Iditarod pioneer., 1915-10-30
STORY OF THE SIXTH DRUNK

No, 1O379, Private Michael OFlannigan, you are charged, first, with being absent from roll call on the 2lst instant until ;3O a. m on the 22d, period of hours and 30 minutes; second, being drunk; third, as saulting non commissioned officer in the execution of his duty.
 Private O'Flannigan, this is your fifth drunk In addition to that you have struck non-commissioned officer in the execution of his duty, one of the most serious crimes 1 soldier can commit. I'm sick of you. You | do nothing but give trouble. The next 1 drunk you have l will endeavor to get you | discharged as ncorrigible and worthless. As it is, I shall send you up for court t-mar- tial. Perhaps they will save me the trouble. March out"
 Now all that happened eighteen months ago. The rest is concerning the sixth drunk | of Michael OFlannigan and what he did {; and it will also explain why at the present moment. in certain depot mess in England, there lies in the center of the dinner table every guest night 8 strange, jagged looking piece of brown earthenware, It was brought home one day in December by an ofhcer coming on leave, and it was handed over by him to the officer commanding the depot. And once week officers belonging to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth and other bat talions gaze upon the strange relic and drink a toast to the Sixth Drunk.
 One evening it came about that the Huns tactlessly decided to deliver an attack just about the same time as the rum was usually issued. OFlannigan had been eyeing the traverse in his trench round which it would come hungrily for some time, when sud denly the burst of firing all along the line nroclaimed an attack" Moreover, it was an attack in earnest They reached the trenches and got into them, and though they were twice driven out, bit by bit the l battalion retired O'Flannigan's trench be ing at the end, and more or less uncon, nected with the others, the Germans passed | it bv. though, as the sergeant in charge very rightly realized, it could only be question ! of a very few minutes before 1t would be untenable. .,,
 Get out" he ordered, land join up with 1 the regiment in the trenches behind.
 And phwat of the issue of rum?' de manded Michael O'Flannigan, whose rifle was too hot to hold.
 You may think yourself lucky my bucko, if you ever get another, sad the sergeant Get out
 O'Flannigan looked at him "lf you're after thinking that l would be leaving the rum to them swine you are mistaken, ser geant."
 Are you going, O'Flannigan!"
 "Bedad. I'm not Not if the king him self was asking me
 At that moment Bosche rounded the traverse. With howl of joy OFlanmgan hit him once with the butt of hlS rifle; From that moment he went mad. He hurled himself over the traverse and started. It was full of Germans. but this wild apparl- tion finished them Roaring like bull and twisting his rifle round his head like cane the Irishman fell on them and as they broke he saw in the corner the well-beloved earthenware pot containing the rum. lie seized the whole thing in his right hand and noured the huuid down his throat, while the rest of it ran over his face and clothes And then Michael O'Flannigan ran amok His great voice rose high above the roar oi the rifles as, with the empty rum Jar Tn one hand and his clubbed rifle in the other, he went down the trench.
 What he must have looked like with the red liquid pouring down his face, his hands covered with it, his clothes dripping with 1t in that eerie half light, heaven knows. He was shouting an old song of the fenlan days and it is possible they thought he was the devil He was no bad substitute, any way. And then of sudden his regiment ceased to shoot from the trenches behlnC and voice cried "OFlannigan It passed down the line. and as one man they came back bowling the word "Oflannlgan They drove the Germans out like chatt anc fell back into the lost trenches all save one little party, who paused at the sight ln front of them. There stood O'Flannigan astrlde the colonel, who was mortally wounded They heard rather than saw the blow that fetched home on the head of 8 Prusslan Of fcer-almost simultaneously with the crack of his revolver They saw him go dowr
 ith crushed skull, while the big earthen ware jar shivered to pieces They saw O'Flannigan stagger little and then look around-stil with the top of the rum Jal in his hand.
 You are back" he cried. 1t is well but the rum IS gone
 And then the colonel spoke. He was neal death and wandering '"The regiment ha! never vet lost trench. Has 1t, OFlannl gan, you scoundrel?' And he peered al him.
 'It has not, sorr," answered the Irishman q 'I thought" muttered the dying officer "there were Prussians in here 8 momen ago."
 "They were, sir, but they were not liking it, so they went"
 Suddenly the colonel raised himself or his elbow. What's the matter with you O'Flannigan? What's that red on you face? It's rum, you blackguard. You're drunk again" His voice was growing weaker . Sixth time dis charged . incorrigible and worthless. And with that he died.
 They looked at O'flannigan, and he wa sngging at the knees "Bedad! 'tis not al