World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, American
It seems to me in my last letter I told you of an accident while
shooting and said they were common. Well, since then I have had a real
accident, so miraculous in its outcome than I am superstitious as a
result. You have read of bandits whose bodies could not be marred by
bullets. The gods must be saving me for something. Father has always
feared a speed greater than twenty-five miles an hour in an automobile.
One has the impression that to hit anything at that speed is very apt to
kill one. Also, you know the marked increase in speed between
twenty-five and thirty-five miles per hour. Say you have gone fifty
miles an hour. Now imagine yourself going twice that fast along a
precipice road. Suddenly the machine comes to the edge of the cliff, and
plunges out into space, at a hundred miles an hour, and down three
hundred feet into a pine forest below. Picture what you would find if
you went down and looked into the remains of such an accident. Well, the
equivalent happened to me. As soon as I hit I cut the spark and turned
the cock which relieves pressure from the gas tank, to prevent fire;
released the belt which held me in my seat; reached up and pulled myself
out of the wreckage by the limb of a tree which had fallen over my head;
and made my way through the underbrush without turning to look at the
machine. As I stepped out upon a road half a mile away, a Red Cross Ford
came along and took me to a near-by village. There I ate a heavy meal
while talking to the madame’s daughter, and then telephoned for them to
come and get me. When they arrived we were all singing and playing at
the piano.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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