The San Francisco call., 1898-06-06

NEW YORK, June 5.-The ambul- ance ship Solace came into port to-day having on board fifty-four wounded and sick. some of whom had been transferred from the American war ships in Cuban waters and others taken from the hospitals at Key West.
 Her afterdeck had been tented off with canvas and in swinging ham mocks lay half a dozen of the more seriously i'll of the patients. The con- valescing room was the basking place of a score or more of the poor fellows who had not given up the fight without a struggle, while the privilege of the decks had been accorded all those who were able to move about or anxious to watch the green hills as the good ship moved in shoreward.
 The Solace anchored off Tompkins- vile early this morning, where she was boarded by a representative of the As sociated Press. She left Key West Wednesday afternoon last and made the run to New York without incident until Saturday night, when the gale tumbled her about awhile and made things to some extent uncomfortable 4Ol l1lC pdL1CAlo S11C SdA4 ACN' AOoS eiAS seavoyage was a tonic to the men.
 They had left behind the sWeltering heat of the tropics-had exchanged suf- locating and exhausting winds for re-
 freshing breezeS. Many were nearing home; all, almost, were to rest in the heart of the great country they had been fighting for. The Solace brought in many a little band of heroes among the fifty-four. They had gathered to- gether in small groups on the voyage up many a time and told again the story of a brush with the Spaniards or a night on watch at the blockade.
 Four of the heroes from the Nash vile and the Marblehead were among the patients on the Solace-Robert Voltz of San Francisco and Henry Hendricksen, John Davis and H. w. Kuchmeister of New York. They are the wounded of that gallant band of volunteers who cut the cable at C1en- fuegos nearly a month ago. It is tale that has been told before, but that noble effort will live in history side by side with the Merrimac'S journey down into the narrows at Santiago harbor.
 Commander McCalla of the Marble head called for volunteers to man the boats. Every hand went up and the men begged for a call to the place of danger. Lieutenant Winslow, Lieuten- ant Anderson and Ensign Magruder were in charge as the seamen swept the boats with easy stroke in shore. In the rifle pits 2000 Spaniards had gath cred. Shells from the warshipS were directed along the coast line, and then, with every man at his gun, the Marble head, Nashville and Windom sailed, watching for the voice that all knew was inevitable.
 The small boats made straight in. few hundred yards from shore and the men were at work. They dragged up the first cable and hacked through the heavy strands; then found the second. This was the Spaniards signal, and they opened fire. For half an hour the gallant sailors worked amid a rain of bullets. Meanwhile, the American war ships were hurling shells and shot into the enemy, who, nevertheless, kept up a fierce fire. The men in the boats kept coolly at their work. Never for mo- ment did they falter.
 Lieutenant WinSlow lost three fingers of his left hand by the explosion of shell, but he is still at Key West, ready for duty again.
 John Reagan, on the Marblehead boat, was shot through the chest. As he fell, Private Marine Kuchmeister stopped to assist him. At that instant a rifle ball struck Kuchmeister in the jaw and passed out of his mouth. The marine, hardly realizing how badly he was injured, bandaged up his jaw with a handkerchiew and tried to stop the flow of blood from Reagan's wound, but poor Reagan died a moment later. Gunner's Mate Davis of the Marble head was torn with a bullet in his thigh and moment after a one pounder from shore had sent a shot close enough to graze his arm.
 Hendricksen and Voltz, the for mer from the ldarblehead, and the latter from the Nashville. are the others of that gallant expedition who will carry the marks of heroism to the grave. When the revenue cutter iWn- dom brought Hendricksen and Voltz to Key West. the hospital surgeons said both would die. One had three bullet wounds this was VOltZ 22-oaIihar