Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1918-04-26

boy. you belong In Jersey City. and
you'd better get back there N quickly
~ possible"
The bullets were cracking overhead.
] crawled few feet back to the Ger
man barbed wire. and In STOPPING po-
sition. guiding myself by the wire, I
went down the line looking for the
lane we had cut through. Before
reaching this lane ] came to q limp
form which seemed like q bag Of oats
hanging over the wire. In the dim
light could see that It's hands were
blackened. and knew II was the body
Of one Of my mates. put my hand
on his head, the top Of which had been
blown of BY bomb. NV fingers sank
Into the hole. pulled my hand back
full Of blood and brains. then I went
crazy with fear and horror and rushed
along the wire until ! came to our
lane. had Just turned down this lane
when something Inside Of me seemed
to say. Look around" I did so; a bull
let caught me on the left shoulder. II
did not hurt much. Just felt as II some
one had punched me In the back. and
then'my left side went numb. My arm
was dangling like n rng. I fell forward
In sitting position. Bnt all the fenr
had left me and was consumed with
rngc and cursed the German trenches.
With my right hand ! felt In my tunic
for my first-aid or shell dressing. In
feoiIng over my tunic my hand came
IN contact with one Of the bombs which
I carried. Gripping II, pulled the pin
nut with my teeth und bllndly threw II
towards the German trench. I must
hnve been out Of my head. because ]
wns only ten feet from the trench and
took chance Of being mangled. II
the bomb had failed to 20 into the
trench ] would have been blown to
! - hy the explosion Of my own bomb.
i,y the flare Of the explosion Of the
bomb. which luckily landed In their
trench. I saw one big Boche throw up
his arms and fall backwards. while his
rifle flew into the mir. Another one
wIlted and fell forward across the
sandbags-then blackness.
Realizing what a foolhardy and risky
thing had done. ! was ngnin seized
witha horrible fear. dragged myself
to my feet and ran madly down the
lane through the barbed wire, stun
bling over cut wires, tearing my uni
form, and lnceratlng my hands and
legs. Just as I was about to reach
No Mnn's Land again, that same voice
seemed to say, sTurn around" I did
70. when. "crack." another bullet
caught me. this time In the left shoul-
der about one-half inch away from the
other wound. Then II was taps for me.
The lights went out.
When came to was crouching In
a hole In No Mans Land. This shell
hole was about three feet deep. so that
Il brought my head a few inches below
the level Of the ground. How reached
this hole l win never know. German
-typewriters" were traversing back
aud forth In No Mans Land, the bull
let's biting the edge Of my shell hole
and throwing dirt nll over me.
Overhead shrapnel was bursting.
I could hear the fragments slap the
ground. Then I went out once more.
When ! came to everything was silence
and darkness In No Mans Land. I
was soaked with blood and big flap
from the wound in my cheek was hang
Ing over my mouth. The blood run
ming from this flap choked me. Out of
the corner Of my mouth I would try
and blow II back, hut II would not
move. reached for my shell dressing
and tried, with one hand, to bandagc
my face to prevent the flow. had
an awful horror of bleeding to death
pnd was getting very faint. You would
have laughed II you had seen my
audicrous attempts at bandaging with
one hand. The pains In my wounded
shoulder were awful and was getting
sick at the stomach. gave IN TIT
bandaging stunt as bad job. and then
tainted.
n