The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1913-08-08


punched in twos and
threes scattered broadcast over the
sun-baked, cactus-clad hills-soldlers
or fortune, insurTectos of Mexico no
longer; merely men, who had broken
the laws OF land and we're fleeing
for their lives.
It had but one object in view-this
nghting machine broken into bits, that
mad taken up the cause of a country
other than its own-and that was to
cross the American border and there
seek the protection OF the stars and
stripes, under whose folds every
mothers son Of its soldlery had been
born.
MY "bdnkie and l we're on the left
napk when the crash came. Some
thlng hit that left flank and melted
II, twisted and distorted 1t like so
much steel put to the fame. did not
realize what it was at the time, but
do now. 1t was a battery. a living,
=" breathing incarnation of hell in the
shape OF machine guns, handled by
men who knew how to use them.
Our wing Of the army melted in its
hot breath. Men who had fought
standing, kneeled. Men who kneeled,
lay down, tried to bury myself in the
bosom OF Mother Earth and, Mother
Earth being baked adobe in that par
ticular spot, / took to my heels.
1t was the beginning of the end.
Everybody was running, so what was
the use Of remaining? They were
ten to one against us, this enemy, and
artillery to boot. Besides, our old
fashioned single-loading Springfelds
were being pitted against repeating
rifles of the latest pattern And the
ammunition was running low.
Even thus l reasoned as / ran, pell-
nell, for the border, four long miles
away. In my fancy there loomed be-
fore me the fate of our wounded at
Tecate and the bloodletting of the
Alamo.
Somebody gripped the toe of my
boot and l sprawled headlong into
cactus and rocks. 1t was a wounded
comrade, an American like myself,
only boy at that, whose ruddy face
/ had often seen at our troop mess
or over some neighboring campfire of
Baja California.
His shoulder had been shot away.
A leg was crushed below the knee
There was no hope for his life, but
he wanted to be taken away.
For Gods sake, don't leave me,
pail" he cried. They'll burn me, |
they'll kill me slow" he moaned.
For moment | was stunned by the |
fall, but the boys pathetic appeal |
brought me to my senses and burned |
into my brain where it will forever
remain.
| looked around me- There we're
wounded men, most of them boys,
clutching at their fleeing comrades,
beseeching them not to leave them to
the mercy Of the Mexican rurales.
Yet these men whom l had seen
cheerfully face death many times,
men who had enlisted in a foreign
cause unafraid to die in battle, but
standing ever in mortal terror of the
torture chambers on the battle fields
Of Mexico.
The Death Rain.
For a moment my manhood return
ed and the massacre fear left me. l
would shoulder this manned Bit of hu-
stagger to the line with my
burden, over those cruel never ending
hills which / must scale with my
charge before we reached safety.
l staggered to my feet, but the zip
Zip of the "dum-dums," those same
'dum-dums" that had crippled this
10Y brought me back to a realization
II my peril.
An instant l faltered in hosting
lin to my back, but the boy seemed
o divine my change of heart He
ripped me again. this time with a
lying mans clutch which l could not
nd would not shake off unless |
,roke his arm
So l shouldered the bleeding little
gure and labored forward, the while
e murmured, Good boy. good boy"
nd the bullets of the Federals ever
Used and screeched in my ears.
Something rose up in my path. 1t
aired my progress. 1t was shattered
y shot-a human form-scarce rec
now for the blood that stain
d it from head to foot But a voice
usky with pain and terror begged
lie not to leave him.
Fled as From an Enemy.
! fed from this dying man as fed a
ON the enemy Dodged him as he S
cached for me. AS l passed him a
ora his reach he tottered back on the S
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RAND CARPET FOR ONE ONLY g