KILLING NO MURDER.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 July 1915, Page 11 (Supplement)

KILLING NO MURDER.

HOW IT i'KKI.s T(i SLAV IN HAITI.K. (This article i «• of a soi-ii- of narratives describing life in the trrnchc. of Knrope. written hv I'hil Under, miii of Rev. William Under, of San Francisco. He served for a time with the French Foreign Legion, Imt is now in London.) London, March -». i. How it feels t„ kill a man is something J cannot adequately describe. There are some millions of men in Europe who have had this feeling during tilt'/ past half year. I>til I vcnlnre m say that not one of Ihcm o>>ild fadlil'ullv detail hi, emotions upon first taking- a human life.

After you see the \icliiu drop you first fuel a sense of triumph. Then the ages of (raining in HiTen Commandments come to the front. and you feel like a murderer. Then you want lo run around among wuir mates ami tell iln-m (he circumstances of the killing ami gel them lo tell von that you did the right thing. SKiIITIM; Till-; (,'AML. My experience was like that. I was standing beside inv lieutenant one dav. lie had fastened 'a small mirror t„ '„ twig and was looking al (be licriinu trenches, when siiddenh he exclaimed: "(.lot your gnu: A I'.oehc has „,„,, out of the trench.' I ran down Hie Ircndi. got m,- i.,m and came back to the loophole. '| was so excited L could har.llv aim. Through the hole 1 saw a (.'enuaii standin.. on the edge of hi- tioiich. He had 'been carrying a huge board and bad rested it against his l, ar k while he tried (, 0 ight his. pipe.

r.HINMNi; m.M l),m. v "Ot '''in! <■'■! iiim!" said the lieutenant. I I'iri'il an.! missed. The Herman lit another uiat.li. and merely looked eontempluouslv at the spot in space where Ihe l.uilet had whistled past liini. He wa- only |.i fret awav from me, but thiou,|, ' the loophole ''l could see part of hi-'bodv and I wanted to hit him hm. ii po-i'b|o | aimd again, lie uheeled round 'and hacked in a circle, like a drunken man Iniim to keep hi.- balance. Then |,e t | in .„ U p I'olh hainl., and fell forward on his face. I turned around lu look at the lieutenant. He had i,.,| M uav lII' was proud. Then a »,»■, of remorse ean'ie over me—it was Hie -Thou Shalt X„( Kill" that i.- hiuird in even -ano man's mind and heart.

A (HUIiAUK I)ISs|.;\TS. "I S»(. a Crinan." I shouted |„ i( soldier near hy. I („i,| hi,,, how the man had hen, stamlin, there holdiim a hoard. * '•Did he haw a rifle.- asked the -oldier. "Whv, ~o." I said "And vo„ ,],ol a •„„. ~„.,-• "I had direct order..- | an,we,cd I felt like a ,|„,. It „eon,e,l t « ' ,„.. that 1 must, liu.l some In ~, | K ,j„..< who woitl.l -ay that I had d ,-iylit " 1 told another soldi,,- ahoiif it." "Served him ri-j.i." -aid the soldier. 'llcd have done (he -am, thiic to you."

Those were splendid words for inc. I had slouched aloii-r the trench hefmc I met him. After that I held „ p IIIV head.

PKIDIO an.]) i:i;.\H)|;sk. But the tun fuelinj-:—the t ,rul«- and the remorse—fought j„ lnv mln ,i M last i told it to an ,>|,| l.cgion soldier. "My boy," lie ~aid. "it's war. Could you have refused to si t under the eyes of tlii' lieutenant.': War is killiii". and that's all there is to it. Suiiposc every solilii-r in Hi,.. French line were 1(1 obey his own instincts about killiim. None of tiie ciicmv would die The French have brought vo„ here',,, kill, and you mu-t kill whatever vou can " Technically I liad don,, wrong, -bcca'iise all war i> terribly wrong, I sat behind a machine-gun one .lav soon after fiat and killed eleven Germans who had built a barricade in some near-by trees. Thev ucre shoot in- at us, and 1 felt much better about killin" them than I did about killing i 1,,. -ingle (ierman. And then later again, on Ihe bievde seat of a macbiue -lin. and. at the rate of 700 sh.,l, a minute. 1 fired at advancing columns ~f <;..,■ )N in ~I (, S |, funn . ( . tion, and watched tliein dn.p ami s,|iiinn They were coming |,, kill ,„. if tlic\ t ' oul,l - " under the rules ..f the war "auie \ Lerrific .sens,. „r ~„„■,.,. rilK<l^\iio! the rattle of that ,„„ was sweeter and grander to ,„,. t | lan n„. n : ill<-l11j : .li Chorus. I knew what il meant lobe drunk with killing. Other machine-»uns were going. (~„: |„,f | felt at Ihe time as if mine were the only 11,,. ,;,.,. ""<" s '"'■"'"'l a -an.'their' for tin, smashed, their dead and wounded .|,rving the hillside. But that night, alter I had ernwled into my inud'ndc. I didn't dare to think °f all the w„ „ iln d ehildreii whose hearts had ben hit b v that machinegun fire.

-viKKK BIUTAI. KII.I.im:. 1 hill! jnined the I'lvnch torccn T.egion, expecting („ l„. made a member ol the Iking ~,rp,. Instead. I had found my Hay t„ the trendies. M -|i.-r<-killing was • ~M | , job : M ,ia! ~,;. ;,,,,; out killing, with little science and less chivalry. When in, chance came I ",,t out Kvoryibody else h.,,,1,1 M „i ( . loof 1 knew , '"'.> »'"'l'l- I lived with them, and s '''l't and ate with (hem. and talked with them, and I know thev would have <|tii t— if thev could. So would every other man in all the armies, in all this great war. 'When the word run- along the lines some happy day. and lie war is ended. I don't want to write || M . s ( „ n . „f |,„ w I'"' nien feel. D„|, (;,„, Hil |' ,„, ~,,,,, to measure Ihe j,,w- ~o human lieinWould be aide („ („|| j|.