The record-union., 1897-01-28


ginning to tell on US. We had not tasted
any beef for some days. The native
troops have great vitality They do
service on almost no food, and with
rags to cover them. So yellow and
miserable is their appearance that one
of our seamen said that he could lick
three of them ait a time easily. Most
Of the poor devils look as If they were
suffering from jaundice, and their
bones stick out of their cheeks. They
are covered with vermin. They are
armed with old-fashiOned Remingtons
for the most part.
when we got we'll inland we found
that all the young men were gone.
There were old men, women and chill
dren to be SEEN All of them looked liz,
Bridges were down everywhere. We
had to ford some Of the rivers, with the
water up to our waists. Only the Chin
neys OF the sugar houses were standing.
1.-The condition of the Spanish officers
in the field is not as bad as that of
the men. They have uniforms and
manage to get provisions for them
selves and their horses. Those of them
that we met treated us well. At a town
called Consolation the soldiers got
boisteriouS, and we We're afraid they
We're going to attack us. They did
much loud talking, shaking their firSts
and pointing their guns at us. but the
trouble was finally settled in peace and
we were allowed to proceed. 6
I'VE had now been Joined by other
soldiers and had quite big escort.
Most of them. however, We're either
a. g.,
sickness.
I'VE arrived one morning at Rio
Blanco, a fine town only a couple of
miles from the coast. Here We were told
THAT within few days we would get a
steamship for Havana. We Were very
glad to hear it, for We were utterly tired
out. We had been here only a short
time when smoke was seen. This was
announced to be our steamship. She
came to within half mile of the coast
We were rowed out in large lighters
and put on board together with the sick
and wounded soldiers. There was al
ready a big cargo of wounded on board.
The sights 1 saw on that ship 1 shall
never forget. However, you soon get
accustomed to such things.
THE steamship made but one stop
between Rio Blanca and Havana, and
that was at Bahia Honda. More sick
and wounded soldiers were crowded on
here, and a conSid amount Of
corn and supplies was landed. The con-
ditiOn of the sick and wounded might
have been helped had there been any
medicines, but there were none at all.
AT Bahia Honda we weighed anchor at
2;oO p. m, passed outside the reef and
shaped a course for Havana, which we
reached Sunday morning, January 17th
The Moro Castle and forts were saluted
as We passed inside the harbor, and We
We're in the Cuban metropolis. The three
guns and our bill of lading were sent on
board a Spanish gunboat which lay in
the har'bor. and we waited in great anx-
iety to hear our fate.
THE following day, much to our sur
prise and qualification, we were pre-
sented to the American Consul, General
Fdtzhugh Lee, from whom We received
the treatment of shipwrecked mariners.
We had contracted quite large bill for
our expenses while being brought here,
and our compass and Instruments were
taken from us to be sold to meet these
expenses. Some of our boys were badly
in need of clothing, what they had be-
ing much torn and worn out by the long,
hard trip across the island. and Uncle
Sam now supplied them with overalls
and some very thin cheap garments to
wear back to the States in zero weather.
and furnished us with steerage tickets,
which obliged us to sleep on the decks
without bedding or blankets, and to eat
our meals off the deek4out of tin pans.
Our treatment at the hands OF the
Spaniards, whom we looked on as enc
mics, had been good deal better
There was a contrast in the case of
the Norwegian sailors on board, who
Were being sent home by their Consul,
and had also been shipwrecked They
We're the crew of a bark that had gone
ashore near era Cruz, Mexico, where
the Norwegian Consul had provided adj
with good warm clothing, second-class
passage and first-class passage for the
Captain and mate. So the Norwegians
did not return to their homes like
tramps. We reflected on the poverty of
Uncle Sam, who could do no better than
send his sailors home in the dead of
winter with no underclothing, and with
only the thinnest apparel, and very lit
tie Of that"