R: MRS. J.H.H. SENGSTACKE, AND HER FAMOUS SON, ROBERT SENGSTACKE
ABBOTT, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER OF THE CHICAGO DEFENDER. IT WAS MRS.
SENGSTACKE WHO, WHEN THE DEFENDER HAD REACHED THE ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND
MARK OF ITS CIRCULATION, STARTED THE PRESS THAT RAN OFF THE EDITION,
FLAMING WITH CHEER AN INSPIRATION FOR "OUR BOYS" IN THE TRENCHES "OVER
THERE."]

[Illustration: REUNITED AND HAPPY. LIEUT. COLONEL OTIS B. DUNCAN OF 8TH
ILLINOIS (370TH INFANTRY), WHO CAME OUT OF THE WAR THE RANKING NEGRO IN
THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES; HIS FATHER AND MOTHER.]

[Illustration: MISS VIVIAN HARSH, MEMBER CHICAGO CHAPTER OF CANTEEN
WORKERS, PASSING OUT SMOKES TO RETURNED SOLDIERS OF 8TH ILLINOIS (370TH
INFANTRY).]

[Illustration: OFFICERS OF 8TH ILLINOIS (370TH INFANTRY). DECORATED BY
FRENCH FOR GALLANTRY IN ACTION. LEFT TO RIGHT. LIEUT. THOMAS A. PAINTER,
CAPT. STEWART ALEXANDER, LIEUT. FRANK ROBINSON.]

For the valor shown both were cited for the Distinguished Service
Cross. Lieutenant Campbell's superiors also took the view that in that
particular instance the life of a brave soldier was of more importance
than the dispatch of a message, for as a result, he was recommended for
a captaincy.

Another single detail taken from the same Company I:

John Baker, having volunteered, was taking a message through heavy shell
fire to another part of the line. A shell struck his hand, tearing away
part of it, but the Negro unfalteringly went through with the message.

He was asked why he did not seek aid for his wounds before completing
the journey. His reply was:

"I thought that the message might contain information that would
save lives."

Has anything more heroic and unselfish than that ever been recorded?
Nature may have, in the opinions of some, been unkind to that man when
she gave him a dark skin, but he bore within it a soul, than which there
are none whiter; reflecting the spirit of his Creator, that should prove
a beacon light to all men on earth, and which will shine forever as a
"gem of purest ray serene" in the Unmeasurable and great Beyond.

Under the same Lieut. Robert Campbell, a few colored soldiers armed only
with their rifles, trench knives, and hand grenades, picked up from
shell holes along the way, were moving over a road in the Chateau
Thierry sector. Suddenly their course was crossed by the firing of a
German machine gun. They tried to locate it by the sound and direction
of the bullets, but could