Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-09-14
s'Gimme y .t~in.roof cocktail ,Jimu

First we was quartered down ii
Whipple Barracks, but after the Ari
Zony recruits stole all the chickens anC
drank all the poor whisky in that coun
try we decided to nov to Kentucky
where horses We're loose, money fast
and women as plentiful as blue grass
When the War department found ou1
what we wanted. we was put on a train
and sent straight through to Lexington
without a change Of cars or socks.
"We got purity badly Disguised there
from shoveling snow and carrying wood
and begun to wish that Spain or some
other country had more men that they
wanted killed. The war correspondents
was kept busy tapping wires and kegs
and other reliable news sources, but il
seemed that nothing was going on tc
give US encouragement.
"Bimeby--It think it was along about
the 9th Of January-we gets word that
the insurgents had broke loose and were
p~illaging, numbering and making an
honest living in various other ways.
"We pulled out of there with giee and
a quart of bourbon to the man and before
you could say Jack Robinson was owe
in Cuba.
"Santa Cristo is q beautiful place on
the south coast of Cuby. A little bay
reaches from the town out into the
ocean and palms, bananas, oranges,
flowers, and peanuts grow there as thick
as sage brush and cactus does here.
You would think you was in heaven
down there.
'.The town had a 40 foot stone wall
around it, and loop holes for firing
through were scattered along at inter
walls of two feet. There was 1000 in
surgent soldiers in the town and about
10000 in the palm groves outside the
walls.
"Our regiment of New Mexico and
Arizona boys was ordered to break
through the outer lines of the enemy
and take the town. Everybody and his
brother was wild with excitement
when the bugle sounded the charge,
and we went through the six regiments
drawn up to receive us, like a solid shot
through an egg shell.
but We couldn't get into the city and
our guns didn't have any effect on the
wall. Then W e attempted to besiege
the place. Something was the matter
with our commissary department, and
for three days we had nothing to eat
but an empty catsup bottle. The suf-
fering was terrible. Meanwhile, the
guns of the enemy We're popping like
matrimonial visitors at a seaside resort,
and the whitening fire was putting oul
brave boys in a panic.
II was just getting ready to run my.
self, when an orderly dashed up TO me
with a slip Of paper in his hand. Quick
as scat | read it and then ordered the
men to charge the palm groves. My
orders were to do lots of firing but tc
kill as few as possible and drive the enc
my into the bay to drown, instead.
with a yell, we dashed into the big
| gest bunch of insurgents in sight. YOU
ought to have seen us fight! We wasn'1
no ''tin soldiers like these militia dudes
Finally the opposing force broke ant
run and they fairly knocked one another
down in their hurry to git away from
u.s.. . }4 $751;. .HE FISH,. .'
1.-THE bay filled until the surface of thu
water was hid from view by a mass o
waving arms, staring eyes and upendet
hair.
Twas a horrible sight!
"We beat the bush within a radius o
five miles, and kept on driving insurgent
into the bay until there wasn't no NOR,
to drive. Ieguess we must have pilet
en- up in there more'n a thousand deep
II noticed that the bay seemed to b,
getting bigger; then, all at once, i
struck me what the general was tryins
to do. He thought that. by filing thu
bay with insurgents, the water woult
raise and drown out the town!
"Sure huff! little by little, the watel
got higher and higher, until it Stopped
in the loop holes. But it stopped there
"It was high tide and there was nj
hope for more water. l felt so mighty
bad and disappointed that l sat dowl
on a stone and cried. However, tina
didn't seem to raise the water any, so
quit, and began to think of dried ap
Piles, prunes, beans and the many thing
that serve to swell the soldier will
patriotism. But the commissary Wagon
hadn't showed up for three days, $.
there was no hope of swelling the ba,
In any such manner. l gave up il
despair.
"All at once, | heard a voice singing
Hold the Fort, for l am Coming ant
looking up l saw Quartermaster Ser
geant Easley on the top of a big hill
surrounded by a lot of barrels He wa
brandishing a meat x
sit was years since | heard tina
sweet old Sunday school song, and i
never sounded so good as 1T dit
then. The sergeant had a splendid
voice, when he was sober, and as thu
notes of that tune echoed over the hill
and Wales, we began to cheer, for W,
somehow knew that he had found a wa,
to let us into the city.
"While the fighting was in progress!
he had been three miles in the rear at
tending to General Shafter, who wa
laid out OF q carpet s%tretcher, sick will
fever. When he heard that we couldn'
| get at the enemy he came to the res
cue. .
HE knocked in. the head of one O.
the barrels and took out a big, white
round thing which he stood on edge
long enough to balance, then let loose
1t started down the hill pell NELL, gath,
ering fresh impetus with each revolu,
tion, and cut the water like a buzz saw
wading through soft butter. Sheets Of
/ spray were thrown hundreds of feet in
the air and o deep ravine showed in its
wake. The missile struck the wall with
a dull thud and was Embedded in the
hard stone.
1.-THE first shot knocked the wall &c
feet out Of plumb, and 1 realized that an.
other would loosen the masonry and lei
in the water. v.,
"Then, and then only, was the horror
| of the situation revealed to me. I yelleG
to him to destst. 1t seemed inhuman to
kill even an enemy, in such a manner
He paid no heed to my objection, and
with a sardonic grin, poised another
wheel of the deadly bareback and sent
1t or q mission Of destruction.
kC- 49, 4 A 49,