The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-06-09
DAKOTA man HAS MANY ADVENTURES

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band Of revolutionists Billy and com
rade decided to investigate small
adobe hut which stood In the low
brush near road. Billy started round
one side of the house, his mate round
the other. When Billy came to the
front Of the house the headless body
of his comrade lay in the dust before
the half open door. Billy saw red:@
He put his hand or tie door 10 push
it open, and s,Msexican lurking behind
1t cut the hand half OF with a machete.
Somehow or other, Billy killed the
! Mexican with his bare hands.
Then he heard firing and stepped
out of the hut. A bullet passed
through his face, from cheek to cheek,
and Billy started to run. Just as he
reached the road second bullet
caught him through the thigh and
Billy pitched forward in the dust.
When he recovered consciousness he
was in military hospital at Fort
Roswell, N. NJ.
After Billy recovered he went to
Australia. He left that country in
June, 1914, ON an Italian vessel bound
for Liverpool. When the ship reached
its destination 1t was learned that the
great war had broken out.
Goes to Enlist, shanghaied on Ship.
Billy at once announced his inten-
ton of going to France and joining
the foreign legion.
Jack Hodge, an Australian sailor
who had shipped along with Billy,
decided to join the legion with him
and the Italian captain offered to
carry the two men to Bordeaux on his
boat. At Bordeaux the two comrades
helped load the boat with cargo for
Chile, then went into a cafe with the
captain, who proposed drink to their
success. One drink was followed by
another, and when the two would-be
legionnaires recovered their senses
they were far out on the ocean en-
route for South America.
Some weeks later the ship sailed
into the harbor Of africa, Chile. Be-
fore going ashore Billy and his mate
gave the treacherous captain thrash
ing that sent him into hospital and
them into a Chilean prison for two
months.
After coming out of Jail the two
comrades had to wait around africa
for several months before they could
get ship back to France. There were
many Germans in africa, who did not
relish the loudly proclaimed inten-
ton of Billy and Hodge of returning to
France to join the legion.
One night Billy and Hodge had
been In a saloon together. Hodge
stepped out alone, and, hearing COM
motion, Billy rushed out after him.
He found his mate dying in the street,
a knife stuck in his back.
"Dead" in Battle, Soon Receivers.
The next morning Billy sailed, and
in June, 1915, he reached Bordeaux,
and was enrolled in the legion. He
trained at Camp La Valbonne, and
went to the front with detachment
of re-enforcements just before the
Champagne offensive in September.
A few days after the legion's charge
In the Bots Sabot, on September 20,
received this news in letter from
Paul Pavelka:
EARLY in the attack Billy THORN
was struck in the head by a piece OF
shrapnel. He refused to 60 to the
rear, but kept on. A few minutes
later he was again hit and toppled
over. knelt and looked at him, and
he was stone dead"
But Billy was not dead. He came
to and crawled alone to first-aid
post, and later reached hospital in
the far south of France. Billy has
just gone back to the front. >|