The morning call., 1891-12-27
TIE TERROR OF DEATH.
A Spanish Writer'S Vivid Picture Of the
Agony Of War.

"You cannot imagine the horrors attend
ing the taking of Tarragona. You did not
see 5000 Spaniards perish in ten hours; you
did not see houses and churches in flames;
you did not see unarmed old men and help
less women slaughtered in cold blood; you
did not see the modesty of maidens, the
dignity of matrons, the sanctty of nuns
outraged; you did not see pillage mingling
with murder; you did not see, in short, one
of the graYest exploits of the cenqueror OF
the world, the hero of our age-Napoieonl
Il saw it all! l saw the sick rise from
the bed of suffering, dragging after them
| their sheets, like shrouds, to perish at the
hands of foreign soldiers on the threshold
over which the day before had passed the
Viatcumi l saw lying in the street the
! body of a woman they had slaughtered, and
at her side her infant, still nursing at its
dead mothers breast. l saw the husband,
with his hands tied together. witnessing
the dishonor of the wife; children weeping
with terror at the horrors which surrounded
them on every hand; despair aud innocence
taking refuge in suicide; impiety Insulting
the dead.
Dangerously wounded and unable to
take further part in the conflict, fed Tor
|. refuse to Clara's house.
"FuIl of anguish and terror she stood at
the window, fearing for my life and risking
her own to see he In case L should chance
to pass through the street
Il entered and fastened the door, but my
pursuer5 had already sight OF Clara-and
she was so beautiful.
They saluted her with roar of savage
joy and burst of brutal laughter. A mo
ment more and the door would yield to the
AK and the flames. We were lost!
"Clara's mother, carrying in her arms her
yearling babe, led us to the clstern or reser-
voir of the house, which was very deep and
which was now dry, as no rain had fallen
for several months, and there we concealed
ourselves. The clsterp, the floor of which
might measure some eight yards square,
and which was entered by steep under
ground flight of steps. narrowed toward the
J top like the mouth of a well, and entered
| into the center of a court-y ard, where a
| breastwork was built around il, above which
! two buckets were suspended from hooks at
! tached to an iron bar for drawing water
THE child | nave spoken OF. whose name
was Miguel, was Clara's brother. that is to
| say, the youngest child of the unhappy
woman whom the French had just made
! widow.
ain the cistern we four might find safety.
! Seen from the yard, the cistern seemed
| simple we'll The French would think We
| had made our escape by the roof,
They soon declared that such was the
| case, uttering horrible oaths while they
rested themselves in the shady yard, in the
corner OF which was the ctstern.
Yes, we were saved Clara bound up
nv bleeding hand, her mother nursed Nj
| the chill which had followed the fever
caused by my wound, smiled with happi-
| ness.
"At this moment we noticed that the
soldiers, wishing doubtless to slake their
thirst, were trying to draw water from the
| cisiern in which We were concealed.
Picture TO yourself our anguish at that
instant.
1--WE drew aside to make way for the
bucket which descended uutil it reached
the floor
1--WE scarcely dared to breathe.
| THE bucket was drawn up again.
1.-The we'll is dry cried the soldiers.
"'There must be water upStairs.' eX-
| claimed one.
".They are going away we all said to
| ourselves.
=. What if they should be concealed in this
| wellv cried voice i'll Catalan.
! alt was renegade-a Spaniard who had
BETRAYED us.
"'What nonsensev responded the French
man, They could not get down there so
suddenly
| gade.
'"rhey did not know that the cistern
could be entered by an underground pas
sage. whose door or trap, carefully con-
| cealed in the floor OF q dark cellar, some
| what distant from the house. il would be
impossible to discover He had, however,
committed the impudenee OF locking the
iron grating which cut off the cOmmunica-
ton between the cistern and passage, and
we could not open it without making a
| good deal of noise.
Imagine, then, the cruel fluctuations be-
tween hope and fear with which we had
| listened to the dialogue carried on by those
| Wretches on the very brink of the well.
From the corners in which we were crouch
ing we could see the shadow Of their heads
moving within the circle of light on the
floor OF the cistern. Every second seemed
10 us a century.
"At this moment the baby Miguel began
to cry.
fenced the sounds that threatened to betray
our hiding place, pressing the infants face
into her bosom.
Ibid you hear that?' cried some one in
the yard above.
~ heard nothing responded another.
Let us listen said the renegade.
Three horrible minutes passed.
miguel struggled to get his voice. and
the mure closely his mother pressed his
! face into her bosom the more violent were
his struggles.
But not the slightest sound was audible
SIT must have been an echo" exclaimed
the soldiers.
"Yes. that was itv assented the rene
gade.
"And they all took their departure, and
we could hear the noise of their steps and
the clanking of their sabers slowly dying
away in the direction of the gate.
| THE danger was passed.
But, alas. our deliverance had come too
late.
Baby Miguel neither cried nor struggled
now.
''He was dead !"-Phiiadelphia Item.