Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-09-23
THE CUBAN SOLDIERS
Dr. Arwine Says They Were Honest and
Faithful to Duty.
Garcia's Severe Punishmept for I,r
ceny-YeIIOw Fever and
Its Treatment.

DR.. James T. Arwine acting assistant
surgeon of the 1st Division. 9Th Army
Corps, whose return on sick leave to this
city after several weeks of active hospital
duty at Siboney was recently noted, has
seen much of the Cuban soldiers, and has
nothing but praise for them.
Il never met a more honest faithful set
of men in my life than were the Cubaus
sent from Ffrmeza to do police duty at
the hospital at Siboney" said the doctor
to a representative of The Star this morn
ing. They performed their duties with
out shirking or complaining, and they
never stole anything, either The same
can be said of all other Cubans with whom
L came in contact. If one of them saw
anything around the camp that he wanted
he always brought it to one of our officers
and asked for it, If he thought lie rad
right to.
Punishment for Larceny.
Garcia and his officers had the reputa-
ton of shooting their men for larceny
/ was told that an insurgent was once
caught wearing a blouse belonging to an
American solder. The Cuban could rot
give a satisfactory account of how he got
1t, and it was said that the next day lie
paid for the theft with his life. Such Sc
we're discipline could not fail to have its
eheSt, dSiut from what heneNe TO De the
natural honesty of the Cuban character.
I'VE constantly employed Cuban colored
women to do the washing for the hospital,
ard they did the work faithfully. We
never missed garment. 1t is true that
we did vigorously exclude the 'pacilicos or
non-combatarts from our camp, but the
only reason for that that we feared
they might bring disease germs in with
them and increase our sick list. Instead
of stealing from US they were always ready
divide their belongings
Indeed, they We're under strict orders from
the Cuban generals to give but under 40
circumstances to sell, any kind of supplies
to the American soldiers"
The Yellow Fever.
DR.. Arwine became acquainted with yell
low fever in all it's phases while at Slboney.
The symptoms have often been described
sudden chill in the night, followed by a
racking pain in the head and small of the
back; from two to five days of fever. and
then death or recovery. One of the doc
tors patients said he felt as though half
dozen fcur-horse teams We're running
away and tearing wagons all to smash"
inside his head.
The remedies proposed for yellow fever
have been almost as numerous the cases,
but the doctor found two methods of treat
ment especially effective. One of these was
to keep the patient perfectly quiet for. four
days during the febrile period, letting
him appropriate food and medicines. An
other plan was to begin at once with prop
erly regulated doses of caffeine, calomel
and strychnine. Recovery is comparatively
slow, and the heart is always more or less
affected with fatty degeneration, and af-
fections of liver and kidneys are also COM
mon results of yellow fever, although these
generally disappear within three months
after the fever has disappeared.
Some Cuban Stories.
The dc ctor heard some good stories while
in Cuba. One was about a member of that
well-known colored regiment, the 10th Cav
airy. While the Spanish sharpshooters We're
picking off Red Cross men and wounded
soldiers after the battle OF San Juan, the
cavalryman got a good view of one re-
morSeleSs markSman in a treetop, dressed
in American uniform, and got the drop
on MIN.
The negro was not deceived by the uni
form. Mistuh," he called out, .'whur does
you belong?"
ITO the 10th Cavalry" replied the Span
lard, in good English.
Say, mlstuh, youse jist de man / was
sent out to git! Bang, Down fell the dead
sharpshooter. We don't lows no white
man in our troops observed the cavalry
man, as he shouldered his rifle and set out
In search of another man up a tree.
The doctor heard of another colored SOL
der, who thus expressed his opinion of the
missiles flying around him at La Guasima:
Il amt skeered of dem dere bullets what
goes biff! an L don't give a cuss for dem
what goes BAN. but when L hears one of
dem dere things a-comin and a-screechn'
whuh fzzy. whuh izzy den L wishes some
body else wuZ me, dats ALL"