The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-23
THE SPIRIT OF THE SAILORS.
An Incident on the New York Illus
trative of Their Nerve.

trAt1Ve OF The1r Nerve
Richard Harding Daviss Special.
received cablegram while I was; on
the New York asking me TO relate how
her crew behaved in the action at Ma
tanzas. did not answer 1t because l
American people were willing to take for
granted, and because the bombardment. at
Matanzas was no test of the crews cour-
story however, that illustrates the spirit
of the men on the New York, and which
answers, think, any queries any one may
make as to how they might behave in ac-
ton.
Taylor, young gunner's mate, was shot
on April 26 by q revolver. was an acct ci
dent. but it is possible he was more seri-
ously hurt than were any or the SIX
wounded men who went through the seven
through his arm and into his right side,
and came out nearly foot away under MS
left armpit. Assistant Surgeon Spear said
that if he tried to dodge the, vital parts
in Taylor's body with a surgical instrument
he could not have done it as skillfully as
did the bullet, which was neither aimed nor
guided by human hand. 1t was this Junior
Surgeon Spear, who performed the opera
ton, while the fleet surgeon, DR.. Gravatt,
watched him and advised. It was a won
derful operation 1t lasted nearly two hours,
and 1t left the layman uncertain as 70
whether he should admire the human BODY
more or the way a. surgeon masters II.
technical language, but 1 know they cut him
open and lifted out his stomach and put It
could not get wholly under the influence OF
the ether, and he raved and muttered and
struggled, so that at times two men mad 10
hold him down. Just before the surgeon
began to operate the boy gave the chaplain
his mothers address, and reached out MS
hand and said $50 long su, chaplain Ydra bov He
came from Brooklyn. but nevertheless he
looked and talked and thought as you would
and hope t an sbp Wdnd ooR
and talk and think. His skin was as tough
as a shoe which had remained long in the
salt water but it was beautifully white and
spotless like a girls and the contrast it
made with the skin that the sun and wind
had tanned was as sharp as the stripes on
When the second part of him was sewed
up Taylor was carried to cot and lay
there so stiff that I thought he was dead
veins to keep his heart beating. But
minute later he opened his eyes and
turned them to the operating table, where
His eyes were dazed with the ether, his
lips were blue and his face was CHASTITY
gray. He looked up. at the four figures
leaning over him, their bare arms covered
with his blood, and back at the operating
table that dripped with it. What had
happened, who had attacked him and
why, he could not comprehend. He did
not know that parts of him which had
out and held up naked, palpitating and
bleeding to the ruthless light of the sun,
to the gaze or curious InSSSIldleS CrOWu-
ed at the end of the sick bay, that
these parts of himself had been picked
over and handled as a man runs his mn,
gers over the keys of a piano, and had
then been pushed and wedged back into
place and covered over as one would sew
a patch on an old sail, to lie hidden away
again for many, many years more, let US
hope.
He only knew that some outrageous thing
had been done to him-that he had been IN
a nightmare, in holland to Taylor, still
drunk with ether, these men whose wonder
full surgery had saved his life were only the
bloody assassins who had attempted 1t and
failed.
He was. pitiably weak from loss of much
blood, from the shock of the heavy bullet
that had dug it's way through his body, from
the waves of nausea that swept over him,
but the boy opened his eyes and regarded
the surgeons scornfuly. Then he shook his
head from side to side on the pillow and
"Ah. you'se cant kill me- he whispered.
I'm a New Yorker by God! Youse can't
kill me-"
That is the spirit of the men who sunk
the Spanish fleet at Manila, and of the
crew of the war ship that is named after
the city of New York.