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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1941)
THE STORY SO FAR: More than 800,000 foreign troop* which had been secretly transported to Mexico suddenly Invaded the United States. Intelligence Offlcer Henning had discovered their plans while a spy In Mexico City where he bad gained the confidence of Flncke .U J1 INSTALLMENT fifteen and Bravot, two enemy officers, but hie warnings had gone unheeded. Foreign forces bid by Van Hassek pushed re lentlessly forward. His troops were vast ly superior In numbers and equipment to the American forces which opposed him. Returning to New York, Bennlng Jf. unearthed a east spy ring. Benning con tinued to pose as a friend when he unexpectedly met Flncke In Washington, and accompanied him on a mysterious mission which took them aboard a small boat In the New York harbor. Now continue with the story. # CHAPTER XV—Continued The boat bobbed across the har bor; Benning decided that Bravot must be headed back for some se cret rendezvous in New York, a part of some crafty maneuver to cover his littered trail. In that event Ben ning decided to strike in the dark ness the instant the launch reached shore. A few minutes later the launch swerved sharply out of its course and slowed down. Benning saw the massive shadow of a ship looming over his head. A voice called down from above. Bravot got to his feet, edged his way to the bow. A boatman made the launch fast to the ship’s ladder. One by one the passengers swung onto the ladder and were swallowed up by the night. “Go ahead, Bromlitz!" a voice commanded when Benning hesitat ed. Fincke caught Benning’s arm, gently forced him forward. Benning made a swift estimate as he stood in indecision. Quickly he saw that but one course lay ahead. In the bob bing little boat he knew he would stand no chance if he put up a fight for possession of the craft. As for swimming ashore, even the strongest swimmer could not expect success in that feat tonight. Benning swung to the ladder and mounted to the deck. Close behind him came Fincke. On the deck there was a glow of light from an incandescent. Inside the Austrian tossed off his coat and stretched himself. His face now was exuberant. "Himmel, but what a comfort, Bromlitz!” he exclaimed with a vast sigh of relief. "Now a fellow can take a free breath.” Fincke paused to give Benning a knowing wink. "What does it matter If we’re sit ting over a cargo of high explosives, eh, Bromlitz? It’ll not blow up until we give the command—and that’ll play the biggest card In the whole Van Hassek deck! Cheer up, Brom litz, in ten days from now you’ll be back with your girl in Mexico City!” Now it was all to clear to Ben ning. Fincke at last had vitalized the meaning of this cruise, the rea son for his own restless misappre hensions. This ship, with its cargo of explosives, clearing New York with papers for San Francisco, was part of an intricately laid plot to destroy the Panama Canal and strip the Atlantic seaboard of the protec tion of the United States fleet. CHAPTER XVI General Hague nervously paced the floor of his office despite the long days of driving toil and anxi ety that had drained his energies to the point of exhaustion. The last troop trains had moved south with the force of fifty thousand men that was to stop Van Hassek on the Fort Worth-Dallas line. But reports from the south shook him with new mis givings and he had sent for Colonel Flagwill. Young Benning got away this morning for Mexico City, didn't he?” Flagwill's face dropped. “Sorry, General. Benning has vanished in thin air. Not a word from him all day.” "Benning missing?” General Hague scowled incredulity. “That doesn’t sound like Benning.” “I authorized him to follow a Van Hassek agent aboard a Norwe gian tramp freighter, thinking we’d get a haul of spies. A destroyer overhauled the boat last night after it sailed, only to find Benning was not aboard as planned. The ship’s captain claimed not to have seen anyone resembling Benning.” "Nothing should have prevented Benning's flight to Mexico City, Flagwill,” Hague complained. “All right, let’s nope he ‘urns up soon.” Flagwill drove at once to Bolling Field where a fast new 0-47 obser vation plane put him in the air short ly before dusk. Seven hours later, as the plane approached Dallas, a radio warning told the pilot to avoid the Dallas airport and put down at an emergency landing-field south of