Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-08-11


men were about storming the house. our
men found six Spanish regulars inside and
took them off to the town Jail and locked
them up.
All the Afternoon and night the demon
straton of the people of the city and their
welcome of our troops were continued. The
citizens were mostly Spaniards. but they
said they were glad the Spanish troops
had gone and the Americans had come
The Spanish soldiers numbered about so
They had been preparing dcfcnccs for
two weeks. Gen. Hams remained In the
town and sent out guards on all sides.
There was no signs that the Spaniards
had returned and all was quiet The city
band was playing yankee Doodle" and
"Star-Spanglcd Banner" Everybody WAS
on the streets, and it was Il time of jubila-
ton
! The Americans did not know till hours
after the last shot WIS fired whether
thcy had hit anybody. Then citizens told
of seeing Spanards fall They were left
lying on the ground until their compau-
ions were driven off.
/ Then they picked up body and carried
/ II to "A well and threw it in. The body was
fshod out. TWO wounded Spauiards wore
found near by and taken to the hospital
where they were treated by American sur
geons.
The heat here is awful Horses are suf-
ferng.
go overland to Arroyo, 10 miles, by a bad
winding road.
The local government troubles in Ponce
have been settled. Gen. Wilson had deter
mined to start at once and let the cavalry
follow, but changed his mind.
, 1t t. the belief of military men now that
there will he no fight more serious .hin
the Guyana affair till San Juan IS reach
ed. If these men are wrong in this belief
1t Is at least based upon incidents that
nave occurred.
Coamo was one of the places where the
Spaniards it was said, would be gathered
to give us Il hard fight
newspaper correspondent looking for
horse, travelled beyond the outpusts.
Porto Ricans warned him that the Span
iards would catch MIN.
Nine men armed with pistols. accom-
PANIED him almost to Coamo over the
brow of the hill they saw Il Sergeant and
five Spanish soldiers. The Porto Ricars
said II Spanish force was there sure
The Porto RiCans fed but the cores
pendent did not believe the men they saw
were Spanish soldiers till it was too late
to run.
The only thing to do was to bluff it out.
so the correspondent advanced. holding uu
his hands. His Interpreter was the on'y
E man who had stuck to him. The Span
ilrds laid their rifles across their saddles
F.. cooked their pistols. hourshed their ma
chetes and called upon the correspondent
to halt He responded that he was an
} American and wanted to see the Spanish
, commandcr
= The Sergeant asked what for. The cor
f respondent said he wanted To pave the
| way for communications looking to the
5 surrender of the town. The Sergeant
o asked If he was authorized to arrange for
a surrender.
$ The correspondent said "No." but he
wanted to see the Spanish commander 10
: learn upon what terms he would Surren-
/. der The sergeant considered a moment
ana then said he would go for him. The
: correspondent asked how long it would
: take. He said 1t would take two hours
The correspondent then said he could no,
wait so long and would return to the
= American lines, get proper authorizations
. and come back 10 meet the Spanish COM
, mander on the same spot at 10 O'Clock
next morning. He then asked the size o.
the Garrison. ana the sergeant said II
numbered $50 men. The correspondent
told the sergeant to be sure and have III,
I commander there at 10 o'clock in III,
e morning, and the sergeant said he woult
do 50.
" The correspondent then returned to Nj,
p. carriage, salutcd and lifted his hat tn.
q Spaniards returned the salute. The cor
= respondent got back to the American
lines safely. He did not keep his appoint
10 mcut for next day. but the Spuniard.
- kept theirs. They brought the alcad,
q unayorJ of the town with them, and no
f meeting the correspondent or an Ameri
!, can officer to surrender to. wrote a let
, ter giving their terms of Capitulation
+, which they sent in by "A Porto Rican.
= Coamo has always been loyal Spanish
: town Incidents like this and the repeat
a ed ovations given To- the American troop
n everywhere are believed to indicate prac
" tcally the peaceful occupation of the en-
tire island.
y As an aGdendum to this story of tn
correspondent 1t may be said that tn
=, army wants to do all the capturing IL
self, There was serious talk of arrestin
and prosecuting the correspondent 70
20 holding communications with the enemy
. and orders were issued to permit no NOR
20 correspondents to so beyond the pickle
lines.