Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1898-06-07
AN EXCITING ADVENTURE
Capture and Release of Core
spondents Thrall and Jones.
SAVED FROM SPANISH DUNGEONS.

s'"s'". between Two Squacs OF Spantards
and Fired Upon, but Surrendered Before
They Were WOunded-Jones, the Artist.
Eesuiles the Dons With His Sketches
While His Nonchalant Courage Before
Mobs and on a Blood Stained NIoat In
spires His Companion.
When we left the Triton on the morn
ing OF May II to meet the Cuban chief.
Colonel Pence Delgado, we struck along
the shore about quarter Of mile look
ing for path to break through the
thick underbrush that lined the shore,
says Charles II. Thrall concerning the
capture and release by Spaniards of
Hayden Jones and himself. After walk
ing about ten minutes we found a slight
trail which led to a we'll beaten track
running cast and west parallel with the
coast.
Colonel Delgado had agreed to be in
this neighborhood, so we followed the
path east toward the deserted village Of
Baracoa. We had gone about half
mile when we came to a spot where tho
brush was beaten down and the path
was strcwn with empty Mauscr car
fridge Shells and there was evidence
that there had been Il fight there a short
time before. Later we found that our
surmise was correct and that the day
before the Spaniards had had an engage
mcnt there with Colonel Dclgado and
had driven him from his position.
knowing the habits Of tho insurgents, I
believed that they might be ten miles
from there and that looking for them
hlindly was foolishncss, So l determin.
cd to strike for the sugar plantation
central Lucia, which l thought lay
about three miles to the west and about
two miles inland. | knew that there
were Spanish troops quartCrcd there,
but l hoped to meet some pacifico near
who could give us some information as
to the present whereabouts of the insur-
gents
We started back over the same path
and followed it until we came to path
that branched off in just the direction
that we wished to go. The trail that we
were following gave no evidences that
any one had passed over it recently. We
found an abandoned rebel camp that no
one had evidently been in for a long
time. Shortly after passing this camp
we came to an old ruin beside which
was we'll beaten track that showed
that it was used frequently by the Span
ish cavalry. South of us about half a
mile was Il lc-v ridge of hills that Dor
dcred wide valley. From this ridge I
knew that we would be able to see In
cha. After taking q photograph Of Che
ruin we followed the path, which was
almost wide enough to be called road.
On one side Of it was large open
field and on the other was field cover
ed with thick grass and weeds about
6 feet tall. We had almost reached the
ridge when the path took a bend, and /
saw soldiers just coming over the crest
and only about 500 yards distant. / saw
them first through this tall grass and
did not think that they had seen us.
was ahead Il little and told Jones to
drop and run back He did not seem to
understand although he, being taller
than |, had seen the troops palmer than
| had, but thought that they were Gu
bans. But when ! sprang past him,
bending as low as possible, he at once
followed. | ran as far as ! dared and
thel. broke into the thick grass to the
left for about 100 feet
We lay down behind small clump
of bushes not daring to go any farther
on account of the noise. We We're COM
pletely concealed and | thought that we
were safe unless they had seen us, al
though Jones thought that we were
goncrs. We were armed with Al Colt
revolvers, and as we lay behind the
bushes We got them out and were ready
for the worst. Jones asked what chances
we would haw, if we gave ourselves up
| told him that | did not believe we
would have any and refused to think OF
it. He replied, "All right then; we Will
die game.
We had lain there about five minutes,
it seemed, when wc could hear the sol
ders talking as they came up. we
could hear one of them coming through
the grass, and in Il minute | saw him
looking behind bush not 40 feet away
asked Jones if the rovolvers were self
cooking. I had never used one before,
and when I saw the soldier leave the
other bushes and start toward us tod
Jones to get ready to run and flred.
ran and he after me, but before we had
got fairly started shots were whlstllnS
around us from 20 Mauscr rifles, Inc
grass was SO thick that it was lmpossl-
bic to mako fast progress, and the
ground was covered with strong vines,
and we were continually falling over
each other. We had got about 200 yards
away from the troops who We're flrlng
when we ran right into the arms OF an
other squad that had been sent down a
parallel way to head us off. We lmme-
diatclv held up our hands and threw
our revolvers away and then lay doMh'
All the time they were firing at us Inc
squad that caught us were now III line
Of fire, and they also lay down ana
swore because the others did not stop
firing and because there was no buslcr
there to sound the recall. After much
shouting the other squad stopped -4ilhs'
after firing two rounds OF hVc sllotS
each. They fired between 200 aud 2oo
shots, and only hit the camera which
we had left under the bush.
The party that captured us took us
30 the top of the hill, where we louhd
column of troops of 600 men, most OF
them belonging to infantry battalion
No. >, under the command Oh Major
paramo, who started to quest ION us i'll
English, which he spoke Irokolly' p','