The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1917-07-30
Gistants and nurses Overwosked. And
TIA 6Av ~aa ~1l1 vouuO

Gistants and nurses overworked. AM
!. the day vas sill young.
Donald Parr attempted to comfor'
. her with the assurance that their pO
sttions were 20 strong they could hole
out another "a hours. II required
by which time help must surely
have come to them from the regular
army and the National Guard which
had been mobilized for border duty
Against this argument there re
NAMED the unquestionable fact that
repeated kilograms evoked no 70
Spouse from any quarter.
And re-enforcements at any time
would arrive too late to prevent hide.
Gus mortality in the ranks Of the de.
tenders.
Toward mid-morning a second series
Of most violent assaults was launched
against the mainline trenches. and
though each In turn was thrown back
severely punished, each took its toll of
American lives and by 50 much lessen
ed the ability to present impregnable
resistance. {
But by noon Hur0ki seems to
have made up his mind that further eff
forts to take the trenches by storm
were futile. There fell q lull In the
fury Of the combat between the in
fantry forces, while a flanking move
ment on the part Of the Mexican ca.
airy was met and confronted by q
cloud of rough-riding plainsmen 'un-
der the leadership Of Rodman Pills
bury.
Then again the artillery duel was
resumed; but there was in this some
thing strangely p~erfunctory, as far
at least as the work of the allied gun
ners were concerned. The suspicion
was warranted, and by subsequent
events was borne out, that Huroki was
sparring for time.
He was awaiting the arrival Of heav-
Ter artillery; whatever those circum-
stances were which delayed its com-
ing with effective range till dusk Of
evening. they alone saved Patria's
forces from annihilation-though much
credit Ii due to the scouts Of Patria's
Tying corps for the willingness and skill
with which they engaged the japanese
aviators and drove them from the
sky above the American positions. pre-
venting their locating the hidden bat
tefieA.
The last traces Of light were dying
from the sky when Hurokii1 heaviest
metal came into action.
simultaneously new and extraor-
dinarily vicious assaults were made
upon the trenches.
And still NO word from Washing.
ton or from any other quarter to
which appeals had been telegraphed!
It was not till midnight that .
scouting party dispatched BY Donald
Parr brought in an explanation Of this
ostensible Indifference on the part Of
the authorities to the fate Of Patria's
devoted little band.
Then 1t appeared that the wires had
been cut BY japanese spies, who had
received-and suppressed-all mes
sages dispatched BY Patria's Geld head
quarters, In such manner - complete
" to deceive her telegraph operators.
In short. II ~transpired that not one
Of those many frantic cries for help
had been heard but BY enemy cara
Throughout . night Of hopeless Aor.
rof the battle ragged. From the mo
meqt when Hurokd's great guns en-
tered into the coatest there was scarce
y . single percsDtibls break In ~
s~ueceaatoo of assaalts upoa tAe
krsaehSs I'm dawn broke upoa tAsie
thinnsd sankA
And With he dawn came tAA 1aal
s&oet q charge n foees that taDod b
he utlnost The eourayA resouees and
O1 tho Americana That
4 broke end Was swept hack eaa 10
rosntsd % nothing short a mirsca-
|ouA.
~ Il nd -. Donald Par fell, has
IAouldse shattered BY shrapnei.
When he recovered coascdousnsas
her armA and she knew that Ais
hurt was not mortal. Patria took into
her own hands the command which
he had resigned to hla. Confeffing !
telephone In person with her stan. |
The ordered the effort Of the last re- !
Iort. the forlofn hope which had been
reserved for that moment when the /,
lay seemed lost and sacrifice Of self !
llone might stem the tide Of defeat.
All defensive tactics were abandoned. !!
The men were ordered from the
.renckes, to advance, to charge and
Ieep on charging till the last man fell.
70 give them heart a feet of tanks
caterpillar tractors carrying
nachine-gun crews-were loosed upon
he enemy. ;,
Looming through the gray, formless
light of the newborn day like mon
'trous armadilloes vomiting fire and
leath, they crossed their own trenches
md met and broke a charge Of Japa-
lese and Mexican infantry, scattering
t like chat.
AS the enemy turned and fed these