the city. The savage wim>.s ol detonation bombs caught Flagwill’s eye as his plane drove past the city. No soon er had his plane roared to a stop in the emergency field than his ears rang with the bedlam of air bom bardment over Dallas. A staff offi cer from Army headquarters was waiting for him. “Dallas and Fort Worth are tak fa)g am awful beating tonight." the staff officer reported. “We’re forced to detrain troops and impedimenta north of the city. An hour ago a bomber registered on one of our troop trains—three hundred men killed. Things are In a pretty bad Jam here, sir." “I’ll be frank with you, Flagwilliv General Lannes said In a peppery, overwrought voice. “If Van Has sek sizes up this mess and hits us promptly, he'll roll up my Third Army in spite—” Lannes’ voice was drowned by the mighty crash of a heavy bomb that set the earth shaking under them. "In spite of hell and high water!” he concluded as the room cleared of vibrations. "It'll take me days to straighten out this tangle and it'll only take Van Hassek a few hours to run up here with his motorized and mechanized outfits!” “General Hague probably has told you, sir," Flagwill said, “that we've got to hold on this line. The coun try is in an uproar and everyone in Washington, sir, feels we’ve got to have a victory.” "Sure we've got to hold!” Lannei raged. “But don’t forget that fifty thousand men are fifty thousand sol diers only when they’re shaken down, organized, supplied, and ready to fight.” The Army commander stalked to a wall map and pointed to his dispo sitions and immediate plan of ac tion. “Mole is taking an artillery lac ing at this minute, which means at tack on him at daybreak. With the reinforcements I’ve sent up, he must hold on the Colorado as long as possible. Then he’s got to fight de laying actions and make another desperate >stand behind the Brazos. Somehow Mole must delay Van Has sek at least three days, maybe for a week, until I can get in shape to take the enemy on here in front of Dallas. It’s going to cost us a lot “Take your hands off my coat.” of men, Flagwill, a lot of men! But I want you to go out and see the situation for yourself — and tell Hague why I’m forced into these desperate delaying actions out in front!” An hour of patient driving put Flagwill down the Army’s projected front. Whole regiments stood about in the dawn, still waiting for orders and supplies. The men were tired and hungry. Shortage of ammunition was general, even in the infantry. Ammunition was reported available at the railhead, but the railhead was swamped with demands and there were insufficient truck trains at present for all purposes. As the sun shot over the horizon, Flagwill turned back to the Lannes command post. Squadrons of Amer ican combat planes had combed the air of Van Hassek’s night hawks and the day had quieted down to a rumble of artillery columns and hum of friendly planes. Given a day or two, Flagwill con cluded, the hastily assembled Third Army would shake itself down. American ingenuity somehow would overcome the shortages of supplies, motor vehicles, the obsolescent or ganization tables, the unco-ordinat ed staffs, outmoded weapons, the lack of training in team-play of high er units. At least the officers had sound academic training in the sci ence of war. General Lannes, his face flushed and harried, his eyes distended, sat feverishly at the end of a field tele phone as Flagwill re-entered the command post. After a staccato, | fretted exchange he hung up the re ceiver nd got to his feet. “Van Hassek is driving at Mole with everything he's got this morn ing!” Lannes roared. “Only the reg iments I sent up to him last night kept Mole from being cracked up early this morning. Says he’ll be lucky to hold on till nine. My God, Flagwill, this mess is going to cost us five thousand men, maybe ten!” By eight o’clock, Mole saw he could hold no longer. Ghastly losses were multiplying, his flanks were threatened. Now the American air service held the supremacy of the air immediatelj over the heads of Mole’s troops, which made possible the dangerous operation of daylight withdrawal. “I’m pulling out of here now, Lannes!” he shouted fiercely over NEXT WEEK AnotU*t AUmJhjv} 9*utcMm»ni the field telephone. "I can’t hold j another minute! I hope you have strong reinforcements for me at the Brazos.” "All right. Mole, use your own j Judgment,” Lannes retorted. "But no matter what It costs, we’ve got to delay