The year was 1915, World War I was just starting in Europe, and the United States had not yet entered the war. It was a
time for fast living and fast driving, and so it was for a young Mr. Smith (his real name) who was out for a pleasant
Sunday afternoon drive. He had one of those long, sleek touring cars, and he loved to drive fast in the open country,
racing up and down the rural country roads, which were paved only with gravel. Mr. Smith lived life fast, and that
included not only the way he drove his cars, but also the way he rode horses or played football or chased women.
Chivalrous he was, but everything Mr. Smith did he did fast.
The fast living might not catch up to Mr. Smith, but the fast driving certainly would, so on the day in question Mr. Smith
took a turn too fast, causing his car to flip over and land on top of him. The young man had been driving recklessly and
too fast anyway, and there he was: alone on some seldom used gravel road, unconscious and pinned beneath the
wreck of his beautiful touring car. The road was one of those mostly deserted roads that wind through the countryside,
and it was only a matter of luck that another driver happened along within a short time after the accident occurred.
The other driver, whose name is not known, managed to get the car off of Mr. Smith, and having placed the unconscious
stranger into his own car sped off to the nearest house available. There with help from the occupants of the house the
young man was ushered into the nearest bedroom where he was laid lifeless on the bed. The lady of the house then
had an opportunity to investigate the situation, whereupon it was discovered that the accident victim was not breathing.
So that was it then. Fast living and fast driving had finally caught up to Mr. Smith, and now he was dead, killed in an
automobile accident, a victim of his own careless and reckless behavior. Fortunately he was the only victim, for if there
had been anyone else in the car with him that person surely would have been killed also.
The lady of the house investigated the still warm and limber body when she noticed a slight movement. Perhaps he was
not dead after all. She inspected closely and found that Mr. Smith was choking on something. She shoved her fingers
into his mouth and found that his throat was filled with gravel and sludge, and she immediately sensed that the man was
choking and drowning in oil and grime. With some effort and good luck the woman gently extricated the gunk from the
young man’s throat, after which he was then allowed to breathe freely. Young Mr. Smith had just experienced a close
shave with death, but he had survived. His ordeal been a close one, but the young man had survived thanks to the
timely fortune of having been found by a stranger who happened to come along when he did, and he survived thanks to
the good fortune that there happened to be a house nearby and people there who were willing to help.
Young Mr. Smith survived this harrowing ordeal, and he was lucky, because the accident that occurred that day was not
his first and would not be his last. Mr. Smith would continue to live his life in a way that he would many times be placed
in precarious and dangerous situations, and not only himself, but he life his life so as to place others in harm’s way as
well. He would be involved in other and many close scrapes, and would survive those as well, while many around him
would not. And even though he would survive miraculously many harrowing brushes with death, in the end it would be
another car wreck that would do him in.
Years later while working in Europe, a friend of Mr. Smith invited him to go along on a hunting trip. Mr. Smith loved
guns, and he loved to hunt. He decided to go with his friend on a casual hunting trip, and as he and his friend rode
casually in the back seat of their car, the driver of another vehicle made an ill-timed turn in front of the car in which he
was riding, and when his car plowed into the other vehicle, his head hit the back of the front seat. Although he would
linger for nearly two weeks Mr. Smith would in the end succumb to his injuries. Mr. Smith died as the result of a freak
accident in which neither vehicle was moving in excess of 35 mph, both vehicles having been driven by well-trained and
fully responsible drivers, one of which had made an unfortunate and careless turn, and the other of which did not react
quickly enough.
Thus ended the life of Mr. Smith, and whereas his own reckless and careless behavior could not do him in, someone
else’s carelessness and recklessness did. And it’s a shame. It’s a shame that Mr. Smith had to end his life that way. It
is a shame, because Mr. Smith had always stated how he would like to die. He had said it something like this: “The only
proper way for a soldier to die is by the last bullet of the last battle of the last war.”
Too bad that General George Smith Patton didn’t get his wish.