
felt like a football.
I went up on deck. The moon and
stars were out and the twinkling lights
of New York harbor were gradually
fndlng Into the distance. Leaning over
the rail were the foreman arid the
veterinarian, “Doc ’ Casey, by name.
Tho foreman was talking. Snatches
of his conversation reached my ears:
"Load horses? Why, that bunch of
scum they wished dn me couldn't load
lump sugar, one lump at a time. How
Brown expects me to deliver 1,300
horses into Bordeaux with this scurvy
outfit, I don’t know. We’re lucky. I’m
thinkin’. If five hundred o’ them don’t
die. Why, there’s not one o’ the
blighters knows which end of a, horse
eats hay. I tell you, Doc, your work
is cut out for you. If, In a few days,
you don’t have a couple of hundred
cases of colic on your hands, then Fm
n bloomin’ liar.”
"Doc,” Casey answered:
“Well, I’ll tell you, Mr. Goorty, this
is mj third trip over and I have seen
some tough bunches, but this one is
the limit, und I sure have a Job on my
hunds. It’s too had that Pinero let out
on that young fellow, because, in my
mind, thnt was a pretty cowardly blow,
lie seemed to know how to handle
horses. What do you say if I give him
the Job of assistant veterinarian? He's
had six years’ cavalry experience.”
The foreman answered:
“Throw him over the side. If yon
want—I don’t care. But I guess youMl
need someone to help yon out, so go to
It.”
I was overjoyed. Just then Pinero
came aft The horse doctor turned to
him and said: “Look here, Pinero,
I’ve seen lots of dirty work in my life,
but that exhibition of yours on the
dock is about the filthiest I've seen in
a long time. Now, Just take a ttp
from me. That young fellow from now
on is working for me, and yon lay yonr
hands off of him. If I find yon med-
dling with him, m push that silly grin
of yours down yonr throat until it
chokes yon. Now, that’s all I got to
say, lay off of him. Do yon under-
stand?”
Pinero started to mumble excuses,
bu* the doctor shut him up with. "I
don’t want to hour any nor* I'm oft
o’ yon for Ufa. bat remember whnt I
tell yon. Steer dear from tho two o’
urn, nabeT*
I guess the second foreman ”«abled"
all right, because ha vouchsafed no
answer. My heart wanned to "Doc"
Casey and I slipped away unobserved.
Tho next morning the doctor fixed
me np with court piaster and I waa
Installed as assistant veterinarian at
$30 for the trip.
Five days ont we ran Into s squall
and our work was ent out for ne. We
even had horses on the decka In
wooden stalls. The ship waa lurching
nnd pitching, and huge seas would
burst over the gunwales.
Several of the wooden stalls gave
way and the horses were loose on the
deck. With every lurch of the ship
a couple of horses would fall, and,
kh-klng and cnorting, would slide down
the Inclined deck, hitting against
winches and the hatchway, scraping
their hides off. It was worth a man’s
life to get Into thnt mess.
Then I had more or less respect for
the foreman and second foreman.
Into the midst of that struggling and
Staggered to the Upper Deck With Hls
Face Blanched Almost White.
kicking bunch of horses they went, as-
sisted by Doc Casey. Four of the
horses received broken legs, and Pin-
ero, instead of shooting them, cut
their throats with a sharp dagger he
carried.
One of the negroes from the lower
hold staggered to the upper deck with
his face blanched almost white, and
his eyes popping out of hls head. Be-
tween gasps he Informed us that a
whole section of stalls, 24 in all, had
been carried away between decks, and
that the horses were loose. He said
three negroes in his gang were caught
in this stampede.
The foreman mustered most of the
men, and dividing them into three
groups, In charge of himself, the sec-
ond foreman and Doc Casey, they went
below. I followed. An awful sight met
my eyes.
The ship was lurching In a horrible
manner. All I could see was, one
minute a pile of kicking horses,
smashed-up planks and the three ne-
groes piled up in one corner of the
compartment, and then, with a lurch
of the ship, they would slide into the
other. Nothing could be done by us.
It was madness to attempt anything.
The three negroes were dead.
That night and the following day
was a perfect hell on the ship for men
and horses. The ship rode through
the squall, and when it became calm
we all got busy. Out of the 24 horses
between decks we had to shoot 17 on
account of Injuries. Besides the 17
3 had died from broken necks. The
4 remaining horses were still alive
but hardly had a square foot of hide
left. They were a pitiful sight
The next day the three negroes
were burled at sea without a word of
prayer.
I was heartily sick and disgusted
with the rest of the trip, because the
stench was awful, there being about
twelve dend horses that we could not
get out.
Just outside of the entrance of the
river leading to Bordeaux, a small,
rakish boat, flying the tri-color of
France, came alongside. We hove to
and up the gangplank came three
French officers. They were closeted
with the captain of the ship and our
foreman, and after about twenty min-
utes, left and we continued on our
course.
Going up the river In some places
the banks were only about twenty
feet away. We could see the French
women tilling their fields. As we
went by these workers stopped and
waved their hnnds In the air to us, and
we waved back. It was my first sight
of France, and I was not in any way
disappointed. It lived up to my expec-
tations.
A little farther up the river we came
to a large dock where ships were load-
ing and unloading cargoes, and a thrijl
passed through me as I saw my first
batch of German .prisoners at work.
These were immense fellows, nearly
every one being six feet or over. They
were guarded by little French soldiers,
averaging about five feet five inches,
with a long rifle, bayonet fixed. This
rifle. In comparison with the French-
man, looked like a telegraph pole. The
soldiers had on the old blue overcoats,
the tails buttoned back, pattern of
1871.
