The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-02-25

Company l. In Mexico presented
below, is the first OF series of ar
ticles from the pen of a member OF
the local militia whose imagination
runs riot every time the mail is late.
Other similar accounts of the hair
raising experiences, of the gallant
company will be told later.
News from the border and from our
own lighting Company L of this city
was received last night from our war
correspondent. who is with the boys
| on the battlefield in the far south. and
he describes the last big battle as
| follows:
/ The night OF the thirty-second of
! January last we were ordered to pre-
lpare for battle aud in less time than
lit takes Opie Dilldock to bring the
/ Mountain OF Alaska to the city of Chi
cage, Snakeball Moody and his squad
of reliable veterans of Pork & Beans,
had the immense engines OF our n.y.
ling machines throbhing like lovers
heart on 8 frosty morning. Then
came the order to advance, from the
mouth of Captain LIE Bron, and Judge
+ Erdman pressed the button and order
/ ed his men to the tanks. which they
did with the GOODNESS of canal ice;
I the ponderous machine took an up
ward course. and sailed high. Hand-
! some, private Maynard, being ordered
to mind the glasses, soon found the
enemy's infantry OF forty million men
advancing rapidly from the south. At
ter making a flight OF thousand
miles that covered practically every
fort in Mexico, the gallant crew
] sailed back to our lines with the
| maps of all forts and with the infor.
i nation that the Mexicans were march
4 ing towards our lines, forty million
1 strong.
I Never before had Company L such
4 a sick list Lieutenant Sherlock told
the commander that ne thought he
sIhad better stay and take care OF the
bows. Hawkes. fell over a match and
sprained his ankle: Shorty Leake told
i the captain If he took him in the
charge he wouldn't be able to run the
80 yard dash at camp next year. Our
s ranks dwindled down to about forty
available men. These against for
ty millions.
I Well, gentle reader, you can i'm
agine what might happen to those
moor boys of Company L. All this time
81 CAPTAIN Lee Bron, Irish Crimmins,
4 Hump Griffey and Sergeants Hartel,
Royane and Richardson were figuring
out on paper how many Mexicans
each man would have to kill We
luckily had $4,000 sheets of 4x6ft pa
: sper with us and the task was COM
pleted in short order.
n I forgot to tell you that while the
Z flying machine squad were directly
over the immense army of Mexicans
81 the now kissable hero. Corporal Erd.
3 man. was sprinkling the deadly yapor
:. from the immense tanks and as i
! slowly descended on the immense ar
my. the soft notes OF the bugles play
, ing she Went 10 Work on Her We'd
I ding Morn. BY request, were barely
distinguished. 1t took but few sec
londs more for the deadly poison to
I %
by one We could see them hitting
/ the ground like rain from the heavens
: until the report was given by Corpor
: al Roberts that barely a handful OF
= men remained alive Engineer Erd
2 man at once turned the machine to
e ward the north and in just few sec
: onds we we're in the camp of Com
! pany l.. who breathlessly awaited the
news We had fer them
:. When We told them there were oni,
twenty-five Mexicans aliva from an
army of forty million. cheers went III
: for the aviation corps that wouil
o have made mole deaf. But just ther
came another surprise-the surviving
twenty-five Mexicans came over tbs
crest OF the hill 10 the eastward ant
the bulgles blew assembly, the mel
! falling in with the rapidity OF falling
). stars. The command came to com
) mence firing Crack, crack wen
the guns as they discharged the steel
: covered bullets And now comes n,
sad part. only two Mexicans remain
ed under that terrific shower of shell
and owing to the extreme laziness O
our cooks, We kept these two Greaser
as tokens of that terrible battle and t
peei spuds for our meals. These tE
. Mexican survivors will be on exhih
: ton at LIE Bron's store for Unite
time
The trip home vas most pleasan
and no doubt Keokuk feels proud Q