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Show j . I orairii ;', Colored Soldiers Were Out- numbered 8 to 1 and Sur- 1 rendered in a Surprise ; Attack. Columbus, N. M., June 25. Eight to one these are now said to be the j odds agaiust which the Americans : struggled at Carrlzal. A survivor of the engagement, Sam ; H. Harris, a dusky private of C tioop, Tenth cavalry, was brought to the border late this afternoon suffering from wounds In his left shoulder and 1 arm. Prom him came the assertion I that pitted against the 84 men of the I American detachment were fully 700 1 Mexicans. i "To top it off," said Harris, "they 1 had a machine gun and they surpns-' surpns-' ed us. We approached them in a : peaceful way, and never had an idea that they would try to massacre us. ; Had we known they wanted to fight, we could have given it to them. I guess they got enough, at that." Harris' troop was entirely sur- ! rounded by the Carranzistas, he said. He escaped, wounded, from the cor- 1 don the enemy had drawn around the Americans by riding straight through i tneir line on nis cnarger, wnicn aiso had been wounded. He rode this horse until It fell from loss of blood, 1 and then grabbed another fleeing animal ani-mal with which he eventually cajight ; up with other survivors whom he ac-l ac-l companied to field headquarters. Harris' account of the battle and his n escape, was expressive and colorful. ; Tears came to his eyes as he recount-, recount-, ed the heroic effort of his wounded ' charger to bear him to safety. Hor6e Saves Life. "That horse sure saved my life," he said; "I want you to know I let him see how I appreciated it Our troop, with Captain Boyd commanding, command-ing, had pulled up before Carrizal. The captain ordered everyone to dis mount, and we all got down. I was a horse-holder and I took charge of some animals whilo their riders stood at attention. "Just after Captain Boyd went forward, for-ward, my horses got nervous and began be-gan to prance around. I lost what was going on, looking after those fool animals. "Next thing I knew, the shooting had started. I looked around, Captain Boyd was down and I couldn't sec him. I kept on looking. There were easily 700 of those 'greasers' around us. They had come up right out of the ground, forming a half-circle. Our men kept on falling. The first shots came from a machine gun. It was trained right on us, and, believe me, it talked fast. Every few minutes it might have been seconds, for all 1 know It would le't up while the operator opera-tor was putting in more clips. Then you could pick out the clicks of the rifle fire. "It wasn't more than two minutes before the Mexicans had surrounded us Wo were right there In the middle, mid-dle, fighting like the dickens. All around, the horses were rearing and plunging. Every little bit a horse or a man would get a bullet and go down. "I couldn't figlt for I had to keep after those mounts. Pretty soon my own horse, a great big fellow, staggered stag-gered and whinnied. They had hit him In the neck. "I put my hand on the spot where the blood was spurting out, then they got me in the shoulder. Horses Run Over. "I lost control of the animals completely. com-pletely. My own horse was Whinny-infr Whinny-infr nnrl iip'jHti- rn Viin rnnn T rrinlfl see fellows dropping all around me, and horses were running off over their bodies. We didn't have a show in the world and T saw It. I cut the horses loose and climbing on my animal, ani-mal, I hit for the thinnest part of the circle. "I went right through the Mexicans. Mexi-cans. My horse brushed two of them out of the way as wo charged. "I Kowe my life to that horse sure as jrou live. Don't you know that animal ani-mal was so brave and big-hearted that he carried me along for ten miles before be-fore he settled down to a walk. Five miles further on his legs just gave out, and he went down. "Man, I hope you don't ever have to say good-bye to a horse like that, at a time and place like that. It seemed to me I couldn't leave him. I looked back to see If there was anyone any-one following. There wasn't, bo I knelt down and poured a little water from my canteen on his tongue. He was 'slipping fast and I Just told him how sorry I was. I thanked him for the mighty big favor he did me. Yes, sir; I thanked him, like he was human. And I guess he understood for he had that look in his eyes. You know. "I wanted to stay longer, .but he was about gone, coughing blood. No use my staying, when some of those 'greasers' might catch up and get me. I was bleeding, too, and in pain. I thanked him again and said: 'Goodbye.' 'Good-bye.' "I walked and walked. A few miles on, I ran onto one of our animals. I jumped him and rode on toward Co-lonia Co-lonia Dublan. Before I go there I ran into some other survivors and we went on together." Private Harris will be kept here for treatment, nn |
