The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-04-02
THE BLOODY BATTLE OF SPOLE-
 TO.
Brooklyn Cabman Tells of Brave Stand
 of Seven Hundred Irishmen in Ita-

There are not many people in Brook
 lyn or, for that matter, anywhere else outside of Italy, Ireland excepted, who
 ever heard of the battle of Spoleto,
 though it was a bloody fight and de-
 populated the Emerald Isle by just as
 many souls as were d!sembodied upon
 that occasion in the pope's army AS
 the foregoing is not the plot for a nov
 el but plain statement or facts cOn-
 corning Patrick Reilly, of 31S smith street. it should be said at once that
 during the insurrection in the provinces
 of the papal states forty-two years ago,
 Spoleto, town of twenty thousand in
 habitants in central Italy was held by seven hundred Irishmen, of whom Pat
 rick Reilly was one They fought as
 Irishmen always fight, like devils and
 won a glorious victory for the pope
 against overwhelming odds.
 It would not require a painful stretch
 of the imagination to weave a romance
 around the person of Patrick Reilly
 considering that he was left an orphan
 in Ireland, came to this country in ear
 ly youth and enlisted In the United I States army, then dedicated his sword
 to Pope Plus lX, returned from Italy ] to fight in the civil war and wound up
 by being Brooklyn cabman, an occu-
 patton he stuck to for thirty years. f Mir. Reilly can best tell his own story: i T was in Ireland on a visit from the
 United States when the trouble in Italy broke out Though l had no more idea what it was about than the man in the moon l, with several thousand other lrishmen, decided to fight for the pope. We were taken into Italy In small par ties, in roundabout way, passing through Belgium, Germany and Aus tria, and finally boarding a steamer at Trieste which landed us at Ancona, where the biggest battle of the war was afterward fought. TO make long sto- " short the First Irish battalion. com posed of something over seven hundred men, under Major Miles O'Reilly, was sent to Spoleto to protect that town from the enemy. I was in Company B, commended by Captain J, J. Coppin- ger. now a retired general of the Uni- ted States army. The Italians. whether they sided with the pope or not, hated the Irish, and in our march we had good deal to put up with, The men jeered at us and the women spat in our faces But for Major O'Reilly there would have been good many dead Italians left in the wake of the First Irish battalian on it's march to Spoleto
 Well, we got there at last, and were quartered in an old fort on hill in the center of the town. So far we had been without uniforms. Now they were ready for us-brlght red trousers and blue coats We didn't like the comb- nation, but it was the pope's uniform, and had to be respected. After all the color of our unmentlonables didn't mat ter as long as we got what we longed for more than we did for whiskey-a good hard fight We got it soon enough.
 one morning, just as 1t was getting light, l sped white flag from my post a one of the gates and informed the of ticer of the guard. It turned out to be flag of truce borne by an Italian off, cer who was accompanied by half dozen other officers, all without arms. Major ORelllE went out to .rneet the delegation. Said the fellows who held tFe A&e:
 Major Ancona has fallen I give you twenty minutes to surrender 9th erwise the ashes of Spoleto will cover the dead bodies of the First Irish brig ade before the day is over The officer then pointed to the surrounding hills which, as we could see were sWarming with the enemy busily engaged in planting artillery. Major O'Reilly took in the situation at a glance and replied:
 Give us twenty minutes for break fast and we'll be ready for you
 Said the Italian: Surrender?
 No, said the major fight
 They acted like gentlemen and gave us the twenty minutes asked for, Even an Iishman can't fight well on an emp ty stomach and nobody knew that bet ter than our commander,
 But the enemy was prompt. When the time was up they opened fire on the minute, and most of us didn't get chance to finish the meal To tell the truth, we didn't eat much, anyhow. l None of us lad ever been under fire. | The strain during those few minutes before the first shot thundered from g | nearby hill was so terrible that four of | our men went crazy. l am most | to say that 1 myself was al- most paralyzed with fear. I tried to lift | q cup of coffee to my Lips, but couldn't | do it to save my life. Mind you, l had ! served 6 term in the United States | army, too, and was looked upon as good soldier. In the civil war in this I saw men affected in the same way who afterward proved themselves the bravest of the brave.
 At last the first cannon shot rang put and the spell was off. Even before the echo of that shot died out l felt as f could have attacked the enemy sim sle-handed. The faces of the men ,bout me, but a moment ago white with ear, were now flushed and their eyes ;hone like diamonds. The Irish blood vas up, and before the day was done | he Italians learned that an Irishman ,lways fights to a finish.
 T have said that the fort was eur by hills. Fortunately, only me of them was higher than the hill lpon which stood the fort but that one vas so steep that the enemy, try as hey would, could not get a gun to the op. We were also protected by walls xty feet high and ten feet thick-oth rWise most of us would have been ! filled in less than an hour after the commenced, for they