Impression sketch
for Guard Shoots Civilian - by Jamie.
At a coastal
situation of East Sussex,
Alma Axell, a
Labourer from
Rye Harbour village,
had been asleep
Within a
fishermen’s hut.
Private George
Tuck of the 1/7th Cyclist
Battalion, Devonshire Regiment,
Started day as
part of the coastal patrol -
On usual lookout
duty.
He came across
the certain hut wherein
Alma Axell was waking
-
On seeing the man,
the private made
A challenge three
times.
After the fourth
time, labourer Alma Axell
Addressed the
soldier
Whose gun aimed
at him - 'what did
He want with him?'
Private Tuck
looked down the barrel;
'Your in a
restricted area,'
'I have a living
to do as well' - then Axell
Threw a fist of
loose stones.
Tuck backed up
from the stony clatter,
His gun still squarely
aimed,
To consider if
this man was a threat;
Who took up more
stones.
'I'm warning
you,' advised Private Tuck
Who, before more stones
Were thrown, fired
- the man fell down,
Forwards to the
ground.
From a hesitant
moment Private Tuck
Ran to find
assistance -
On a return they
found the labourer
Still lying on
ground - dead.
At an inquest over
the death the juror
Asked why not
just have shot
Him in leg? -
Private Tuck gave reason
Fact of being six
paces apart.
The claim of the
private was how he
Had shot in self-defense -
Exonerated of any blame, came verdict
Of justifiable
homicide.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916. Sentry
Shoots Assailant. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 17 March 1916. P.10. Col.1. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12196035/Daily-Telegraph-March-17-1916.html
[Accessed: 17 March 2016].
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 17 March 2016).
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