Van Hassek until I can get my Third Army ready to stop him!” CHAPTER XVII Benning woke from a brief fret ful sleep and went to a porthole. There was a bright sun rising across a smooth sea. He calculated from the speed of the freighter that the craft must be well down the coast of Virginia, perhaps off North Caro lina and not far from Cape Hat teras. For a time last night he had flirted with the desperation of jumping overboard on the chance cf making shore. Now he had given up hopes of being rescued by the Navy. He was mulling at the porthole when a figure passed along the boat deck close to his eyes. The fellow wore a black mustache, dark horn rimmed glasses; his clothes were seedy and his shoulders sagged. But the profile was not to be mistaken. “You knew Bravot was aboard?” Benning said to Fincke. The Austrian hotly admonished, "Don’t talk so much, Bromlitzl How many times have I got to tell you not to mention names?” “I thought we were clear of all that trouble,” Benning retorted. “Not with a brand-new crew on the boat. We still got to watch our tongues.” “You think these sailors aren’t Bravot’s men?” “Just use your bean, Bromlltz. bailors wouldn’t hardly sign up to get blown to hell, if they knew the score.” “I presume,” Benning sneered, “the captain and crew don’t even know what their cargo is?” “The skipper knows, and a few of his good men. For two years Schmolz has been laying his plans for just this cruise.” The door of their cabin banged suddenly open. A chunky man with a squarish, rough-hewn, leering face swaggered in. The fellow wore a dirty cotton suit and an officer’s cap, and bristled with authority and short temper. “Who are you two?” he demand ed. searching first Fincke’s face, then Benning’s. The Van Hassek spy leaped to his feet and gave the identification for mula. Benning was more leisurely in rising to identify himself. He guessed that the intruder was Schmolz, skipper of the ship. “I don’t like your looks!” the fel low blurted, fixing Benning with glinting green eyes. “Don't worry about him. Cap tain,” Fincke promptly intervened. “He’s a major—the two of us been working together in the United States.” Schmolz rubbed a cauliflowered ear ruminatively and gave Benning a parting glare in which there was mingled distrust and dislike. “Major or no major, there’s some thing about your looks I don’t like,” he grumbled. Their noon meal was brought in by an American deckhand, Grimes. After luncheon, Fincke went out on deck for exercise. With the compli cation of Bravot’s presence on the ship, Benning knew he must keep to cover during daylight. Also that he must strike against the Van Has sek spymaster without delay if he expected to survive this cruise for many days. Benning sweltered in the torrid lit tle cabin through an insufferable day. With full darkness he examined the mechanism of his automatic pis tol and went out on deck. As he sus pected, Bravot was living in the cap tain's quarters. Looking in the port hole he saw Bravot sitting alone on his berth, his face cold and im perturbable as he listened to the news from the Texas front. Blare of the radio blotted out oth er sounds on the deck and Benning was not conscious of the figure driv ing down on him along the dimly lighted deck until stout fingers closed on the lapel of his coat. He turned to see Schmolz glaring at him out of eyes that seethed with rage. "See here, Schmolz!" Benning shot back hotly, “I’m not one of your deckhands. Take your hands off my coat! If you object to my listening to the war news over your radio, why don’t you post an order to that effect?" "Listen all you want to,” Schmolz mumbled, cooling perceptibly at the rebuff and releasing Benning’s col lar. "But keep away from in front of my stateroom after this. I don’t allow nobody to'^do that” As Sohmolz swaggered into his room with a muttered imprecation, Benning returned to his cabin. For some time Benning waited in tense readiness for eventuality. He knew that if Schmolz communicated his suspicions to Bravot prompt and disastrous investigation was sure to follow. (TO BE CONTINUED) Motley Army Joins English Fighting Force Men From Many Nations Leave Homes to War Against Germany. By ROGER SHAW (Released by Weitern Newspaper Union.) WASHINGTON.