The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-20
THERE IS wan IN CUBA.
Gen. Bradley t. johnson Writes
That He Has Been In II.
From the New York Journal.

IIOln Ait 4NtW lOAk J0ullldls
Havana, June II, via Jacksonville, Fla,
June I7.-There is war in Cuba. 1 am an
eyewitness to it, and testify to the fact
l went to Matanzas Saturday on recon
noissance. I left Matanzas on the p. m.
train for Havana. with my hoist Don
Ricardo. Our train consisted of an engine
and freight car lined with half-inch boiler
iron, pierced for musketry, I'm which were
about fifteen Spanish soldiers under ser
geant, a secOnd-class car and a third
cass car, and behind them two first
Don Ricardo and myself got seats in the
last car in which were several officers
and private soldiers.
Seven and a half miles from Havana
there was an explosion of dynamite. The
train stopped, and in an instant l heard
the "sput, sput' of bullets In a second
everybody was on the floor, except myself,
who, being ignorant Of the customs Of the
country, got up out of my seat and was
going to the rear platform TO see what
was going on, when my friend. the Don,
who at first shot threw himself on the
floor behind the water cooler, insisted that
/ should not go out as the Spaniards were
certain to shoot me If the rebels missed.
Therefore ] did not go, but took an OBJ
servation out of our car. Just then brok-
en- glass stung my face and a ball went
and I had just left
Another cut through a book on the seat
in front and made me a little furry Of
whirr Of a bullet as It scraped by me- go
ing through my coat. Now the jerk OF a
bullet is a thing you never forget 1t is a
quick movement a jerk, a tug at your
clothes and for a second you do not
know whether you are dead or not. / rec
ognized it. I had felt the sensation at
Toms Brook and at Woodstock. and in
the valley of Virginia in 1864, and ] knew
what ii meant. / ran my hand over my
leg TO see where I was hit and finding no
blood, retired TO the next car, where 1
sat on the floor with such dignity as is
possible for gentleman to exhibit seated
on a dirty floor with the air fun of bullets
While this was going on the rebels We're
yelling Surrender" At the first shot
the five soldiers got out and "the subsc-
quent proceedings interested them no
The affair lasted, I think. about five
minutes. There were about thirty rebels
The train was IN cut about fifteen feet
high, and these Cubans lay on top and
pumped lead out of Remingtons into as
at ten yards. They fired about a hundred
shots. | think heard one shot fired from
the soldiers five minutes after the rebels
were gone.
am sure I did not hear shot from our
ironclad. These gallant fellows retired
on their discretion and husbanded their
valor. They held the tronclad though.
After the battle comes the glorfcation.
I dlG see single rebel; all the rest saw
lots We took an account Of losses and
gains. The first two cars behind the iron
clad had been ditched by the dynamite
and no one hurt. The car in front of ours
had sixteen bullet holes through it, and
our car had thirty-twO.
one negro in our car was shot through
the forearm and bled prOfusely, two white
men were scratched and my coat had a
hole through it. ] did not know until
Spanish officers pointed it out to me with
great rolling of the eye. In a restaurant
at Matanzas that night after we had an
got back a Spanish colonel said:
'These Americans have no blood There
was a large one there with gray muestache
and goatee who stood up while every one
was on the floor, and he laughed. actually
laughed. He had no blood; he is not a
man: he Is a beast"
Isn't this an insult to the flag and an
other American outrage? Besides. who is
going to pay for my coat2 1t has a large
ragged hole, too large TO patch, and the
ball passed within one-tenth of an inch of
my thigh.