THE HOME NEWS
EDITED IN THE INTEREST OF McCRORY and woodruff county
I VOLUME 2.
McCRORY, ARKANSAS, FRIDAY, DECEMBER, 29, 1916
NUMBER 22
2000 AMERICANS
' FALL in battle
Lure of Adventure Sends United
States Lads Into Army of
Great Britain.
[0 10 SECURE RELEASE
State Department at Washington Has
Bureau to Look After Appeals of
Parents Who Want Their Sons
Returned to Them.
Washington—Lured by the spirit of
adventure, more than 2,000 Americans
have died in battle, fighting in armies
of the British empire.
Somewhere in the United States
thousands of anxious mothers and fa
thers are awaiting the return of those
who will never return, and somewhere
in France there are Americans fighting
in the khaki of Britain who will never
return to their native land.
So serious has become the problem
of American youths slipping away into
Canada to join over-seas regiments
that the American state department
has been forced recently to create a
new division to care for the hundreds
of communications which pour in, ask
ing officials of this government to ob
tain the release of American youths
from foreign regiments.
In many cases, these boys have
joined in Canada by the simple expe
dient of falsifying their ages. Today,
these same boys can be found in the
trenches along the Somme, in the train
ing camps of England, and aboard
British vessels patrolling the high seas.
Because of the willingness of the
British government to release and
send home boys who joined by fraud
ulent means, the state department has
found little difficulty restoring “lost”
boys to their parents when the boy
himself can be located alive, but there
are many cases, department officials
say, where the names of American
boys, sought by terrified parents in
America, have been found in the lists
of those killed in action. In many in
stances not even the body can be re
covered.
Special Division Necessary.
During the early days of the Euro
pean war, there was a constant stream
°f requests received at the state de
partment, asking the release of Amer
ican volunteer boy soldiers, but it was
not until recently that the volume of
ese requests made it necessary for
eeretary of State Lansing to desig
nate a special division to handle such
cases. It is called the Division of Ap
P ication for the Discharge of Soldiers
and Sailors in Foreign Service.
The figures of the newly created di
vision show that the cattle boat traf
c across the Atlantic from American
or s to London, is a great recruiting
ource Ior the British army. Of late
wh k t?le nurnl3er °f American boys
o have enlisted in London, has been
tn greater than the number enlist
inS in Canada.
dirP1*8 iS chief*y due to the extraor
„ fry Precautions the Canadian re
officers are taking to avoid
such cases.
cJn a>n Amerlcan boy has enlisted in
a a Ms parents believe he
has not left the dominion, the state
department forwards the request for
a discharge to United States Consul
General Foster at Ottawa. If the boy
is still there, he is sent to the Ameri
can consulate under guard and turned
over to Mr. Foster.
If the Canadian contingent which
such a lad has joined has sailed for
England, the job becomes more diffi
cult. Robert P. Skinner, American
consul general at London, then takes
up the case and appeals to the British
foreign office. This request must pass
through the proper official channels,
and if the boy is alive, he will be lo
cated eventually.
The thing that makes difficult the
task of locating these boys, however,
is the almost universal tendencies of
the youngsters to give fictitious
names and addresses. This naturally
complicates the task.
Many Pathetic Appeals,
The appeals received at the state
department from parents seeking their
sons are pathetic in many cases. One
mother wrote in saying her son was
“only fourteen and merely over-large
for his age.” Other parents charge
that their sons were forced into the
service of Great Britain, though such
an idea is manifestly inaccurate, as
the government of Great Britain read
ily releases boys who are under the
proper age limit.
At the outbreak of the war, the
British authorities made only two re
quirements—that the boy be an Ameri
can citizen and under twenty-one years
of age. Later, the age qualification
was lowered to eighteen. Due to the
volume of requests, the English au
thorities are now only releasing boys
who are under that age. If the boy’s
father is a naturalized American, the
certificate of naturalization must ac
company the discharge application.
Owing to the fact that the depart
ment of state has no funds available
to pay for the expenses of this work,
parents are required to deposit $45,
which will pay the boy’s passage home
and when he is found, another $25 is
required to buy him clothes and food.
METHODIST CHURCH
We extend a hearty welcome
to all our services Sunday. Our
Sunday school meets at 9:45 and
we solicit your presence at this
very important and living ser
vice. It is a great power in this
church. At 11:00 a. m. and 7 p.
m. the pastor will preach. The
morning subject will be: “Let
your light so shine,” the eve
ning subject: “Thou shall call
his name Jesus.” Please put
going to church on your program
of the day. You will receive a
hearty welcome at this church.
The services are for all our peo
ple. Come.
F. A. Lark, Pastor
T. C. Tucker and family left
Thursday for their future home
at Manila.