—When the British beat Napoleon — the Hitler of his time—at Water loo, only about hall of the British army was actually British. The rest of Welling ton’s outfit was a strange mix ture of peoples who thought they were fighting for their freedom. The list was a long one. It took in Dutchmen, Belgians, Hanoverians, Prus sians, and men from Bruns wick, Nassau, and Saxe-Wei mar. The Hanoverians did well in the battle, but the Dutch, Belgians, and men of Nassau did very badly. After the battle, large groups of the latter were found play ing cards miles back of the field of honor. The King’s German Legion was the best, and best known, of these foreign outfits under British leader ship. The Legion was made up of refugees from all over the Germa nies—a hodgepodge then under Na poleonic domination. The Legion served on every sort of front during the long war cycle, even acting as marines in various naval operations. They fought from the North Cape to the North African coastline, and campaigned against the Americans in 1812 and after. They were “owned,” payed, and equipped by the British government, and they burned with hatred of the Hitler-like Bonaparte, who had turned their fa therlands into a “new order.” The Legion, which made a specially dis tinguished record at Waterloo, con tained Austrians and Netherlanders, as well as natives of the various lit tle Germanies. History tends to repeat itself, and in the year 1941 the King’s Legion has come to life again in various forms. The old Legion was pre dominantly Germanic. The new Le gion, or legions, are politically anti Germanic, but they take in a wide variety of peoples. This time they include Dutch, Belgians, Norwe gians, Danes, Poles, Czechs, “free” Frenchmen, and goodness knows what else. In such cases, their coun tries have been overrun, and Eng land has become the refuge—the last white hope or chance. In fight ing for England, these people feel they are fighting for their own lost countries, and against the common tyrant. Today the tyrant is A. H. and not N. B., but otherwise things are much as they were a century and a third ago. In England today, there are also anti-Fascist Germans, Ital ians, and Austrians, who swell the alien ranks of the King’s Foreign Legion. This is not an innovation, either. Anti - Fascist Frenchmen served England against Napoleonic France in the early 1800s. In short, what we are witnessing—now as then—is an international civil war. 50,000 Foreign Fighters. Today there are something like 50,000 foreign legionaries serving the British empire. Strangely enough, this is just about the same size as the King's German Legion of an tiquity. These foreign legionaries might, in a sense, be considered the composite army of the late la mented League of Nations. In many cases, their dummy governments are in London or Bristol, as well as their armed representatives. The king of Norway and the queen of Holland are among the foreign-le gion rulers in the British isles, as was the black Ethiopian Lion of Ju His country uas seized by the Nazis in March, 1939, hut this Czechoslovak ian aviator fiifhts on as a valuable mem ber of the Royal Air Force. Men have come thousands of miles to fight beside the British in their war against the Axis powers. The Arab soldiers (left) are helping to defend Egypt, while the American aviators (center) and the gunner from India fright) do their part in England to keep Hitler's "luftwaffe” in check. dah until recently—i.e. Haile Selas sie. Poland and Belgium have am bassadors to the British government, and vice versa, while Norway, Hol land, and the Czechs still maintain official ministers to the Court of St. James. General De Gaulle repre sents the "free” Frenchman, but he has no official standing with the French Vichy government. The foreign troops in England wear British uniforms and use Brit ish equipment, except for the offi cers on leave in London. They wear their fancy native garb, which seems to bore the Londoners, to a marked degree. The Dutch are really considered the most useful, and best liked, of Eagland’s exiled allies. The Eng lish and Dutch peoples are closely akin, and follow much the same pat tern of behavior. The Dutch have presented the British government with close to a million tons of com mercial shipping, and some small warships to boot. The Dutch East Indies, with their oil, rubber and tin, are still independent, and they have perhaps 60,000,000 inhabitants. There are very few Dutch soldiers in England—the Dutch army lasted only four days—but the merchant fleet and colonies make up the dif ference. Another 2,000,000 tons of Dutch shipping are now trading on