100 years ago in Spokane: ‘Machine gun bullets fell like hail’ describes soldier in late arriving letters from Rhine River

Sgt. Harold D. Bacon, of Spokane, was still in the Army of occupation on the Rhine River, but a packet of his letters written before the armistice arrived at his parents’ home.

Here are some excerpts:

“I went over the top eight times in my time in France with Pershing’s famous shock troops, and that was eight times too many. In the Champagne sector, I had a machine gun bullet go through my canteen, which hung on my hip.”

Describing a battle near Sedan: “I took my platoon over with shells hitting everywhere and machine gun bullets like hail. Men fell all around us. It certainly was a hell of a night. I fell in the river, but got out. I saw one poor fellow fall in who never came up. … I lived through three years that night.”

In another letter describing Armistice Day: “The morning of the 11th (November), I fell asleep from exhaustion for two hours and woke up to find peace. It was like a dream.”

From the occult beat: Margaret Guder, spiritualist, hotly denied that she had any business connection with H. Calver (sometimes spelled Calwer), with whom she was indicted on fraud charges by a Spokane grand jury.

“He was never a partner to me,” she told a reporter. “He came to Spokane broke and I gave him a chance to pick up. I fed and housed him free of charge. He was a lecturer on the occult and I gave him a chance to lecture in my class once a week and paid him every time. … I made him leave my premises in October 1918 and I have never seen him since, nor have I had any dealings with him.”