Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-03-26
nd"r fire, hence his nervousness.

On each side there had been a line Of
trees. but now. all that was left Of
/ them were torn and battered Stumps.
/ The fields on each side oi the road
/ wcr" dotted with recent sh')l holes.
| and we passed several in the road it,
i self We had gone about half "a mile
Il when Il shell cam" whistlinG through
i the air and burst in Il field about
three hundred yards TO our right.
Another soon followed this one and
burst on the edge of the road ahOut
four hundred yards in front of us.
| | told the driver 10 throw in his
speed clutch. as "" must br IN sight
Of the Germans. ] knew Tn" sign:
that battery was ranging for us. anh
the quicker We got ont oil its znn" of
| fire the better. The driver was trrm-
bling like Il leaf, and every minute |
expected him to pile us up in tho
ditch. ! preferred In" German lire.
In the back Atw.ll WAS holding on
to straps for dear lif" and WAS sing
| ing at the top of his voice:
We i"at you at In" Maine.
We beat you at tn" Aisnc.
"" gave you HILL at NruNr Caprll".
And here We are again.
lust then "" hit Il small shell hole
and nearly capsizcd. Upon - loud
veil from the rear looked hchind AMI
| there WAS Atw'll sitting i'll thu middl"
of the road. shaking his list at us. Ills
equipment. which hc had taken oil
upon getting int" the ambulance. Mas
strung out ON thu ground ana his rifle
was in the ditch.
shouted to lii" driver Ia stop. and
in his NERVOUSNESS he pit on the
first But ,h, applying of those brakes
saved our lives. The n'Xt instant
there WAS Il binding ila:'h aud Il deaf
ming report. All that | r"nrml"r is
that | waS flying through the air, and
wondering if would land III Il soft
S,.nt. Thcn the lights went ont.
When came to. .Atwrll WAS pourin"
water on my head out Of his bottle.
ON the other side Of the road the cor
poral was sitting. ruhl'in; II luI"p on
his forehead with his left hand. while
his right arm WAS bound up in II blood
soaked landaG". He WAS moaning
very loudly. had an awful headache
and the skin on tn" lcfi side of my
face was full OF gravel and tn" blood
WAS tricklinS from my nos'.
But the ambulance was turned or"i
i'm the ditch and waS perforated with
holes from fragments of tn" shell. One
of the front wheels WAS slowly r"rolv-
ing, so could not hav" been "nm"
for long period.
The shells were still screaming over |
head. but the battery had raised it's
fire and they were bursting in Il little
wood about half mile from us.
Atwcll spoke up. 81 wish that OFF,
Icer hadn't wished MS the best . ,dck.
Then he commenced swearing.
couldn't help laughing. though my
|hcad was nigh to bursting.
| SLOWLY rising to my feet ! felt my
self all over to make sure that there
lwcrc no broken homes. isui outside Of
"A frw bruises ana scratches ] was all
right. The corporal WAS still moan
| ing, hut more from shock than pain.
\ shell splinter mad gone through the
flesh uf his right forearm. Atw'll ana
|, from our iilst-aid pouches. put II
tournqucnt on his arm to stop the
bleeding and then gathered up our
equipment.
| We realized that "" were in a dan
srro,is spot. .\t any minut" shell
might drop on tn" road and finish us
off. The village We had LETT was not
very far. so we told the corporal hi
had better 80 back to il and get his
arm dressed and then report the fact
OF the destruction of the ambulance to
the military police. He was we'll able
| to walk, so he set off in the direction
of the village. while Atwcll and con-
tinuCd our way on foot.
| Without further mishap We arrived
at our destination, AMI reported To hri-
gadc headquarters IA. rations and bill
lets.
That night We slept in the battalion
sergeant majors dugout. The next
morning went to Il first aid post and
had the gravel picked out OF my face.
The instructions we received from
division headquarters read that ""
were out to catch spies. patrol trench
cs. search German dead. rcconoitcr IN
No Mans Land. and take part III
trench raids and prevent the rohhing
OF the dead.
I had a pass which would allow me
10 20 anywhere at any time in the Soc
tor of the line held by our division. II
gave me authority To stop and search
anhulanccs. motor lorricS. wagons and
even officers and soldiers. whenever
my suspicious deemed il necessary
Atwcn and | were allowed to work to-
gcthcr or singly-it WAS left to our
Judgment. We decided TO team up.
Atwell WAS Il good companion and
very entertaining. lie had an utter
contempt for danger. but was not fool
hardy. At swearing he was n wonder
\ cavalry regiment would have been
proud OF him. Though born in Eng
land. lie had spent several years In
New York. He WAS about SiN feet one,
and rs strong as an OK.
We took up our quarters in large
dugout OF the royal engineers. and
mapped out our future actions. This
dugout was OH the edge OF large
cemetery and several times mt night
III returning TO it we got many fall
stumbling over the graves of English.
French and Germans. Atwcll on these
occasions never indulged in swearing.
though at any other time. at the least
stumble. he would turn the air blue.
A certain section of our trenches
was held 10y the Royal Irish rifles. For
several days very strong rumor went
the rounds that German spy was in