The evening times., 1898-09-13
SOUVENIRS and RELICS
MementOes Brought Home
from Cuban Battlefield.
MAUSER RIFLES In PLENTY
Most Precious of All, the Flag of the
NerriBIac Made a Pail for the Late
Lieut.. WheeIer-TwO of TOraI's
Ponies Brought Away by District
of Columbia Boys.

On that last memorable day at Camp
Wikoff, the day before entering Wash
ington the boys of the District regiment
set up a great howl of 1ismay and ag-
ony The howl resouHded through every
company street, nor were there many
tents 10 escape the lamentations
Someone had made a round of the camp
and weeded out from haversack and roll
the most precious Of the souvenirs
brought back by the boys Bundle after
bundle had disappeared, and the boys
refused TO be comforted.
Some of them returned 10 Washington
City with an abbreviated supply of relics.
Withal many OF the returned warriors
can exhibit quite number of interest
ing relics of the late war The most
common of these are clips of Mauser
bullets. These clips are ready TO place
into the cartridge chambers, and con-
tain four of the deadly little tubes.
Then there are bamboo canteens. Many
of the boys brought these home. They
are sections, cut out of Santiagos bam-
boo, with the bottom left untouched, and
a small hole bored into the top, into
which a cork is attached by a string.
Spanish military buttons are rather
scarce A few of the District boys can
exhibit sets of Spanish regular and vol
unteer, infantry, cavalry, and artillery
buttons.
Then come the cockades worn by the
Spanish regulars. These are little round
badges of the Spanish colors which were
attached TO the ribbon of the hat
There are hundreds of these in the Dis
trict regiment.
The brass or poisonous bullet, the eX-
plosive bullet and the Spanish volunteer
Remington bullet are numerous among
the boys. These were common enough at
Santiago to afford proof of the barbar-
Gus machines resorted to by the Span
iards in a struggle against civilized foe.
Many homes in Washington are al
ready decorated with daggers, bread
knives and ornaments carved from the
wood of the famous block house on San
| Juan hill.
Private Howell, of Company A, has in
| his possession the flag of truce used by
| the little band of Rough Riders at San
Juan when they were ambushed and cut
! off from the main column. The little rel
/ ic is riddled with bullet holes and is a
( pitiful object.
Machetes are plentiful. The boys have
a collection of them which is complete.
! The crude weapons range from feet TO
feet in length, and are nearly all in
very bad condition.
Two members of Company L possess
! complete Spanish uniforms. These are
made from common gingham, and are
| very pacific garments Cuban earrings
and breastpins were also brought home
! by the boys to cause jealousy among
! their sweethearts here
| One of the boys brought the flag which
had adorned the Merrimac to Montauk,
| intending to keep it as a priceless souve-
mir. When Gen. Wheeler's son was
| drowned the patriotic District boy sent
fla IN ~
the body be wrapped with the famous
! banner before interment. Gen. Wheeler
accepted the gift with a grateful note.
which the District boy prizes almost as
| highly as he did the flag.
Two ponies which were the property of
| Gen. Toral and two small cannon which
had defended Santiago for a century also
returned with the regiment as relics
| Mauser rifles are plentiful. Private Tom
| Walsh returned with no less than three
of these. Private Gene Smith, of Com
pany G, has a Mauser which was struck
by fragment of bursting shell, and
| the magazine blown completely off,
| Private Carl Eckdall has a ragged proc
| lamatfon printed in Spanish, which he
| took from the market-house in Santiago.
/ The proclamation gives the terms of the
| protocol and declares a truce for a time.
! 1t is covered with tobacco spit and mud.
with which the Spaniards expressed their
disapprovaI of the truce
Major Urell has a splendid collection of
| relics. One of these is a medal of honor
worn by an old campaigner 1t is of
| massive silver, and contains five bars
each showing gallant deeds performed
| by the wearer in many battles. The
medal was cut from the breast of an Off
| Ger who had starved to death in a clumr
| Oh trees near Siboney. A member of the
| District Band has a bugle captured from
a Spanish regular. The bugle is of fine
| silver alloy. and is handsomely engraved
one OF the most unique consignments
that ever reached Washington was re-
ceIted yesterday as personal gift by
| fehhsyIVanla Avenue merchant. 1t con-
| slstS OF Spanish buttons, cocoanuts in
the green state, native hats in the style
and shape worn by Porto Ricans.. Speei-
mems OF their peculiar styIe of high-class
! photography, which is reflected I'm a style
| that resembles the old-time Daguerreo-
type, except that it is pictured in blue,
| shows the real beauty of the native wom-
| en-.
Landscape scenes of Ponce and sur
roundings have only to be looked at to
| convey TO the mind of the American OH
server the beauty and possibilities of this
| land to induce the investment of Ameri-
| can capital
In addition to the Porto Rican speci-
mems named that have been received by
Mr. Joseph Auerbach. his friend DR.. A.
A. Solomon, has sent him the flag of
| the captured steamer Panama as well
as the log of that vessel, which is full
/ OF Spanish notes and annotations that
may yet be valuable to the Government
in the annals of the war which will be
compiled later on.