The times., 1898-08-14
THE SONG OF THE BULLETS.
HOW the Mausers Sounded to the
Men in the Fight,
From the New York Advertiser.)

(From the New York Advertiser.)
What does a flying bullet sound IKE!
The question was asked of each OIL
| group of wounded soldiers on the nos
pitaI ship Relief. as they lay chatting in
their neighboring hunks on the main
decks.
"Stst-st,', said Private wilhelm r.
| Vollnar. of the Eighth Infantry, who was
shot through the femoral artery in the
battle of San Juan. II remember march,
ing with the other boys up the road. Some
of us were whistling. others were joking
or asking questions. when suddenly l
heard something like a-what shall call
it?-like an insect pass by me. II seemed
to fbe buzzing or whispering. 'St-st-st' 1t
was saying, or something like ii. Of
course, knew what 1t meant,
and IL gave me the chills. I'd been
expecting 1t all along. and | thought
| wouldn't care a bit. But when that first
tst-st-st" came il struck me cold. After
ward ] got so used TO those bullets that
| didn't mind them. They whizzed all
around me and still did not care a but
| ton."
When the question was put to Private
Darby Company d. Thirteenth Infantry,
who was shot through both lungs while
charging up the hill at San Juan, he said.
with smile of intelligence, as though he
had been interested in the subject himself
and given it some consideration:
Ping g-png-pngr but sometimes it's
like 'pwow-pwow- -pwow!' It all depends
what kind of bullet and how it scoots
Through the abr, think
William Young, OF Company F. Sixth
Infantry. who was wounded in the right
leg in the same engagement. and whose
face and beard gleam dark amidst the
II.
sure the sound made by Mauser bullet
was DE- -dZ-dZi"
II can just hear it ringing all around
me-" he said, with the ar of one trying
to recall dear moment in his life. at
was before Santiago ON July IL. We were
only a few hundred feet from the Span
iards, and the fire was too terrible for
anything. The fun strength of our regi-
ment was $50 and about one-:hird of that
number fell in that hail of bullets. 'Dz-
dz-dzr they went
Privates McCue. Oscar Baucum. Henry
Brett Walter Buck. Frank Manning and
Joe Sullivan, all of whom are down with
wounds received while lighting the Span
iards in Cuba agreed with the others. one
of them adding philosophically that It was
hard 10 define exactly how a flying bullet
| sounded, since 1t is no human being. and
its voice can no more De initiated by man
| than the language of birds.
Fred Shockiey oolored, of Troop ID.
Tenth Cavalry, however, thought the
question the easiest thing in the world to
answer.
How do a bullet sound?" he asked, as
NE raised his bandaged head with an air
which seemed to say. You might as weIl
ask me the color of grass" and then said
in uhe most matter-of-course way.
Like a trolley"
Shockley was shot through the head
near Santiago de Cuba on July q The
buflet came out over his left temple en-
| tered the shoulder, and pierced its way
out through the breast. The wounds are
healing well and he is rapidly approach
ing complete recovery.
Il stood fire from in the mornin' till
3 in the afternoon he said. 'It was a
regula' hail, an 1 thought I don neba'
be hit Why? Cause i stood ii so long
an dey couldn't strike me-
| 80 you felt sure you could not be hit
| was asked.
Indeed l did" Shockley answered with
some resentment, his eyes glowing be-
meath his snow-white bandages
But finally you were hit, were you
not?'
Sure I was but I didn't feel It, They
picked me up half dead like. 1t was this
way: was layin' down to shoot an
raised my head an'-an-an' dat's all.
sah."
| Asked how it feels to be afraid of death.
| Shockley answered in the same matter-of-
course way in which he had answered the
question as TO the sound of a bullet:
Don't be afraid o. death, SAN
But didn't you think you might be
killed? Didn't you try to imagine how 1t
feeAs to be dead?"
when a fella be dead he don't feel
| nothin'. nohow; so it amt no use think
| in" he concluded. triumphantly
| Private Darby the man who had been
shot through both lungs, said in answer
| 20 the same question:
You get kind of T-don't-care' feel
| ing and you don't care a rap. You get
reconciled to it. How did l feel before I
got reconciled to it? l was afraid. No,
it was not like any other fear I'd ever felt
before. 1t was something different. 1t
was fke-but I'll be hanged if 1 can ex-
plain it,