THE WAR'S FIRST VICTIM.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 829, 6 October 1916, Page 6

THE WAR'S FIRST VICTIM.

FRANCE'S MONUMENT TO A CORPORAL.

Corporal-Instructor Jules Andre l'eugot. Have you heard his name before?

He was Ihe first man killed in the war. His was the first blond shed by Germany. It was shed thirty hours before the formal deelaration of war—one mine item in the growing list of brutalities for whieh the Herman nation will have to pay. This is Ihe French official account of the occurrence (Ycllok-book. Document 13!»). "To the north of Dellc two German patrols of the slh Chasseurs crossed the frontier during the forenoon of to-day (August 2, 1914), and penetrated as far as the villages of Joncherey and Boron, more than GJ miles from the frontier. The officer commanding the first patrol blew out the brains of a French soldier.*'

That French soldier was Corporal Peugot He was 21 years old. He was educated at Besaneon, and was nominated to a post as school teacher at Pissoux in October, 1912. A year later he was called up for military training, received his corporal's stripes in April, 1014, and in June of that year passed the examination for a reserve oflicer's commission.

He -was buried in the peaceful cemetery of his native village, near the grave of his grandfather, Colonel Pechin.

Fiance is going to erect a monument in Joncherey to the memory of the first man killed in the war.