The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-07-18
CAMP M'CALLA LIFE.
NEW JERSEY BOY WRITES OF THE
MARINES WORK ASHORE.
Well Prepared Now to Repulse Any Span.
ish Attack, He says-A London Corre-
spondent's Opinion of Our Regulsrs-A

spondents Opinion Of Our Regulsrs-A
Good Word For Cuban Patriots In Camp.
Joseph f. r. Boniface Of Company
O, First battalion of the marine corps,
now at Camp McCalla, has written an
interesting letter under date of June 30
to his father, John X Boniface Of South
street, Morristown, N. j. In part the
letter is as follows
"DEAR FATHER-I received your let
tiers last night, along with many more,
altogether IL, and 10 newspapers, and
have so much reading matter ON hand /
scarcely know which way to turn. But
hastily looked over the headlines Of
them all and read the accounts of us,
and they are true in every particular,
especially the one referring to our hill
fight So you can rely ON it and get the
news from one to six days earlier than
could possibly send it to you. would
like you to save clippings of everything
you see in any paper about the marine
corps l am myself proud of the corps.
| We did not know when we landed that
| the Spaniards were hurrying REINFORCE
ments here, expecting that the army of
occupation would commence operations
here. We builded better than we knew.
And while trainloads of Spaniards were
killed by the shells from the ships we
little knew that Santiago was supply
| ing them. You read of Lieutenant Nc
Gill's capture of the heliograph. Well,
they twice signaled for re-enforcements
with that, and they came, but the pres
ence of our warships no doubt saved the
day.
1.-TWO of our men have become de-
ranged, one from fright and worry; the
| other from overheating Every day we
are compelled to cut brush and burn it
for our own protection, and that is very
hot work l suppose you must have been
very anxiously awaiting word. In fact,
l have no idea of how you felt. You
see, felt secure, or at least protected
by the unseen hand, and SO had no fear
] To say the least, it is an indescribable
sensation-that of being under fire.
First, you don't show your head, or
rather you dodge bullets, wholly use
less operation then you don't care, and
finally stand up and hammer away.
think you had best eagerly scan the pa
| pers for engagements, and l will follow
up with particulars as soon as possible,
although some of the best war corre-
spondents in the world are right here
with us. The correspondent of the Lon
don papers says he has seen many a
fight, in every cline, but the utter
abandon and perfect calm with which
our regulars met the enemy at Santiago
was something entirely new to him. He
says our skirmish line there is five miles
long, composed of Is, 900 men. Ships
are continually coming and going be.
tween here and Santiago. and we get
those daily bulletins printed on the New
York which keep US we'll informed.
"The Spanish prisoners are working
in Golfers, and seem to enjoy theil
work. The magnanimity of the Ameri
cans amazes them after what they have
heard, and they Reg to be allowed tc
work for their food, and so they dc
night and day. l think myself that
many a poor, deluded man is here
against his will They told our men
through an interpreter that when draft
ed they were told they would have
plenty to eat here, nothing to do. and
when they came home they would ge,
their pay and fine farm.
"There was no need of money here,
they said, as they could get all they
wanted without paying for it-a very
bad thing for them, as their officers
drew all clothing, rations, money ant
pay. You can easily see what chances
there are for the poor privates.
1.-THE Cubans get supplies Of fruit
oranges, melons and bananas from the
opposite shore in small quantities, and,
oh, how good many thing would taste
"The situation may have been un
duly emphasized, We are able to keeI
the greasers at bay, if not to carry on
the offensive, and each day sees us bet
ter prepared. Our chooka- chook gun, OF
sewing machine, as we call it, firing
the same bullets as our rifles and about
900 minute and sounding exactly like
sewing machine. and our ships ant
field pieces more than give the dagoe!
the needles, although if they had modern
artillery and efficient officers and artil
lerists-which they haven't-they could
make Us break camp. We have put NJ
seven tents for each company's use late
ly, but so many of us are needed fol
outposts, picket duty, sentinels, patrols
etc., that none of them are in much de
mand.
II think rather misjudged the Gu
bans at Key West. These are gener
Gus, brave people, and Viva los Ameri
canos 7 is heard as often as Viva Cuba I
and is given as Justify. There is some
talk here of getting public lands from
the Cuban government / will certainly
put in application for farm and min
eral claim if such thing is done. be-
lieve fortune lies down here in these
hills. the Carnegie company has iror
mines at Santiago, and if they believ'
in the country there must be something
very valuable here. So you see my lit
tie studies in mineralogy may be o.
| some use after all New York Sun.