The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-07-24
A Dread
OF Peace
By F. A. Mitchell

Ibid you get wounded while you
were serving in the Cuban-American
war;
NO"
Not a scratch?"
mary scratch"
Get sick:'
Not even a stomach ache"
"That's singular. I always supposed
In war Il man is exposed to great dan
ger"
so he is, but he's always in danger
anyway. 1t is fate that decides when
he gets hit. The biggest danger | ever
encountered was so big that the risks
l was obliged to take in war seemed
nothing to it. l IA walking along Il
road one day in a country so peaceful
that there wasn't ever a sound Of Il
lonely picket firing at an imaginary
enemy.
'Tlen the first thing l knew l didn't
know anything. or. rather, the first
thing l knew when l came to myself
was to feel a horrible Gravity sensation
shooting from the back OF my head to
every part of my body.
IL sat up, then got up. 1t occurred
to ME that l had been sandbagged, $
l looked in my pocket for two ten dol
lar bills that had been in my posses
sion.
'They had been in a long pocket
book with some letters and papers.
The pocketbook, with everything in it,
was gone. l dragged myself as far as
l could. then went into a wood beside
the road to rest. I was looking for a
good place to lie down when l saw a
heap of clothing partly covered by
leaves. Going to it, l found a dead
man.
81 searched for something by which
to identify the man and found two ten
dollar bills. Satisfied that before he
died he had robbed me, l took the bills
and put them in my pocket. l had
scarcely done so when l saw two men
coming toward me. They had simply
stumbled on me and the body. l told
them what had happened. and after a
conference between the two, during
which they looked at me suspiciously.
| they told me they would have to re
port the matter to the police and |
must go with them.
| HNo want intn q fpvyn moon hx- on1
I told the story to the sergeant at the
desk. When l got through he thanked
the two men for bringing me in.
"'What's your name?' he asked m
81 told him my name was Daniel
Morris and that l had but lately been
discharged from the army that took
Santiago de Cuba.
naHe sent out for the body, and when
it was brought in it was searched. My
pOcketbook was found in it with pa
pers and letters bearing my name.
whats your game in taking the
mans name?' asked the sergeant.
"'NO game at all. I'm Daniel Nor
ris.'
HE looked at me cOntemptuOusly.
but said nothing. He put me in a cell.
liberty for months.
well l wished another war would
break out and l could enlist to 90
where l could stand up and be shot at,
I'd had shells burst before me-, behind
me. beside me and above me without
getting hurt. I'd been in the sweep
Of Calling guns. Id seen 60 per cent
of the brigade to which l belonged
come down with camp fever OF some
other disease. And here l was in Il
peaceful country knocked s~enseless
and robbed. then arrested for murder.
off ever l get out Of this l said to
myself. I'm going to a country where
there's perpetual a no matter how
%barbar0us.'
"The evidence against me was over
whelming. sent for my captain to
identify me. but I'd been bleached for
a month. in a cell, besides being thin
ned by worry, and when he looked at
me he wasn't willing to swear that I
was Dan Morris Of his company. I'd
been caught 'rifing a dead man whose
skull l had smashed. whose money l
had taken and who for some reason
that no one could understand / claim
ed to be. The consequence was that l
was tried. convicted and sentenced to
be hanged.
you can have no idea how l !onged
for Il big battle. Somehow it seemed
that If l could hear the bullets and the
shells and the b-r-r-r-r-r of those Cat
ling guns it would be sweet music and
l could shake OF the horrible load on
me that had come in the midst Of
peace.
Instead / was barred In and wait
ing to- be. strung up like an army spy.
l couldn't even be shot like a deserter.
My hanging day was pretty near
when the lawyer came to my cell to
tell me that a~,letter addressed to Dan
lei Morris had been found on the per-
son of a man who had been caught bur
Cling.
When asked how he came by the let