The record-union., 1898-07-18
SPANISH MARkSMEN.
WHY THEY ALWAYS MISS THE
TARGET.
Shut Their Eyes and Turn Their
Heads When They Pull
the Trigger.

lieutenant Bayne G. Dent, nephew
ny marriage of General Grant, and
graduate of Annapolis, spent eleven
years In the navy but was retired by
injuries to his eyesight resulting from
Chagres fever. He applied for duty
immediately upon the outbreak of hos
tll1tles, however, and is now one of the
instructors on the training ship at New
port. Much of his leisure time was
passed in Chicago, where he is widely
known and we'll liked. His acqualnt-
ance with Latin American peoples is
extensive. He likes the upper classes
OF them as companions having found
them, he says, uniformly courteous and
obliging, but he holds that they have
fundamental organic fault which pre-
vents them being or becoming fit fight
ers. They shut their eyes and turn
their heads the other way when they
pull the trigger, and they can't help
1t.
Many years ago." Lieutenant Dent
told me- when one of the forgotten
South American revolutions was re-
volving, the old blunt ended, numbering
Philadelphia, on which / was an En-
sign, was ordered to Cartagena to pro-
tect American interests. I never knew
what those interests were, nor could l
see that they We're in any danger, but
We went. A sailor man would as soon
cruise to Ecuador as elsewhere. 1t is
all so many days run and the anchor
down and shore leave at the end Of it..
We found Cartagena invested by the
gallant rebels and defended by the gal
liant Government troops. It is certain
that not any Of the gallant privates
knew what they were fighting about
and, although l tried many times, l
could not find out; but they did fight
every day. The firing was brisk and
the cheering the most enthusiastic and
continuous I ever heard. We could
smell the burned powder fifteen miles
out into the offing, and long before we
sailed into the harbor we could hear
the vivas like a succession of cat calls.
A South American, you know, will
scream 'Viva!' and dance frenziedly
about if you let off firecracker.
I'VE were six weeks at Cartagena,
and l have never spent a more enjoy
able time. 1t was Fourth Of July ev
cry day, and when we wanted quiet we
had only to go on board. sit down in
the messroom and fight eockroaches.
This was the order of procedure six
ddS > III the week, eotiudg DSiIIS d HOt4-
day. There were two or three thousand
troops outside the walls and as many
inside. They rose lit in the morning
and breakfasted. Then the bands play
ed Then the rebels outside squatted
behind fences and stumps and shot at
the walls. The fellows inside peeked
over the walls cautiously and shot at
the fences and stumps. This kept up
ax-aVH-bp6N- EnnPEad off
Then the bands played They dined
from II to l. and smoked cigarettes
from / to 2. The siesta lasted until
$50 AT firing was resumed and con-
tinued until 6. Supper was eaten and
cigarettes were smoked. The officers
went to the house of the General if in
side, or to the tent of the General if
outside and reported that they had been
shooting Then the bands played.
AT Cartagena l discovered how the
firing was done. The fellows along the
wall would sight carefully al something
outside. turn their faces toward me
with their eyes closed and jerk the
trigger 1 observed that the folks out
side did the same thing. Not any of
them ever looked TO watch the effect of
q shot They knew that ii didn't have
any The consequence Of this sort Of
thing was that the bullets went any
where from fifty yards TO quarter OF
a mile wide, dependent upon how far
around the chap turned his head and
how hard he jerked at the trigger AT
first we were chary about going around
during the ferceness of the engage
ments, but soon learned that posi-
ton on the walls was less dangerous
than a seat on Chicago street car We
used to stand and laugh. It sounds like
exaggeration, but It is the simple truth,
that during the six weeks of our stay
but one man was killed and he was a
non-combatant Englishman peacefully
walking along the street. He was