As we passed the German prisoners
they scowled at ns, and we, feeling
quite safe on the deck, yelled back in-
sults at them. One big Irishman;
right near me, took great glee in jump-
ing up and down on the hatchway and
running his finger across hls throat.
This seemed to enrage the prisoners
and they yelled something In German.
Tha Irishman mast have understood
it. because be let ent a volley of curses
In return. The French sentries seem-
ed to enjoy this barrage of Insults and
did not la any way attempt to curtail
the prisoners’ remarks. Thin, at tha
time, struck me as depicting a remark-
able sense of fairness, a*d later on,
during my service on the western
front, I found out that the French-
man In all hls dealings Is fair and
Just.
Pretty soon the prisoners faded out
of Right and we came alongside the
dock at Bordeaux. 1 wus all eagerness
and atralned my eyes so as not to miss
the lenst thing. The dock was full of
French cavalrymen, harrying to and
fro. nuge Turcoa, black aa the ace
of spades, with white turbans on
their heads, were majestically strid-
ing about.
After we warped Into the dock and
made fast, our work waa over. We had
nothing to do with the unloading of
the horses. The French cavalrymen
came aboard with a hunch of cavalry
halters hanging over their arms. It
was a marvel to see with what ease
and efficiency that ship was unload-
ed. The condition of the horses was
pitiful. They could hardly bend their
legs from stiffness. They would hob-
ble down the gangplank and stand
trembling on the dock. In about a
minute or so they would stretch their
necks way up Into the air and seem
to be taking long breaths of the puae
air. Then they started to whinny.
They were calling backward and for-
ward to each other. Even though I
did not understand horse language, I
knew exact?, what they were saying.
They were thnnking the good Lord
for their deliverance from that hell
ship, and were looking forward to
green pastures and a good roll In the
dirt. Pretty soon you could see them
bend their forelegs and lie down on
the dock; then try to roll over. It
was pitiful; some of them did not
have the strength to turn over and
they feebly kicked. Pretty soon the
whole dock was a mass of rolling
horses, the Frenchmen Jumping
around, gesticulating and Jabbering.
After getting the horses up, they
were divided Into classes according to
their height and weight Then each
horse was led Into a ring chalked out
on the dock and the army Inspectors
examined It. Very few were reject-
ed. From this ring of chalk they
were led Into a portable stall and
branded. You could hear the sing-
song voice of the brander shouting out
what sounded like "Battry Loo.” As
he yelled this, a French private would
come over, get the horse which had
been branded, and lead It away. I
got In conversation with an Inter-
preter and he Informed me that tho
average life of these horses In the
French army was three days, so theqa
poor horses had only left that hell
ship to go Into a worse hell of bursting
shells and cracking bullets.
I, after passing a rigid examination
as to my nationality, and being Issued
a cattleman’s passport. Inquired my
wny to the prefecture of police. I
deliverd to hl?n a senled envelope
which I had received In New York.
Upon opening It. he was very gracious
to me and I went into a rear room,
where the Interpreter put me through
a grilling examination. From there
I wns taken to a hotel, and the next
morning in the company of a sergeant
and a private, got Into a little match-
box compartment on the funniest look-
ing train I ever saw. The track seem-
ed to be about three feet wide; the
wheels of the cars looked like huge
cogwheels on an engine minus the
cogs. After bumping, stopping, and
sometimes sliding backwards. In 26
hours we reached a little town. Sup-
plies were piled up as high as houses.
Officers and enlisted men were hurrying
to nnd fro, and I could see long trains
of supply wagons and artillery limbers
always moving in the same direction.
I was ushered Into the presence of
a French officer, who, I later found ont,
was a brigadier general of the quar-
termaster corps. I could bear a dis-
tant booming, and upon Inquiring
found out that it was the guns of
France, striving to hold back the Ger-
man Invaders. I trembled all over
with excitement, and a feeling that I
cannot describe rushed over me. I was
listening to my first sound of the guns
ou the western front
Two days afterward I again reached
Bordeaux, and shipped to New York
ou tne French liner Rochambeaux.
Upon arriving in New York I reported
to the Frenchman who had sent m«
over. He was very courteous, nnd as
I reached out ta shake hands with him,
he placed both hands on my shoulders
and kissed me on the right and left
cheek. I was dumfounded, blushed all
over, and after receiving the pay thal
was due me, I left.
I think I could have borne another
trip across with horses, but that being
kissed upon my return completely got
my goat.
I went back to the routine of my
office, but everything bad lost color and
appeared monotonous. I believe I bad
left my heart in France, and I felt
mean and small, eating three square
meals a day and sleeping oh a soft
bed, when the armies on the other side
wero making the world’s histqry.
Sometimes when sleeping I would
have a horrible nightmare; I could see
those horses befhg boiled alive la
steam.
Several times later I parsed that
sign on Greenwich street, “Horses for
France, Men Wanted,” and the picture
of the second foreman dropping the
pasty-faced doctor would loom before
my eyes. I do not know to this day
what became of thnt nervy wreck of
humanity, who bad the temerity to tell
our foreman where he got off at. 1
know he did not make the passaga
with us.
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Henderson, L. P. The County Democrat. (Tecumseh, Okla.), Vol. 25, No. 27, Ed. 1 Friday, April 4, 1919, newspaper, April 4, 1919; Tecumseh, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1077303/m1/2/?q=War+of+the+Rebellion.: accessed July 16, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.