Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1902-04-21

the pope against overwhelming odds.
1t would not require painful stretch
of the imagination to weave a rO-
nance around the person of Patrick
Reilly considering that he was left an
orphan in Ireland, came to this cOun-
try in early youth and enlisted in the
United States army, then dedicated his
sword to Pope Plus TX, returned from
Italy to fight in the civil war, and
wound up by being a Brooklyn CAP
man, an occupation he stuck to for 80
years. Mr.. Reilly can best tell his
own story: II 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
eral thousand other Irishmen, de-
cided to fight for the pope. We were
taken into Italy in small parties, in
a roundabout way, passing through
Belgium, Germany and Austria, and
finally boarding steamer at Trieste
which landed us at AncOna, where the
biggest battle of the war was afterward
fought. To make a long story short
the LIST Irish battalion, composed of
something over 700 men, under Maj.
Miles O'Reilly, was sent to Spoleto to
protect that town from the enemy. I
was in Co. B, commanded by Capt. ).
J. Coppinger, now a retired general OF
the United States army The Italians,
whether they sided with the pope or
not, hated the Irish, and in our march
we had a good deal to put up with.
The men jeered at us and the women
spat in our faces. But for Maj.
O'Reilly there would have been good
many dead Italians left in the wake CT
the 1st Irish battalion 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-bright red trousers
and blue coats We didn't like the
combination, but it was the pope's uni
form, and had to be respected. After
all the color of our unmentionables
didn't matter as long as we got what
we longed for more than we did for
whisky-a good hard fight. We got
it soon enough.
Zone morning, just as it was getting
light, l spied white flag from post
at one of the gates and informed the
officer of the guard. 1t turned out 10
be flag of truce borne by an Italian
officer who was accompanied by half a
dozen other officers, all without arms.
Maj. O'Reilly went out to meet the del
egation Said the fellows who held
the flag
"'Major, Ancona has fallen. | give
you 20 minutes to surrender. Other
wise the ashes of Spoleto will cover
the dead bodies of the LIST Irish brigade
before the day is over The officer
then pointed to the surrounding hills,
which, as we could see, were SWARM
ing with the enemy busily engaged in
planting artillery. Maj. O'Reilly took
in the situation at glance and re-
Piled
"'Give us 20 minutes for breakfast
and we'll be ready for you
'Said the italian: Surrender
ono said the major, fight
They acted like gentlemen and
gave us the 20 minutes asked for.
Even an Irishman can't fight well on
an empty stomach and nobody knew
that better 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 a
chance to finish the meal. To tell the
truth, we didn't eat much, anyhow.