The Portland daily press., 1896-11-27

| ish troops we're the tbiokest, and after
each shot the ground at that pot was
round bare, excepting for dead and
| wounded soldiers, and the living near
were seen fleeing n,every direction;
When the projectile struck the ground
was broken ana furroWed, and bodles
OF soldiers were afterward found torn
ilmo from limb. The enemy retreatea'
leaving dead, wounded, muskets, mu
nlt1ons, mules and provisions behind
| then.
"In the next battle at San Francisco.
on Septe1n Der 90, the result was the
same. We had slept all night In the Mills
| OF Consolation, walked all day, and met
5000 Spaniards under command OF
Echague. These were new enemies. IN
| this battle the Spaniards lost one-of their
bravest officers, Capt. Ramon Ioonet
"Ths next battle which the gun won
for US was a fearful one. against great
| odds, for H. 900 Spaniards were IN 'front.'
| under command Of Ecbague. Mela uizo,
Incian and Munoz. 1t was fought at
Guayabita, among the hills and In the
pine woods.
cat first we were fearful Of defeat, bit
Maoeo went from point to point, urging
on the men encouraging them and i'm
pressing them with the Importance of
standing firm and not conceding one
inch to the enemy. The battle lasted
for 80 hours, and the fighting was simp-
ly terrific. Had it not been for Maceo
We would have been routed, but his dar-
ing conduct and encouraging words
were inspiration to the patriots.
wherever the enemy was in greatest
force, there the dynamite gun would be
aimed. The result was always the same
death to many of the enemy and scat
tering of the forcea. Seven shots were
fred during this battle-only seven
bus they were snough. Time was re-
quired in moving, handling. and loading
the gun; and then no shots we're wasted.
Each discharge meant slaughter to the
enemy and scattering of their forces.
"1he Spaniards stood against the fire
as long as they could, but were beaten
back at every point and took advantage
OF the night to hide and early in the
morning retreated. They said they re-
treated for want of ammun ition, but
the real cause was that they got too
much Of our am munition from that gun.
$50 was in this battle that the Span
iards fired on and killed old men, wom-
en- and children whom Maceo was trying
to conduct to place of. safety. MaceO
could not suppress his delight when the
retreat began. Americans, see them
runl See them run, he cried, as he
stood by ua at the gun.
~ tell you, he and all Of the Gu bans
dpCIoCutuo Wuao 1aiHoI4Cuub udt6 ttOQ6
for Cuba and cannot say too much about
it.
"The next battle was on September
%, at Whales. Here we met the enc
my face to face only $50 feet apart, as
we stood on hills divided by shallow
valley. Maceo stood beside the gun. and
with his pistol fred at Spanish officers
IN the opposite hill. The firing was
quite sharp for few minutes, but after
our gun had sent one of its deadly mis-
siles across the little valley the Spaniards
ceased firing. This particular body of
troops had heard, of the gun, but this
was their first introduction to 1t They
desired no further acquaintance, for af-
ter the second shot was fired they retreat
ed as rapidly as possible.
II was wounded in this battle by gun
shot in the right leg, but being fur
nished a mule I went with Maceo to
Plato, where we next met the enemy,
with the usual result.
Then followed battle in which
could not take active pa1t for my leg
was troubling me greatly In this battle
Maceo had the dynamite gun. and 1t ap.
peared to be possessed with the spirit Of
his fury as it spread disaster and death
among the Spaniards.
"Under his direction the gun was
moved right and left and fred into the
Spanish ranks. The enemy could not
face the fire. They had to retreat The
Spanish author titles had to admit that
it was a disastrous defeat''