Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1915-07-22
KILLED By FRIGHT
Russian Sentry the Victim Of
Superstition.
Terrified by Sight Of Corpse In River,
Which to His Imagination
Had Assumed a chostIy
Aspect.

One Of the most gruesome Of the
many gruesome tales that are coming
out of this theater of war is being told
in Warsaw these days. 1t Is an incl
dent of the Battle Of the Mill" That
was not a great battle, as great bat
ties go in this tremendous clash Of
titanic forces. 1t might be 'classed as
a minor ARRAY" But it has furnished
its quota of horrors. 1t is called the
Battle of the Mill" because an old
fashioned water mill was near the CEN
ter line. 1t occurred ito the south
ward" Beyond this brief reference
the location may not be safely men
toned.
The fighting took place between
Russian and Austrian troops for the
possession of a position of which a
small river was the dividing line. For
five days the battle ragged and every
day was marked by the efforts of one
side or the other to throw bodies of
troops across the stream. There was
no heavy artillery employed, but the
machine guns wrought red havoc
among the men assigned to the task
Of bridging the waterway. From
trenches and from behind logs and
small mounds Of earth on either bank
rife fire was almost continuous. How
many men lost their lives 1t is not pos.
sible to know.
But it is known that the little stream
was almost choked with bodies and
that the water In the mill race, into
which 1t was diverted by a crude dam,
rose until it poured over the forebay,
The bodies Of human beings prevented
it from passing through the open
gates. Men who took part in this bat
tie say that the river ran red for hours
after each successive charge; that out
of 800 Austrians who attempted al
one stage Of the conflict to wade across
less than fifty reached shore. The
others, shot and torn by the rifle and
machine-gun fire, sank to the bottom
or floated on the surface. Those
wrapped in great coats and not toe
heavily weighted with cartridges ant
weapons foated. The others sank.
On one of the last nights Of the san
culinary contest, when the %contendint
forces were almost spent and when the
rifle fire wal deaultory, an officer o.
the guard on the Russian side was de
tailed for sentry inspection. He fol
lowed the sentry lines along the
stream, keeping as well under covel
as the character Of the country per
mitted, until he came to the mill. Il
was bright moonlight and the shad
ows from the trees fell cross the face
Of the waters. Tbs onlcer was sud
denly brought to a stop by the sight
just ahead, Of a sentry, leaning againsi
a fence, against which some logs hat
been piled as a shelter. The sentry't
u was pointed toward the stream
and his index finger was on thu
trigger.
The officer crouched and waited fol
the soldier to fire. He waited m min
ute, two, three. Then he crept stealth
lily to a point from which he could ge
a better view Of the river and what
ever 1t might be that the sentry wal
about to shoot at. On the surface o
the water, plain in the moonlight, wa
the head of a man, the face towar'
the sentry. The man appeared to b
wading the stream, with body sub
merged and head erect, the water no
quite covering the shoulders. VIII,
didn't the sentry FIRE? Why did tn
wading Austrian remain motionless l
the water? For another eternity tn
officer waited.
Then the strain became too niue
for him and he spoke to the sentr!
There was no response. He crawle