HANG RATS AS GERMANS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 3976, 8 July 1915, Page 5

HANG RATS AS GERMANS.

FRENCH SOLDIERS’ FUN. Ralph Preston, Herman JTarjes and Oscar Beatty, who went out to the front north of Soissons on a recent Sunday to distribute 5000 Lafayette kits to the French soldiers in the trenches, tell a. story of how the men in the front lino amuse themselves between attacks. An outpost man brought in two enormous live rats, which he. had caught, nibbling-a sack of grub in an outlying rifle pit. The company held a court-martial over the vats and condemned them to death for pillage. Tiny German uniforms were made for them out of some samples taken from a captive, a tailor and a milliner in the company doing the sewing. A solid little twig was stuck in the wall of tho trench to serve as a tree and at sunrise one morning the whole company turned out. to see the rate hanged on strings dropped from the twig. Each rat was decorated with a tiny paper copy of the Iron Cross before he was strung up and tiny cigarettes glued in the animals mouths testified to the humanity or the hanging. The cleanliness of the front impressed the American kit distributois very much. From Arras to Soissons there was not a had odor anywhere, mirbage arrangements were excellent, and the company kitchens were immaculate. General do Castlonuu struck them as a wonderful organise*, and his men astonished them with their gaiety and optimism. Tim Lafayette kits made a great hit with the men.