their own in the faraway Pacific area. Norwegians Popular. Second most popular with the English people are the Norwegians. Like the "Dutchies,” they, too, are chiefly nautical in their contribu tions. Norway has supplied Eng land with close to 1,000 ships—some thing like three or four million tons of shipping. Some lesser Norwe gian warcraft also are co-operating with the British navy. These are mostly destroyers, minesweepers and armed whalers with perhaps the world’s best crews. The Poles, "free” French, Belgians, and Czechs are not as popular in England as the kindred Dutch and Norwegians. The Poles are the most numer ous of the alien lot, and the most boastful. They have garrisoned Scot land, and are also serving in the roy al air force. They have some ships with the royal navy, and a puppet government at London. Their com mander has been Gen. Wladislaus Sikorski, a good man of compara tively liberal convictions, who was on bad terms with the reckless Po lish dictatorship which reigned at the beginning of the war. The Czechs, close kith and kin of the Poles, are not very many. They are largely college men and armed intellectuals—as brainy as the Poles are militaristic. Just the same, the exiled Polish and Czech govern ments are planning a Czech-Polish federation for the sweet bye and bye after the war. Some of the Bel gian politicos are actually petition ing to be taken into the British em pire, with dominion status, after the shooting is shot! These Belgians are very angry at their King. Leo, who is still in Bel gium. They think, some of them, that he sold the Allies down the riv er—a claim which history may have a pretty hard time to substantiate. There are some Belgians in the royal air force, and elsewhere, Including a few ultra-rich playboys. The “free” Frenchles are another story. The tactful British government has never known quite what to do with them. If England is too kind to De Gaulle, who is none too popular at home, it may drive Vichy into the arms of Berlin. De Gaulle’s Dakar expedition to West Africa was a ter rible fiasco. De Gaulle himself is persona grata with Churchill, but not with many other English men. At the same time, he tends to serve as a useful brake on the poli ticians and generals of Vichy. Fur ther. the French colonies of Syria. North Africa, and Martinique, with their important armed forces, con tinue to be against De Gaulle, and for old Petain. The Poles and Norwegians are re ported as the toughest and most World’s Largest Island Placed Under U. S. Protection WASHINGTON.—When President Roosevelt announced that the Unit ed States would defend Greenland, he extended the scope of the Mon roe Doctrine to the largest island In the world. With a total area of 850,000 square miles, it is almost as large as the United States east of the Mississippi. More than three-fourths of this area is covered by an immense ice field. ! Eskimos greatly predominate among the 18,000 persons living in Greenland. Some English is spoken, but the vast majority know only Greenlandic, a dialect of the Eski mo language. The general standard of living is still primitive, with most needs for food and clothing being satisfied by hunting and fishing. Until the war started, the Govern ment monopolized the foreign trade requiring almost all exports to be ■hipped first to Denmark. vengeful ®f the King'* foreign le gionaries. The Polish attitude is per fectly understandable. Poland has been very badly treated. In the Norse case, the pro-English Nor wegians hate the pro-German Nor wegians, and carry this hatred to a degree. The other exiled groups seem somewhat surprisingly indif ferent at times, when viewed through excited American spectacles. Just the same, if the invasion of England ever comes, these motley groups may be counted on to fight fiercely —and no holds barred. It's their last chance this side of paradise. “Paradise," in this case, means America. Plastics of Coffee Bring New Hope To Troubled Brazil RIO DE JANEIRO. — Brazil's greatest new industry is a demon stration of the world’s most amaz ing scientific solution to an over production problem. "Coffee plas tics" from which Brazil may make homes and schools, war planes and even the Industrial machinery of the future, is the answer of modern sci ence to a surplus crop problem which threatened to engulf the whole economy of Brazil and impoverish millions of her peoples! While all Europe goes coffee-less, Brazil’s great