The evening times., 1896-06-18
athlete FIGHTS FOR CUBA
Winchester Osg0Od. the Famous
Half-back, Is on the Island.
MEETING THE PATRIOTS
He Was One of the Eight Men Taken
to the Scene of Conflict Two Months
AgO-He VIII Work Hotchkiss
Cannon Against the Spaniards-The
Perils of the Adv venture.

Capt. II. ID. Osgood has received from his
| son, Winchester ID. Osgood, mi. or of
artillery in the Cuban army. an interesting
letter telling of lis life in Cuba.
| Young Osgood was one of an expedition
| of eight men which sailed in a steamer from
some where on the coast OF South Carolina
| two months ago, under commando ( Cuban
veteran OF tile late revolution. Through the
| Cuban junta it las been lea rned that he and
| one other young man, who, like himself,
was quite an athlete, were the only men,
| bcrs of the expedition that were not thor
| ough!y used up for time after landing
| although they have since come around all
! right.
HIS father is West Point graduate, has
been thirty-four years i'll the army and was
| twenty-three years in the artillery. The
| elder Osgood's great-grandfather was Gen.
! israel Putnam, famous in the Revolution
| and in the French Canadian wars. and his
| eat-sreat-sraDdfather. William Douglass
was orderly sergeant in Gen. Putnam's
| rangers IN tile French-C Canadian wars. and
died OF wounds received in the Revolution.
/ Young Osgood, who is twenty-six, was
born at Fort Barancas. Fla, and his boy
hood and youth We're spent at various mil;
tary posts where his father happened to lie.
| stationed. AS his father was instructor in
| artillery practice, 1t was natural that the
son uldhaye acquired considera ile knowi-
| edge of the science, which, re- enforced by
a coursein civil engineering has gained him
such quick distinction in the Cuban army
AN INCIDENT.
| After course AT Wilbraham Academy in
Massachusetts,, where he became interested
in football, he spent two years at Cornell
and later three years at the University of
Pennsylvania, graduating last year he
| was haiiback on the University of Penn
] sylvania eleven, and one incident OF his
| football days is Indicative of his character
| While with the Cornell team they PLAYED
a game with an all university team al Chi
| caSo, and one of the latter slugged Young
Osgood so that his face was for a day or
| Two not exactly thing of beauty Osguod,
WREN he returned 10 college, took up q
| course Of boxing, with view to evening
up things If lie ever met the slugger again
He gained the championship in boxing
| at Cornell. and both heavy and middle
\ weight Championships at the University of
| PENNSYLVANIA. as well as for single scull
| and won medals for wrestling and hicy-
cling. After graduating he did civil en-
| gincering for the Pennsylvania Railroad
| Tor awhile. but having visited the Atlanta
| Exposition. he came hcme with the Cuban
| fever, and finally, though an elderly friend
| who served in the Cuban army in tie last
revolution. his services were accepted by
| the Cuban !UEta. u Tact no doubt partia,iy
due to his speaking Spanish proiicieutly
The following is the substance Of YOUNG
| Oseood's letter. only those portions that
were of a strictly private nature being left
| out:
1t seems proper time to write and
tell you what we have been doing. for
| today / receive my commission as COM
| mandunt in the Cuban army, the grade Cor
| responding to our major. 1t has been
hard and anxious work since / wrote you
| ASHORE Cuba" on the ny-Ieaf Of "A Span
ish book. which 1 suppose you received in
| due time.
ON THE COAST.
We landed on the north coast Of Cuba,
| coming ashore in broad daylight. having
| failedin the darkness to find the inlet which
| we intended to enter The old captain had
| the true spirit, for when we missed the break
| in the reef, he stopped off till day
break, and then ran the steamer up to
| within half mile of the shore, and lay
| there till We had taken our cargo ashore,
| several tons in all.
1t was nearly noon when we saw the
| steamer vanish on the nOrtherIy skyline.
l was the first man ashore, and had to race
| to beat Billy, the other young American
from Philadelphia, VINO has come up wit the
| expedition to work the cannon He was
| sergeant in light battery of the National
| Guard, and has been made a lieutenant
| Together We are assigned to the cauEon,
and hope we shall be able to give good
| account Oft. 1t is one of the latest pattern
/, Hotchkiss guns, and part of our AMI
munition for it is canister and part shells
| We brought a lot of rifle cartridges also,
| The cannon is the object OF everybody s
| admiration, aud has to be displayed at
| least u dozen times a day to the various Wis
| itors, many of them fair ones, who pay their
compliments to us in camp. After we had
| safely cached all the arms and ammunition
| in the woods, we started inland, finding at
| last a deserted house, surrounded by cocoa
nut trees, with ripe fruit all ready for u.s.
Marching further south we cane to an i'm
| passable nansle swamp. and after suffer-
| ing whole day for water we had to return
| to the deserted house again. Here we had
| to leave Billy end another yosng man, ex-
| hausted. We had already left Raphael, an.
| other comrade, sick on the beach, without u
| drop of water.
THE LONELY ISLAND.
Starting off again, this time to the west,
| to avoid the swamp, which / had recon-
| noitered from tree top on the crest of a
| hill Oar trail brought usout on the beach at
| a deserted fsherman's hut, where we found
| several barrels of good rain water. We
| began to think the island deserted. The
| loneliness seemed to our imaginations such
| as would prevail on a pa aeue-stricken dere-
| lict at sea. The same lonely shores, how
ever. were alive with people four dayslater.
l when We had found friends far inland. 1t