The Bingham County news. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1918-1930, 1921-07-01

thOritative and imperiOus as that of
traffic officer. "Batter-r-ry 'alt!" she
croaked. She had heard the late EN-
cry give that command often enough
to have acquired the exact infection
necessary to make an impression upon
men accustomed to obeying such a
command whenever given. Instinc-
lively the column slowed up; some of
the Foreign Legion. old coast artil
lerists, no doubt, came to a halt with
promntness and precision; all stared
at Mother jerks.
"'Ow about art a dozen cases O
good brandy for the wounded?" Moth
bally old woman for a Red Cross
nurSe?'
you're on, ma'am," the foreign
leader replied promptly, and translat
ed the old lady's suggestion to DR..
PachecO, who accepted gracefully and
thanked Mother jerks in purest Cas-
lillian. So a detail Of six men was
told off to carry the six cases of
brandy out of Ell Buen Amigo and
load them on the ammunition carts
then Mother jerks crawled up into
the armored truck with the machine
gun crew, and the column once more
took up it's line of rapid march.
The objective of this unsupported
force within the city was, as Ricardo
Ruey shrewdly suspected it might be,
poorly garrisoned. Usually force of
fully 500 men was stationed at the
national arsenal, but the sharp, saw
age attack from the west, so sudden
and unexpected, had thrown Sarros
into panic and left him no time to
plan his defense carefully. His first
thought had been to send all his
available forces to support the troops
bearing the brunt of the rebel attack,
and it was tremendously important
that this should be done very prompt
ly, in view of the lack Of information
concerning the numerical force of the
enemy; consequently he had reduced
the arsenal force to 100 men and re-
tanned only his favorite troops Of the
guards and one company Of the Fiji
teenth infantry to protect the palace.
Acting under hastily given tele-
phOnic orders, the commanding Off
Ger at the cantonment barracks had
detailed a few hundred men to fight
rear guard action while the main army
fell back in good order behind a rail-
way embankment which swept in a
wide arc around the city and offered
an excellent substitute for breast
works. This position had scarcely
been attained before the furious adj
vance of the rebels drove in the rear
guard, and pending the capture Of the
arsenal, Ricardo realized his opera
lions were at an impasse. Promptly
he dug himself in, and the battle de-
velOped into brisk affair of give and
take, involving meager losses to both
factions, but an appalling wastage OF
ammunition.
The arsenal, large, modern con-
crete building with tremendously
thick walls reinforced by steel, would
the average field battery. Surround
ing it on all four sides was rein
forced concrete wall 80 feet high,
with machine gun bastions at each
corner and platform along the WALL
inside and % feet from the ground,
which afforded foot room for infantry
which could use the top five feet of
the wall for protection while firing
over it. There was but one entrance,
a heavy, barred steel gate which was
always kept locked when it was not
necessary to have it opened for in
gress or egresS. Given warning OF an
attack and with sufficient time to pre-
pare for it, 100 of the right sort OF
fighting men could withstand an in
definite siege by force not provid-
ed with artillery heavier than an or
binary field gun. With a full realiza-
ton of this, therefore, Ricardo and
his confreres had designed to accom-
plish by strategy that which could not
be done by the limited forces at their
command.
AS the column approached the
neighborhood of the arsenal, three de-
tachments broke away from the main
body and disappeared down side
streets, to turn at right angles later
and march parallel with the main
command. Each of these detachments
was accompanied by one unit Of the
motorcycle mounted machine gun bat
terry with its white crew; two blocks
beyond the arsenal square each de-
tacnment leader so disposed his men
as to offer spirited resistance to any
sortie that might be made by the
troops from the palace in the hope OF
driving off the attackers of the ar
senal.
Having thus provided for protection
during its operations, the main BODY
nominally under DR.. Pacheco but IN
reality commanded by the chief OF the
machine gun company, proceeded 10
operate. With the utmost assurance
in the world the armored truck rolled
down the street to the arsenal en-
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