Omaha daily bee., 1898-10-05
ECHOES OF THE LATE WAR.


Captain A. II. Lee. British military at
tache. describing in Scrlbners the assault
and capture OF Ell Caney. relates that in the
height OF the excitement OF victory. Private
Abel. Of the Twelfth infantry, scrambled up
on the roof OF the fort with the colors OF
his regiment and waved II amidst a wild
burst of cheering and enthusiasm. His cap
tain was admirngly drawing my attention
TO this act when couple of bullets clipped
the tin roof under the mans feet, and hastily
furling the flag he fell fiat upon his face
This unrehearsed effect raised such a chorus
of chan and good natured laughter that the
plucky fellow leaped to his feet again, threw
Old Glory wide to the breeze and waved
ii defantly until ordered to come down and
not expose himself further May he long
live to wear the medal OF honor that will
doubtless be his reward!''
AS the train was leaving Camp wlkoff
the other day with a number of soldiers
couple Of young women entered the car with
basket of fruit tied with ribbons. "Oh,
there is a poor soldier. one of our heroes:
let us give him some fruit!' exclaimed one
OF them, and rushing UP to one OF the men,
she sald Wont you have some fruit? You
have been such heroes we want to do some
thing for you" You are mistaken, miss;
l belong neither to the Seventy-first nor to
the Rough Riders. / am only a regular.
consequently not hero" AS the young
women looked their surprise the whistle
blew and the car started
Perhaps the poor craftsmanship OF the
Spaniards is explained in part by discov-
cry made by Olaf Olson, captain OF gun
No. l on the Montgomery. At least Ollson
has disclosed criminal imposition on the
Spanish Navy Department. by some contrac-
tor. After the destruction of Cervera's squad
ron, Olson went aboard the Maria Teresa
in search OF souvenirs. He found there many
Mauser cartridges In the usual clips or forms
of five, but, instead of having the deadly
qualities generally attributed to the Mauser
ammunition these cartridges consisted of a
metal shell filled with hair and a sprinkling
of powder. Further than this, the bullet
was neither lead nor brass, but wood. 1t is
painful to think of the lot of the Spanish
peasant boys who were sent to war in a
far-away land under incapable officers and,
in some cases. at least, with perfectly use
less arms, albeit the soldiers of this country
undoubtedly proflted thereby.
Richard Harding Davis, in his review of
the Santiago campaign in Scribner's, draws
the following picture of the charge on the
San Juan hills: 81 have seen many illus
trations and pictures Of this charge on the
San Juan hills, but none of them seem to
show it jusr as remember it. In the pic
ture papers the men are running up hill
swiftly and gallantly, in regular formation,
rank after rank, with flags flying their
eyes aflame and their hair streaming, their
hot al xaI ~ kriIl
invincible, over-powering weight of num-
bers. Instead Of which / think the thing
which impressed one the most, when our
men started from cover, was that they were
so few. 1t seemed as If someone had made
an awful and terrible mistake. Ones instinct
was to call to them to come back. You felt
that someone had blundered and that these
few men were blindly following out some
madman's mad order. 1t was not heroic
then; it seemed merely terribly pathetic.
The pity Of it, the folly of such a sacrifice
was what held you.
They had no glittering bayonets; they
were not massed in regular array There
were few men in advance punched to-
gether, and creeping up steep, sunny hill
the tops OF which roared and flashed with
flame. The men held their guns pressed
across their breasts and stepped heavily as
they climbed. Behind these first few, spread
ing out like fan, were single lines of men,
slipping and scrambling in the smooth grass
moving forward with difficulty, as though
they were wading waist high through water
moving slowly, carefully, with strenuous ef-
fort. 1t was much more wonderful than any
swinging charge could have been. They
walked to greet death aU every step, many
of them, as they advanced, sinking suddenly
or pitching forward and disappearing in the
high grass, but the others waded on stub
bornly, forming thin blue line that kept
creeping higher and higher UP the hill, 1t
was as inevitable as the rising tide When
it had reached the half way point, and we
saw they would succeed, the sight gave us
such thrill as can never stir US again
1t was miracle of self-sacrihce, a triumph
of bulldog courage, which one watched
breathless with wonder. The fire of the
Spanish riflemen, who stuck bravely to their
posts, doubled and trebled in fierceness, the
crests of the hill cracked and burst in
amazed roars and rippled with waves of
tiny flame. But the blue line crept steadily
up and on and then, near the top, the broken
fragments gathered together with a sudden
burst of speed, the spaniards appeared for
moment outlined against the sky and posed
for instant flight, fired last volley and fed
before the swift moving wave that leaped
and sprang after them"
Commodore William p McCann, presiding
officer of the Mcintyre COURT martial at Dem
yer, in talking about the war to Denver
reporter Is quoted as denouncing General
Blanco as a coward and scoundrel. ''He
is the man." said the commodore, "who
touched the match to the Maine! You can't
tell me that Blanco didn't do that job.
General Lee doesn't think so, and the
reason he doesnu is because Blanco shet
tears when he went to see him about It,
Lees all right; he's fine man and as gal
liant soldier as ever lived, but Blanco
pulled the wool over his eyes.
Nobody with less authority than Blapco
could have had the Maine anchored where
it was, and had the torpedoes placed where
they were, and had The electric button
punched when 1t was"