The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-03
FOUGHT AN ARMY ALONE

they managed to worm their way up to the graveyard. The shooting holes hay ing become useless, Mills men, trapped as they were, spent their last ammunition firing blanl1ly through the wall, while the Nicaraguan soldiers replied with tenfold effect The wall now looked like a sieve
 When the last rush came and the Nica- raguans were scaling the wall from every side, Mills, with his handful of remaining men, fell back into one corner of the graveyard near the gateway Just as he was rallying his men one of them smashed the lock to the graveyard gate with the butt of his musket and swung 1t open. Mills men saw their chance and rushed out pellmell, leaving him alone to face the enemy.
 I Mills might have followed them but his fighting blood was up With one last shot at his own men he turned to face the whole Nicaraguan army, which by that time was swarming from all sides Finding only one man, they rushed at him with yell Mills automatic revolver for few brief moments kept the horde at bay. He made furrows in the Nicarag- uan forces at every shot with his quick firing automatic. For a moment the Nic- araguans fell back before the deadly aim of the American, leaving the victims of his craftsmanship groveling among the gravestones.
 1 In the heat of the next rush a random shot fired through the walls behind Mills back penetrated his body. and for the moment brought him to his knees. Mica T him in the first rush, closed in with their machetes. Mills fired his last shot while still on his knees. His right arm dropped as he was reversing the pistol to use it as club. A bullet had shattered his wrist
 With his left hand he drew his saber and leaned back against the wall. Weak from loss of blood as he was, he still managed to run his sword through three of the men closing in upon him.
 While his sword was still caught in the body of one man another jumped for his throat, but Mills held him off with the elbow of his shattered arm. At this mo- ment big Nicaraguan negro who had climbed the wall behind Mills leaped down upon him. They both went down in heap. Mills took advantage of the deadly embrace in which they were locked to use the negro's body as a shield Such
 was the fury of his foes that they hacked the body of their own comrade to pieceS in their efforts to get at the hated gringo.
 Rising with the body of the negro held in front of him. Mills tottered blindly to 1 the nearest gravestone and there made l his last stand. With his bloody sword | drawing a dead line about him he lasted a full minute longer. He stood his full height, head and shoulders above his enc mies With his long reach he was able 1 to keep them at a distance, but he was a mark in the crowd to the fellows on | the wall.
 1 Chips from the gravestones flew about him, when suddenly a bullet struck him square between the eyes and he pitched forward his full length. Even as he fell his enemies jumped back. About the dead body of Fred Mills lay the bodies of twenty-five soldiers whom he had slain In the uneven conflict.
 The Nicaraguan officer who tells the story says that the Americans body had eighteen bullet wounds. and 1t was marvel to the whole army how he had lasted so long.
 The Nicaraguans were so profoundly i'm pressed that, though they did not know the strangers rank, they gave him the honorable burial that they would give to n generalissimo of their own forces When the last three volleys were fired | over his grave they placed over him the , gravestone by which he had fought and | fallen and rudely scrawled on it with srord an American flag