El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-07-02
SPANISH MARkSMEN.
Why They ALWAYS Miss The Target,

From The Chicago Times-Herald.
Lieutenant Bayne @. Dent, nephew
by marriage OF General Grant and q
years in the Navy, but was retired by
injuries to his eyesight resulting from
Chagres. fever. He applied for duty
hostilities, however, and is now one of
the instructors on the training ship at
Newport.
MANY years ago." Lieutenant Dent
told me, "when one OF the forgotten
South American revolutions was re-
volving, the old, blunt-ended, lum-
boring Philadelphia, on which 1 was
an ensign, was ordered to Cartagena
to protect American interests. We
found Cartagena invested by the gal
liant rebels and defended by the
gallant government troops
We were six weeks at Cartagena,
and have never spent more enjoy
able time. 1t was Fourth of July every
day, and when we wanted quiet We
had only to 60 on board, sit down In
| the messroom and fight cockroaches.
days in the week, Sunday being a
holiday. There were two thousand or
three thousand troops outside the
walls and as many inside. They rose
at 7 in the morning and breskfasted.
Then the bands played. Then the
rebels outside squatted behind fences
and stumps and shot at the walls.
The fellows inside peeked over the
walls cautiously and shot at the FENCES
when everybody knocked off. Then
the bands played. They dined from II
to 1, and smoked cigarettes from to 2.
The siesta lasted until $3.50. At firing
was resumed and continued until g..
Supper was eaten and cigarettes were
smoked. The officers went to the
house Of the general If inside, or to the
tent of the general if outside, and re-
ported that they had been shooting.
Then the bands played.
cat Cartsgena I discovered how the
firing was done. The fellows along
the wall would sight carefully at some
thing outside, turn their faces toward
me with their eyes closed and jerk the
trigger. I observed that the folks
outside did the same thing. Not any
of them ever looked to watch the eff
feet of shot. They knew that 1t didn't
have any. The consequence OF this
sort of thing. was 'thst the bull
let's went anywhere from fifty yards to
upon how far around the chap turned
his head and how hard he jerked at
the trigger. At first we were chsry
about going around during the fierce
ness of the engagements, but soon
learned that q position on the walls
was less dangerous than q seat on q
Chicago streetcar. We used to stand
and laugh.
1t sounds like exaggeration, but it Is
the simple truth, that during the six
weeks of our stay but one man was
killed, and he was nOn-com blatant
Englishmsn peacefully walking along
the street. He was struck by nearly
spent ball which in some mysterious
manner found its way over the wall
At the end of the time the rebels had
long and gesticulatory talk with the
presidents people, and then they left.
When they went away all OF their bands
marched along the iwalls and footed,
and all of the loyal bands stood on the
walls and )oted. To my knowledge
the only men killed in that revolution
were Q lot of rebels who attempted one
night to surprise town. 1t was care
fully planned. and some of their num-
Der Immediately sold out for money.
They landed on the beach, five or six
companies of them. The slaughter Is
explained by the fact that q machine
gun doesn't care whether or not you
shut your eyes. It keeps on working.
81 have seen other Span1sh-Amer-
leans shoot, Cubans among others, and
they all did it in the same way. 1t
seems to be an ineradicable trait.
When 1 read an account OF battle