The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-01-08
SOLDIER ON BORDER
FACES FIRING SQUAD
Virginia Infantryman Captured by
villa. Tried at Night by Court Mar
tial and Sentenced 20 bc shot.
PLEADINGS ALL IN VAIN
Tells Captors He Has Wife and Chill
drcn, But NCxicans Smile as They
Stand Him Up i'm His Place of Exc
Cution--IiNcS to Tell Tale.

1T was an awful experience" one
of the boys told a group Of interested
| friends yesterday The speaker,
member OF the First Virginia Regi-
ment which detrained here yesterday
/ morning. lit another cigarette, and
/ looked absontlv az the glowing butt
( before continuing his narration. Yes,
! sir, II was fierce. Them Mexicans
was the worst looking bunch Of men
I ! ever seen, and III he burned If
/ can't see 'em sometimes now in my
! sleep.
That day we'd been ont on a hike.
and | was tired. / never done such
DAYS work In my life. and when we
I got in I was too worn out to take
1 my clothes off So / sat down in
/ side my tent and leaned against the
| endpoie. TO take a little rest I
( couldn't hold my head up. hardly,
and II was awful hot
I Il dozed there n while. and pretty
! soon ! heard somebody call me, and
seen the captain motioning for me
over in his tent. I went over. and
| no said to me. Sergeant. I got a
package that's got TO go over the
| border tonight. and l believe you're
the best man I know to take It over.
Are you willing to go?' And I was
awful tired. but told him it was all
right with me. and he give me the
box.
Well, I hit out. and / struck the
border Just about night was gotn
good, and had got about a couple OF
miles across the line, when 7 heard
somebody holler. l stopped, thinking
s.,
was over there, and IN a minute I seen
bunch OF men on horses coming
| towards me, and I thought It was
funnier and funnier. Pretty soon /
seen they was Texicans. and started
to beat II, but l seen it was no use
so ] took out a cigarette and lit it.
! trying to appear calm and easy.
They couldn't speak English but
l understood they meant business. I
/ didn't resist none, because 1t wasn't
no use, and they tied me up. villa
was in the bunch. but he didn't seem
to take much interest in affairs. I
/ thought he was dead, but there he
was. and they led me on We rode
for n couple OF hours. and then we
all got off in front of little broken
down shack. ! didn't know what was
coming. but l wasn't so crazy about
Il anyway. for them fellers didn't look
Ike no Womens Christian Temper
auce Union, or an old maids SEWN
+ circle. / couldn't tell what they was
talking about, but pretty soon | seen
/ they was holding a trial of some
/ kind, and l was the goat. Some guy
would say somethin' and then old
villa would smile. and feel for his gun
After a while they seemed TO
agree, never letting me in on the
{ ytg 81 a Nd
about to make a move. One of the
greasers grabbed a hold of me, and
they led me out. | was getting a
/ little uneasy about this time. and as
a bunch of the buns begun inspecting
their guns, l felt mighty queer. l
secn that this wasn't no place for me,
but | was there. and it looked to me
mighty like / was a misft in that
crowd. They wasn't affectionate with
me, for q couple of times somebody
hit me with a number ten, and l
+ thought Ii was cannon ball
When they marched me out, be-
gan to ache inside, They had framed
up on me, and that package the cap
I tain give me wasn't going to reach
/ It's destination. l thought l would
| speak to somebody about that. and I
touched one of 'em on the arm, and
kinder whispered, Looky here. old
scout it's gettin' late, and 1 got to
get away from here. How long be-
fore this celebration Is going to break
up He said something to me about
! 'sobbie,' and shook his head and
tried another guy. He didn't give
me no more satisfaction. and l was
/ getting uneasy
We walked ever near tree fta
one Of the greasers led me up against
It, and turned me around. l dtdn',
| know what was coming off tin /
| turned around. Then it was all plain
They Were going to shoot me!
! Well l seen the whole thing.
/ ] seen the cemetery up home. and
the procession as they drove me out
% the plantin'. All the boys was
there. plain, and ! seen myself insid e
the glass covered hack with my feet
sticking out this way. One Teller
came up and whispered in my ear.
/ 'Gringo, spy, and 1t give me the
shivers
while they was nxln' me up, I
thought IL was time TO make some
kind of play, and ! spoke 10 the
leader of the gang. Hold on a minute,
old sport. You amt doing thus thing
right. / got a wife ana a couple of
kids back home there, and they'd be
powerful sorry about this Wait a
minute and let me argue with YOU a
/ little. But he admit seem to hear
me, and give some KIND of an order
in Mexican or something and six or
eight of them felors lined up with
guns pointing in my direction. Well.
seen my finish. They felt of the
guns to see If they was all fixed, and
then this guy give another order, and
l was durn near gone. Then. while
was yelling at EN- TO wait a minute
and let me explain that, I wasn't no
/ spy or nothing. | seen them gums go
up, and heard the whole shootin'
match go off. and that was the awful
est sound ! ever heard.
Just about that time I seen I was
| lying on the ground. and that durn
/ fool there that stayed In my tent with
me was rolling on the bed like a
! crazy man. He told me. after a while
when he got right, that l had gone
| to sleep, and he thought he would
wake me up kinder sudden. his gun
needing cleanin' out anyway. And he
ala"
! 4 FAMILY PUZZLE, CAN
n \ 0