Mower County transcript., 1906-12-26


time, for they, With all their expert
eneein such business, had never come
up against anything like it,
Struggle with Big 5ritisher.
1T was my i'll luck to get hold of
big Britisher, who was Is or 20 pounds
the heavier, and stood full head
taller; but while he was trying to run
me through with his bayonet, had
chance to get the hold I wanted, and
down we went. Again had fortune de-
serted me, for while failing he so con-
| triVeo5 to twist his body that he fell on
top, and for a few Oments l had quite
as much as could do to keep pumping
air into my lungs, owing to the grip
he had on my throat.
"NOW, it stands to reason that I
| didn't lay still SOS to give him good
chance to choke me to death, but wig
sled tie best I knew how, and, tha1ks
to some Of the tricks, [ had learned
amCng the mountains, it was soon DOS
sible to roll him over. There wasn't
enough strength left III my body to
keep an upper hold; but over and over
we went until we struck the swamp,
and that which 1 thought would be the
death of me proved my advantage.
We had WalloWed in the soft mud
and water until we must have looked
like clay images when | let go my hold
to grip him by the head, and, putting
forth every ounce OF muscle, managed
to SO far turn it that his face was
pressed deep into the mud. That took
a good bit Of the fight out Of him, for,
Of course, he couldn't breathe, and was
trying to yell for quarser, when up
came some Of our boys.
1T stands to reason that they
couldn't make out' which man came
from England and grabbed III the first
that came handiest, which just then
happened to be me-
"'COme up here. you blasted Brit.
isher!' tie best friend I had in the
regiment shouted, as he pulled me back
by the collar OF my coat, and I wasn't
much mere than a half drowned kitten
n his clutch.
Let go CT me YOU idiut!' I yelled
OF the mud crI IF my mouth Don't
EOu know yCU: c'yn ccn?; ldc?'
'Ihe 3riti5i,er wasn't anybcdy's
fool, AID. Of COURSE he understood JUST
what a mistake J Il been m:Me :z::>
carlo rp on his feet ike steal spTi:c.
and while my comrades We're crOW:ll,
over ha-ing captured cne Of rao
enemy, as they supposed, he took to
his heels, running like deer, With The
mud falling off of him in flakes until
sCz-ae one saw what kind of a uniform,
he wore
''In all that squad only single 1naa
had a. charge in his gun, and he fired
at the fellow, but it was the widest
kind of a snap shot and the bullet
went wide, of course.
BY the time l had cleared my face
of mud the Britisher was out of range,
and perhaps I didn't talk the sweetest
! | knew how to the laundering fellow
who had not only lost me a prisoner
but came very near finishing the chok'
Final Result Of Battle.
Then the battle was well nigh
over," my grandfather always said at
this point in his story, and as to the
result of the engagement he would
give me a we'll worn slip of printed
paper, from which could read the fol-
| lowing:
'Toward noon the fire of the British
| visibly slackened, while that of the
Americans was unceasing The bat
teries of the foe were crushed and
broken. The sugar hogsheads had
been converted into splinters and their
contents, mingling with the soft earth,
soon lost their volume. The guns not
dismounted were careened and worked
with great difficulty.
"The invaders fed in inglorious
haste, helter-skelter, to the bitches, in
search of safety, and, under cover of
the ensuing night, craWled sullenly
I back to their camp, dragging with
them over the spongy ground a part
of their cannon, leaving five of them
spoil for the Americans"
In the fight. that DAY the American
loss was II killed and % wounded,
while 20 of the Britishers were found
dead on the field, the greater number
| lying near the swamp, where the at
tack on our lines had been made, and
certain it is that no less than 80 had
been disabled.
| Good Time.
i -