"Don't Shoot Until—"

Taranaki Daily News, 16 September 1939, Page 14

"Don't Shoot Until—"

Bunk of Bunker's Hill JfM MORAN, Texas, who once found a needle in a haystack and sold an ice-box to an Eskimo, is convinced that he has proved Colonel William Prescott's command "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes" at the Battle of Bunker Hiil was the silliest ever uttered on a battlefield. The battle of Bunker Hill was fought near Boston at the beginning of the Revolutionary War in 1775, Colonel Prescott and 1500 militiamen entrenched on top of the hill, endangered the British in Boston, and 3000 British Regulars were ordered to dislodge the colonials. Saving Bullets. The Yankee marksmen repelled the first two charges with heavy losses. When the British carged the third time, the defenders were ncarly out of ammunition and Prescott gave his famous "whites of their eyes" order to save gunpowder. Their ammunition gone, the colonials fied. Moran. to rrove his theory that Colonel Prescott's order was inane. recently hired 12 men at £1 each. Two were far sighted, two near sighted. two with normal vision, two bleary-eyed. two clear eyed, one with pink ey°, and one crosseyed. Six men were dressed in colonial costume and six in British red coats, and all were given muskets loaded with powder but ro shot. Moran took them to the site of the Bunker Hill battle. He took the part of Colonel Prescott himself, crying out the historic command. Moran reported on hb experiment next morning. Have Some More Fun "I gave the command as the British redcoats advanced on the Americans," he said. "I told them not to fire until they saw the whites of the British eyes. "As a result the two far-sighted men opened fire when the enemy was 75 feet away. After another 25 feet advance, the men with normal visio- opened fire. "The near-sighted men never did get to shoot— they were skewered on the enemy's bayonets. The cross-eyed man finally let go at the Custom House tower in Boston." Moran concluded: "Now I've got to get back to work and make some more money so I can have some more fun."