Show 4 d adventurers CLUB CLU B HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF Fl 1 siberian melodrama H HELLO ELLO EVERYBODY heros heres a yarn that sounds ns as if it might have nap bened out in the old wild west when two gun hombres combres fought it out in ili the streets and booted and spurred cow punchers cleaned out dance halls with well directed volleys from their six guns I 1 dont know whether those things bilings ever happened out I 1 in n the west all I 1 know is what I 1 see in ili the movies this incident im going to tell you about sounds like the west but it happened way over in the eastern part of siberia and it happened to samuel C taylor of now new york city you know we had troops in siberia for a couple of years after the world war sam taylor was one of them ile he was with a platoon of 60 men from company D thirty first united states infantry stationed at tho the little siberian town of the town itself was nothing but a railroad station n and a few houses lio tile the soldiers were living in half a dozen box cars that had been taken off their wheels and set on the ground beside the track but though the town was small it was affording plenty of excitement it was about the middle of january and for days the americans had been watching an army go through town it a hostile army but nt at tile iho same time it a friendly ono either it was a bolshevik army moving to attack vladivostok not far away as distances go in siberia sam says there were thousands of them well equipped with machino machine guns and lugging enough field pieces to blow those GO 60 americans and their box cars to halifax hut but they be bothered with tile the americans taking vladivostok was more important por tant sum sain acted ns as provost guard nt at the station on tho the afternoon of january 18 sam was waa acting provost guard nt at the railroad station it was a bitter cold day A cutting wind was sweeping past tile tho station and private pat strong on sentry go was stamping stamping up and down tile the platform two bolshevik troop trains had i 1 to whipped the automatic up and let go just pulled in on a siding and soldiers had crowded into the station where they could buy hot ten tea and vodka and as pat strong paced up and down the platform n big russian said something to him in russian pat understand him ile ho came to port arms while the russian stormed and gesticulated and finally grabbed pats gun pat tried to pull the gun away but the russian was a powerful brute ile ho spun pat around and threw him in a snow bank A couple moro more americans arnero amero came running up he threw them int into 0 the snow bank too and made a mad dash for the station where sam came into the picture As provost guard he ra rated ted a sentry box down at tho the end of the platform ile he saw the fight just as the russian broke loose and started into the station and tic ho camo came out on tile tho run with the other three americans at his back he started after him says he 1 I went bursting into the station as if the whole U S army was stepping on my heels that station was full of Dol shies singing talking and yelling lots of them had rifles some of them had hand grenades tied to their belts out but I 1 have time to look over tho the grenade situation just then that big russian had found himself a rifle I 1 was five foot feet inside the door whenn spotted him but he must have hava seen me first because he was raising his gun it was a question who would shoot first sam bad hada a 45 automatic and it was a question of whether he or the russian could shoot first without even taking time out to think tic ho whipped that automatic up and let go the big russian dropped for an instant there was a dead silence in ili the station those ruckles were surprised says sam and so was 1 I for a second well welli I 1 almost opened lire fire on the whole bunch of them but I 1 caught myself just in time it was a tough spot and sam knew tt it hero here was a whole roomful of wild russians and ho he had just shot one of their pals if he started out tho the door some of them would be sure to begin shooting it that happened be general disorder with 60 00 americans fighting a whole troop train full of bolsheviks and what was more to the point it would be curtains for sam 1 I had to use my head he says and I 1 decided id bluff them I 1 stood in the alie middle of the ilia floor waved my pistol over their heads and pointed to the door and then happened the thing that probably saved my life in swinging my arm I 1 tight ened my grip on the pistol to keep from dropping it and in doing that I 1 squeezed the trigger too hard BANGI BANG off of she went again that bullet struck somewhere behind the ho bar and down came a lot of at glassware sam says the falling glass created a terrible racket the russians roust must have thought n shell had burst in there mere they iney turned and ana stam siam roust must have n nus t ceded tor for the door and sam says they went through it like a kansas tornado in ten seconds there a bolshevik in the place and where were the other three fellows says sam they ey were outside turned into a rear guard when they hey heard those shots inside and saw all those huskies piling out they ran for camp to tell tile the others the russians had eaten me alive and were coming to eat them too sam says he ha certainly did NOT feel like a hero when he went into that station ile ho just have time to think about it it was only after I 1 got inside he says that I 1 realized I 1 was in a swell pickle ive often thought afterwards suppose I 1 hit one of the grenades those russians had tied to their belts boy that WOULD have been an adventure copyright service |