coffee industry has warehouses bulging with the 198, 000,000-pound surplus left over from last year. The National Coffee de partment also has on hand 1,*36, 180,000 pounds more, purchased from despondent coffee owners in 132-pound sacks for 10 cents each! Brazil has watched a total “sacri fice quota" of 9,280,811,892 pounds of coffee go up in smoke (1930-40) in a desperate effort to stabilize her most important industry. Only a scientific miracle, such as "Cafelite” will save the bumper 1940 and the great er 1941 crops from the same dis astrous end. World Market Reduced. With an annual production of 2V4 billion pounds, and a normal over production of 720 million pounds, the war has reduced world markets until the United States is now Bra zil’s only substantial customer. Add to this surplus the 805 million pounds which Europe would normally have bought this year, and you have a coffee problem that would give any country a headache! Conditions in Brazil’s great coffee states have been desperate. Groups of coffee planters petitioned for the right to uproot whole orchards of fine coffee trees, and coffee was sell ing on the New York Coffee ex change at lowest prices in history. Looking ahead gloomily to the best coffee crop in years, Brazil may be literally drugged by her own coffee. What is Brazil going to do? Plastics Possible Solution. While secret preparations have gone on for months, in a “too good-to-be-true” atmosphere, hope, doubt, and hope again has grown that the coffee plastics will really make all the magic things science says. That the miracle of cotree piasucs will save this wanton destruction of coffee money, has been the hope of every coffee planter and laborer, watching the great barn-like build ings rise on barren lands outside Sao Paulo, seeing great crates of ma chinery arrive from the U. S. The new Cafelite is heat-resist ing, and thus excellent for Brazil's warmer climate. It is noise-proof, and may save the nerves of Brazil ians from the increasing racket of city traffic. It is proof against ter mites and other pests who destroy homes and furniture in warmer cli mates. It may be made in a whole range of lovely “bathroom” colors, or combined with other substances to imitate wood or wallpaper. It was discovered by a clever young North American, Herbert Spencer Polln, while doing research for the American Coffee corpora tion, in his floating yacht labora tory and rushed to Brazil. Plumbing fixtures made of coffee plastics would be a God-send for millions of Brazilians living in the far interior, and for cheap apart ment homes too. Cabinets, electri cal appliances, kitchen equipment, furniture, school and hospital equip ment, perhaps whole homes and apartments of the future will be made out of surplus coffee! _ 4 I Pattern 689«. A BRIGHT decoration in any room, this rug crocheted in four strands of string, candlewick or rags looks like a large chrys anthemum. Use two shades of a color, with white, gray, thn or three colors. • • • Pattern 6896 contain* lnatrucUona for making rug: illustration* of It and stitches; materials needed; color schemes. Send order to: -—-———— Sewing Circle Needlceraft Dept. g« Eighth Ave. New York Enclose 19 cents in coins for Pat* tern No. Name ..... Address . Where Days Are Born The International Date Line, which, like the Equator, is an imaginary line, runs between two islands known as Big Diomedes! and Little Diomedes, situated al most halfway between the main lands of Asia and Alaska. It Is here, between the Old World and the New, that each new day is bom, and when it is New YeaYV day on Big Diomedes, it is still a full 24 hours behind on Little Dio medes. The selection of this particular spot to decide the beginning of each day was decided by an in ternational committee pf scien tists, who took every other pos-‘ sible site into consideration. A Good Book As good almost kill a man as kill a good book; who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God’s iftt age; but he who destroys a good book, kills the image of God, as it were, in the eye.—Milton. RAZOR BLADES • ASK YOUR DEALER FOR THE • OUTSTANDING BLADE VALUE @9 KENT j loforifcc blades rcrc “TAKING THE COUNTRY BY STORM" KNOWN FROM COAST TO COAST • CUPPt.ES COMPANY • ST. 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Thus adver tising shows another of Its manifold facets—shows Itself as an aid toward making all our business relationships more secure and pleasant.