L. B. Winfree returned Wed
nesday from Lebannon, Tenn.,
where he had been visiting his
son, Earl, who is a student in
Castle Heights.
GERMAN SPIES
BUSY IN FRANCE
Artillery Attack Follows Cabinet
Members' Visit to Front in
North.
CLEMENCEAU RISKS HIS LIFE
Paris Newspaper Gives an Interesting
Example of Former Premier's
Courage Under Fire—Arouses
Admiration of Soldiers.
Paris.—The question of spies spy
ing is always a live one ip France, for
many incidents can be recounted which
show either that the Germans have
close information on what happens in
their enemy’s lines or that chance is a
wonderful thing. For instance, a num
ber of cabinet members visited a town
in the north a few days ago, being ac
companied by the director of an im
portant mining works near the town.
To suit the convenience of this gen
tleman, the train that took the minis
ters away was started an hour earlier
than had been arranged. An hour
later, at the time the train was in
tended to leave, the station underwent
a hot bombardment, and thanks to the
change in the time table, the minis
ters escaped a very bad quarter of an
hour.
Almost every returned poilu can tell
a story similar to the following: A di
vision famous for its fighting quali
ties was suddenly moved to a new po
sition so quickly that the men them
selves did not know exactly where
they were. Within an hour a board
was hoisted above the nearest German
trench bearing the inscription in large
letters, “Welcome to the Gallant —th
Division,” and giving the exact divi
sional number.
I The Cri de Paris gives another ex
ample that occurred during M. Clemen
ceau’s recent visit to the front as
chairman of the senate’s army com
mittee.
"Tiger” Saw Slain Soldier.
The section was very quiet, nothing
had happened for days there. Earlier
there had been some hot fighting and
the "Tiger” could see the dead body
of a French soldier still hanging on
the barbed wire between the trenches.
M. Clemenceau gazed at the poor re
mains with admiration, sadness and
then fury. His eyes clouded over and
words of vengeance came indistinctly
from his lips.
At this moment an explosion was
heard close by and then another.
Clouds of smoke arose from near
where M. Clemenceau stood and the
explosions came nearer and nearer. He
continued looking at the corpse of the
poor soldier.
An officer hurried up. "Monsieur le
President,” he said (a president of the
council or premier remains “monsieur
le president” all his life), the major
has sent me to warn you that it’s a
pretty bad place where you are. It is
probable that they have sighted you.
It’s certain that a barring fire is be
I ginning. The major begs you to get
under shelter.”
"And why so?” asked M. Clemen
ceau.
j "But, Monsieur le President, you
may be wounded, and then—”
! “And if I were,” replied the “Tiger,”
“would it. not be a fine death at my
age; the finest a man could dream of?Tr
Apostrophizes Dead Hero.
And then he went on in that semi
sarcastic vein that he enjoys: “Just
think, monsieur, I no longer love wom
en, and men disgust me; it would be a j
good time to make a fine finish!”
Then turning toward the dead body
he apostrophized it with:
“You were young, you had a long fu
ture before you; you had done ill to
no one, women pleased you and you
had faith in men. How much better it
would be if you were alive here andi
an old body like mine were hanging
out there in place of yours!”
The artillery fire finished before M.
Clemenceau moved on and the staff;
captain who accompanied him told the
story afterward, declaring: “I telli
you he was wonderful! Wonderful!”1
repeating the word “epatant,” which;
means so much In a Frenchman’s i
mouth.
M. Clemenceau is seventy-one and;
was mayor of the Montmartre district,
at the time of the last war with Ger
many;. ... __,_
EDITOR IS ILL
We hope our subscribers will
pardon us for the small amount
of news in the paper each week
recently and when we tell you
that the editor has been danger
ously ill we are sure you will
overlook our shortcomings in the
matter of news.
The editor and wife are home
today from a week’s stay at
Hot Springs and we would not
have returned had it not been to
print this edition of the paper.
Although we had a printer em
ployed to do the work during our
absence, he fell down on the job
and we had to return on short
notice and give you this the very
best paper possible to be gotten
up in such a short time. We
will return Sunday to Hot
Springs where the editor hopes
his health will continue to im
prove and when we have again
regained onr good health, we
promise to give you a paper that
will more than make up for past
omissions.
Notice
To our friends and patrons:
We have shut down for the sea
son, thanking you one and all for
your liberal share of your pat
ronage, at the same time wishing
you an exceedingly prosperous
1917. McCrory Gin Co.,
Adv H. C. Shearer, Mgr.
Mr. Bert Smith is home from
a three week’s stay at Lawton,
Okla.
Lost: Bottom piece of an alum
inum cooker and two linen nap
kins at the W. 0. W. dinner
Please return to the printing
office.