The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-02
Shot Eight Germans in Eight Seconds, Captured a Machine Gun, Took Tlvo
 Barricades Single Handed and Saued His Whole Company iron, Being
 Exter7ninated.

probably saved the lives CT whole company
 Had that machine gun got slowed round, No. 1 Company might have been nearly wiped out"
 What impresses people in O'Leary's deed is not only his brav- cry but the triumphant success with which he carried out the whole act. Other soldiers may have displayed more self-sacrifice and endurance, but not one of them appears to have done more for his side by one indi- vidual act of bravery than O'Leary.
 It Is the dashing quality of his deed that wins admiration and this quality, it is to be noted, is pecu- liarly Irish. He is credited by his ad- mirers with having shot eight men In eight seconds. His quickness must have been phenomenal, and here again he showed a peculiarly Irish trait
 How one man could have shot eight soldiers, when all eight of them were armed and many of their com rades were only few yards away, must appear a mystery to many. The Germans were perhaps retiring hustlig liOln tuOii ptSiJlOuS, UuC they had magazine rifles In their hands and fired many shots at the British.
 Why did they not get O'Leary, who was running out alone ahead of his companions? He must have been amazingly lucky, as well as amaz- ingly quick.
 Then it is almost equally aston ishing that he could have shot eight men in few moments while run ming. The best explanation of this is that the British soldier has rifle carrying more bullets than that of any other army The Lee Enfield rife now used in the British army carries ten bullets in the magazine and one in the barrel
 OLeary, of course, fired all his eleven bullets, and he is credited with making eight of them kill a man apiece. That is an amazing shooting record, said to be unequalled for a soldier.
 Sergeant O'Leary is not a partic- ularly fierce looking soldier, as might be expected, but a tall, slender fair haired young fellow He is only twenty-five years old.
 "A quiet easy-going young fellow OLeary is,' said his friend, Ser geant Daily, of the Second Battalion of the Irish Guards. But he is re- markedly quick on his feet"
 O'Leary was born in the little vil- lage of Inchigeelach, in the County Cork. His father and mother still live there. He has an older brother and fo,,r cicfarc vbo oro Dar, ;,, America
 He erved for several years in the Canadian Northwest Mounted Police, but went back and joined the British Army in order to be nearer home.
 After the fight in which he won his decoration he wrote home:
 Dear Parents: 1 guess you will be glad to hear that I was promoted full sergeant on the field on account of distinguished conduct on February 1, when we charged the Huns and rout- ed them in disorder.
 You bet the Irish Guards are get ting back now"
 Mrs. OLeary, the old mother of the hero, has been interviewed at her home in Ireland As might be ex- pcted her words were very simple.
 Its proud I am of Mike" said Mrs. OLeary, but I wish he was home instead of being in that cruel war.
 "When that telegram came for me, I thought sure Mike was dead, but when l opened it found that he had been promoted. Sure I was better pleased to know that he was alive than promoted
 Mike is good boy. He never gave me a moments uneasiness since he was in the cradle, except when he went away on his foreign adventures. I suppose he had to leave me. There's little enough chance for boy here, with only the pigs to look after and his father and me-"
 We have been inclined to think that the days were over when a mighty warrior could rush in among