The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-05-11
IRISH THERE WITH GOODS
WHEN GERMAN BULLETS HUM
Sons of Erin in British Army Sing GOD save lrel aml
and Win Soubriquet of "1he DeVhs OWN MiAe
OLearv Comes Into Fame.

the fighting qualities when the rae
has ever manifested in the past. AZ
cordinp to the best available Stdtio-
tics in Ireland proper l5o,ooo men
have enlisted. while from o.iel pdas
Of the empire, including the COLONIES
10000 have joined the army max
ING a grand total Of over 265,oO0, says
the New York Sun.
The major portion OF the cohl-
handing officers in the British army;
as well as in the navy, are oeScIipeu
as heinp Irish by birth or descent, In
cirdin~ Kitchener. French, Jellicoe,
caIlaghan. Madden and Beatty anu
"a on but there are some VINO say
that these are the AnglO-lrlsh ana
more English than the Engllsn tieIh-
selves But TO get at the truth OF
the matter it is only necessary 10
view the men in the ranks anu !.
will be seen that the Irish OF TO-DAY
are fighting as jealousy as 'hes e'e'
did.
Mikes u Hero.
In fact. the greatest hero now IN
rho British army. and very likely IN
all the armies OF the allies Is tne
now famous Sergt. Mike OLeary' V.
c., Of County Cork, at n tifne a
member of the Northwestern Mount
ed Police Of Canada. The
letter from a comrade of OLeary IN
the trenches in France very inter
estinplv describes Corporal OLearyS
charge, which proved so disastrous
for the Germans opposing him:
For more than a week our lrst
battalion had been nolding trencnes
near La Bassee brickfeld, and our
losses were heavy. The had
excellent cover, both in trenches ana
behind stacks Of bricks. and the
bombs thrown by their mortars cost
US dearly.
..The night before the taking of the
brickfeld we lost two officers among
the killed, and it was DECIDED ina ~
the trenches were too expensive 10
hold. We had worked In 4S-hour
turns. fighting all the time, sniplng
and throwing hand grenades, we
were close up to the ahu
we gave them as good as they gave US
Particularly at night the pace was
fierce. ~
when the order came that the Drlck-
fields were to be aiken by assault next
day at 2 o'clock. ~.
1.-The French were on the right. MY
is No. 2 and Sergt. OLeary
is No. 1. They were on our left ano
on his left were some Coldstreamers
AT 2 o'clock exactly next day the
British and French artillery opened
fire on the brickield. My company
was ordered from our trench to keeI
up a hot rifle fire with machine gun!
across the German trenches anG
points Of cover. Our business was u
make the enemy keep their heads
down, no matter how much they wer'
troubled by our artillery.
'"The diversion we n the artuer.
caused led the Germans to believ
something was going to happen from
our direction and they devoted par
ticular attention to our trench Afte
the rain Of bullets and shrapnel ha
been kept up for about 20 minute
No. l company was let loose on GU
left. They came out Of the trenche
with a yell and, b%ayonets fixed, the
went for the enemy at the double.
100 Yard Dash.
'sThey had from 100 to $50 yards t
travel and they went at a tidy pac
but were easily outstripped by Coz
poral OLeary. as he then was Il
never looked back to see if his mate
were coming, and he must have dor
pretty neal even time over that pate
!. OF ground. When he got near the en-
of one of the German trenches
dropped, n so did a great many OIL
ers q long way behind him TT
enemy had discovered what was up.
Picks on Crew.
"a machine gun was O'Leary
mark. Before the Germans cou
HldlidSt W slew II aTOUlQ LII ILL
the charge of the men O'Leary pick
off the whole of the five of the m
chine gun crew, and leaving some
his mates to come and capture Il
gun ne dashed forward to the secol
b~arricade, which the Germans we
leaving in a hurry, and shot thr
more.
Some Of the enemy could not 6
away quick enough, and faced o
men. but very little bayonet work W
needed. The majority did not wa
n we picked off a good lot of thu
from GU trenches as they lett tn,
holes
II had e job in keeping my men
the trench. Why can't we go across
they shouted to me, and I wanted
SO as much as they did. We soon I
derstood how necessary 1t was to Ike
up a steady fire. We actually |
more men than the storming party
1.-THE brickfield was won inside
half an hour. We went foruyar d q