The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-07-17
THERE IS CHOLERA
Lieutenant Humphrey Thinks
at Santiago.
DRANK YELLOW WATER
Two Days of tho Siege With
out Food.

| "
fantry, formerly stationed at Fort Shell
ing. MINI. but now at Santiago, return
ed yesterday to Wichita to recuperate
from severe spell OF sickness which
came upon him on July 8 after Tho hard
fighting and siege Of Santiago beginning
July z.
He says there is a great ded Of slck-
ness among the American soldiers in Cuba
and It is on the increase
rs there any yellow feverr" he was
asked.
u couldn't say as 20 that. but there
is something in the reported cases of
cholera 1 am uneasy for the boys. You
can hardly imagine the intensity OF the
heat. And It is a stagnant humid heat,
full OF the effluvia OF decaying vegeta-
ton, of scummy sloughs and everything
that attends a wet season in a tropical
country.
All around the besiege1 Spanish city
Of Santiago 1t is dense forest with an
underground so dense and matted that a
man canOt make his wav through it. 1t
is this way everywhere except upon the
| roads It's not simply an occasional
! thicket, but Kccat scn5e iores- every
where, consisting of big trees, a matted
underground OF cactus and chapparal
and brushwood. You could no more get
through 1t than you could walk through
a dense Kansas hedge fence.
That is where the advantage Of the
machete comes in. Four or five men can
take machetes and cu- their way through
this underbrUsh at the rate of about a
mile an hour. That is. they can with
these big knives cut out enough o: the
brush to allo them 10 gct along 1T about
this rate. We had to march through
such thckets as mis- from Siboney 20 our
position on the east of Santiago It took
practically two days to get six miles out
of Siboney on our way to Santiago.
CAUSE OF THE SICKNESS.
''The sickness is being brought on by |
exposure of the siege and hight and ty |
the kind of water we had to drink from |
the first Of July up to the time the |
trenches were all completed, about |
the Sth.
1.-THE position we held was on the east, |
and was taken by assault. You know the |
4
least you know the result We lined up
and began our trenches in position out
of reach of the batteries Of the enemy.
Back Of US the country was exposed to
Spanish guns ordnance and sharpshooters
and in front it was the same way. The
first difficulty here was to get water. We
couldn't go back to the San Juan river
on account of the fire of the enemy, nor
could we go forward All we had to drink
for six days was yellow slough water
We simply took our canteens and dipped
the yellow Shiny stuff from horse tracks
and drank it. That was all we had and
all we could get We couldn't even make
coffee.
SCARCITY OF FOOD.
1--WE had only hard tack and bacon to
eat when we went in, and that was soon
gone. For two days my company didn't
have AZ thing in camp but two caddies Of
tobacco. For six days 1 didn't have my
clothes off, and all that time it was rain
ing. Not an hour of the six days from
July to July but could wiring water
out of any garment I had on. And hot?
1t steamed almost, with the thermometer
right around 102 TO 1O4 all the time from
10 O'Clock to in the afternoon. This is
what got away with the men. There was
plenty at Siboney, ten miles east CT
MORO, but we couldn't get It till the
trenches were finished This overcame
the men in great measure and much
sickness resulted from it. I got through
till the Sth, when got down and couldn't
go at all.
ON THE WAY BACK.
The hospital ship Cherokee. No. 4. OF
the Clyde line of steamers was loaded
with S24 Of the sick and wounded after
the Santiago fight and We left Siboncy
for home on the eth. We had as narrow
escapes on the trip home as we had at
Santiago. The first night we were steam
ing along the south coast of Cuba at dead !
Of night without any lights. Ths cap
tain of the Cherokee thought it safer to
run that way. About O'Clock off on the
south two search lights from a vessel
broke full upon us and a shot doomed |
across our bow as a signal to surrender
Instantly the captain Of the Cherokee
ordered the ship TO its utmost speed and
We began a race. Just then a shot struck J
the Cherokee astern just above the helm,
crashing right through the ship.
My negro. DAN a trusty man I had
With me for some time. came into my |
room. dropped upon his knees and prayed I
and yelled out: What shall do? Yves
yoin' to the bottom. Lieutent, the Span
ards are after US and ives goin' to the 5
bottom 2
Il got up and crawled on my hands and il
knees 70 the captains cabin and told him c
ned better put out his red lights, a signal f
II surrender. which he did, and slow {
ID sp Z
Two vessels came alongside and the
signal came in good. old. delightful Eng {
ISL. Ship ahoy" The hailing vessels 9
we're the Hornet and the Wasp. two con- :
-erted yachts.
The captain OF the Cherokee put out
he lights then. The lights OF the Geneva :
convention denote a hospital ship and are :
white light on the forward mast a red !.
ighJ on the mizzen mast. with green and :
I'd lights on the port and stsrboard side. a
re got along all right then until we took II
he train from Tampa 20 Fort Mcpherson, d
where we were being sent We had gone d
few hours out when the long train stop ?
ed for water. While standing there a Y
asst express at fun speed damned into {
he rear Of our train and completely tele- o
coped the Two back cars used as sleep q
- and operating cars and killed the Are u
nan on the express train. Fortunately IL
.ooody OF our train was IN the two cars g
estroyed. but il was 3 frightful expert a
nee" Il