The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-08-17
IN BATTLE
How Men Feel and Act With
Death All About Them.
THE STORY OF A PRIVATE.
With the Beginning Of the Fight
Comes Fear, but That Soon Passes
Away In the Easerness For Killing.
Varying Effects Of Wounds.


Comes Fear, but That Soon Passes
Away In the Easerness For Killing.
Varying Effects Of Wounds.
A narrative OF the battle of Solferi-
no as told by a veteran survivor to
Robert Shackleton appears in Har
per's. 1t is, word for word, chapter
of history as seen by a man In the
ranks. Incidents which impressed him
are curious:
I'VE halted, and a Tyrolese lying on
the ground cried out: I am dying.
Give me to drink Whereat my COM
panion stopped to offer him a flask,
and as he stopped the Tyrolese struck
savagely at him with his bayonet, but
my companion jumped back, and it
missed him, and he said, You Tyro-
lese. you said you wanted a drink be-
fore you died, and now you shall die
without the drink And he stuck his
bayonet through him as a boy would
stick a pin through a fly.
1.-The fighting soon began again. and
it was very fierce. 1t was soon that
VIC CdlilS " hDOW VIC WCtC "
ture little village and the hills about
the village. The village was named
San Maritime, and there were walled
barns and gardens, and the Austrians
were very strong there.
The bursting of the shells was very
bad. Sometimes all of us close by
would be thrown down and be COW
cred with mud and earth, but most of
US would jump up again. not wounded,
but always there were some who
would not jump up again, because they
were wounded or dead.
AT the beginning of battle a sol
der feels afraid. At the beginning of
this battle l felt afraid. and I know
that other men felt afraid. though II
was not our first battle. and we knew
what it was to be under fire.
so it was that at the beginning
we commended ourselves; we felt like
death, but soon that passed away, and
we thought no more of death. but only
of the killing of the Austrians.
"All around me men were killed
There were heads and arms blown of
and men few into pieces like the
vi jug. puN VIC oAu ho'
| care. We thought nothing of It
do not know that We even knew We
saw such things, but some Of them
come to me as / sit with you and tall
of that long day. We did not notice
and we did not think that at any mo-
| ment we too might have our heads
blown off or be smashed into little
| pieces like the breaking of jug.
"Once, when we rushed over the big
guns and killed the men who still
fought with US. We turned the guns
to fire on the Austrians as they few
away, but they had driven bits OF stee
into the touchholes, and so we coult
not fire them. They were of a cour
age. those Austrians-
| only once in all that battle did
think much of what l saw or heard
and that was when there was TIT
terrible screaming of a captain whs
had his foot shot Of. He twisted ant
turned as he cried out, and 1t was ,
very bad sound. But 1t Is just as I
| chances. l saw many men who wer'
hurst worse than that captain ans
many who were blown into little bits
but did not trouble about them. I
Is Just IL Ii chances so.
cit is very often that man doe
| not know that he is hurt I remembe
that once there was a man near NJ
with great hole In his forehead, bu
he ran right on with Us with his bay
onet. and thought. He will fall dead
| But after that / saw hire no more. 70
there was always the lighting
THE storm and the blackness. the.
made OF US a great mixing. Yes:
was a very great tangling. for all line
were lost, and l know that sometime
Austrians struck at Austrians AM
sometimes Italians struck at italians
fc- we were in a very great -mixinI