The Alaska daily empire., 1916-06-26
EIGHT TO ONE ODDS
 IN FIGHT


 v were eight to one against the Amer f jeans in the battle at Carrizal accord t ing to the report brought here late e last night by Sam H. Harris, a sur
 yivor of the engagement. Harris 8 is dusky private of Troop C, Tenth q cavalry. He was brought to the Dor ,- der late last night suffering from
 wounds he had received. e From Harris came the assertion e that the s4 Americans were against - TOO MeNicans.
 - ITO top 1t of" said Harris. they F had a machine gun and they certain
 ly surpriser us. We approached them
 in a peaceful way and we never had
 an idea that they would try and
 massacre us. Had we known that
 they wanted to fight we would have
 given it to them. guess they got
 enough at that"
 Americans Were Entirely Sur
 rounded by Mexlcans. , Harris troop. was entirely sur
 rounded by Carranzistas he said. He
 escaped. wounded, from the cordon
 that the enemy had drawn around
 the Americans. by riding straight
 through their lines on his charger which also had been wounded. He rode his horse until it fell from loss of blood then nabbed another fleeing animal with which he eventually
 caught up with other survivors with whom he accompanied to field head quarters.
 Thrilling Escape or Trooper Told in colorfui Language.
 Harris gave most expressive and ? coIorful account of the battle and his [ escape the first authentic received
 by the outside world
 Tears came to his eyes as he re-
 counted the heroic effort his wound ed charger made to bear him to
 safety.
 That horse. my noble animal. cer-
 tainly saved my life" said Harris. "l
 want you Co know that ! let him see , how appreciated It.
 Americans Meet Mexieans. "Our troop, with Captain Boyd
 commanding. had pulled up before , Carrizal Captain Boyd ordered every one of the command to dis , mount. and we all got down was . rse.holder and took charge of , several Of the animals while their
 riders stood at attention. Shooting Suddenly Starts. ! Just after Capt Boyd went for 2 ward. my horses got nervous and began to prauce and | lost just eN-
 actly what transpired. looking after r those fool animals.
 Next thing ] knew. shooting had
 started looked around. Capt. ! Boyd was down and could not see . him. just naturally kept on look ing. There were easily 700 of those . greasers around us.
 ? "They had seemingly come right
 up out of the ground. forming half
 of circle.
 "The shots kept whizzing. Our
 men kept falling.
 "The first shots came from ma
 chine gun It was trained right on
 us and believe me- it talked fast.
 Every few minutes. it might have
 been seconds for all ] know. it would
 let up while the operator was putting in more clips. Then you
 could pick out the clips of the rifle - fire.
 ? Surrounded in Short order Men
 and Horses Falling. l "It was not more than two min B utes before the Mexicans had us sur rounded. ., 2 There we were. right in the mid 2 dle. fighting like the dickens. All 2 around us the horses were rearing e and plunging. Every little bit, a . horse or a man would drop from a e bullet. either wounded or shot dead.
 'I could not fight for l had to look
 after the mounts Pretty soon my
 own horse. big fellow. staggered.
 They had hit him in the neck. He : whinnered.
 "I put my hand on the spot where l. the blood was spouting out of 1t and r. the Mexicans got me in the shoul e der. | then lost control of the ami. ,. mals. My own horse kept whinner' d ing and tugging at his rope. could n see the fellows dropping all around a me and horses running over ther 2 bodies. We did not have show in t the world.
 e CT saw it. I cut the horses loose g. and climbing on my own animal. hi' g for the thinnest part of the circle. e "T went right through it. My
 horse brushed two Mexicans out oi e the way as we charged through '- Noble Animals Dies. IS "I owe my life to that noble ami 5 nal. He was so brave, so big s. hearted. that he carried me along e ten miles at a terrific clip before l. he settled down to a walk. Five l. miles further on. his legs just gave r. out. and he went down. ... ... .~ r. "Man hope you never have t' 2. ever say goodbye to horse lik' ). that. at the time and place lik' n that
 2. Tt seemed to me that couldn' C. leave him I looked back to see i
 there was anyone following Ther d was no one. so I knelt down an' r. poured a little water from my can
 teen on to his tongue. He was slip
 ping fast just told him how sorr.
 was thanked him for his might. N big effort and favor he had done.
 "Yes sir. l thanked him. just lilt D. he was human and guess he under ,r stood for he got that look into hi )f eyes animals have when they ar' n grateful. you know.
 Id I wanted to stay longer but h' d was about gone. coughing blood an'
 iit was no use of my staying whei