Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1898-07-06


romance and the stage, ought to go along
with such high-iown occasion. But If
that skirmish by daylight seemed trihe
tame, the moment that darkness fell over
the camp and harbor, fact, as well as i'm
agination, began to assert itself.
During the few moments in which the
non combatants slept on the despatch
boat that Saturday highland they were
not many, for the firing On shore kept up
with scarcely cessation until after dawn
their dreams were a weird and blurred
conglomeration of shrieks, shells and
machetes. When awake the reality was
even more awe-inspiring. 1t was one OF
those sights which are hall-marked on
your brain for ever and ever. From the
"Premier", lying safely in the stream, you
could see those great hills rising out OF
the sea, superb and gruesome, illumined
now by the flash of rifle, and again by
the searchlight of the "Marblehead'-a
long incandescent snake which crept care
fully along every inch of ground and
every mound of chaparral every fifteen
minutes Later the moon came up, and
lent the scene creepiness and uncer-
tainty which was all its own.
But it was not until the sun was up that
all the horror of war was realized. When
the Sun reporter arrived at the camp
again they were carrying in dead bodies.
The body of Surgeon Gibbs, who had been
the jolliest fellow in all the camp the day
before, lay in his tent, where a Spanish
bullet had reached him, and they We're
carrying the bodies of Sergeant Smith and
three were frightfully mangled, and one
of the marines, who seemed most shocked
at the Spaniards' brutal work, on the fol-
lowing night, when surrounded by the
enemy and knowing escape to be impos-
sible, drowned himself in the lagoon.
Half-past 10 was the hour set for the
funeral. Four graves We're dug on the
side of the hill, and Chaplain Jones of
the "Texasn hurried on shore to ofticiate.
The bodies We're wrapped in shrouds,
from which their bare feet showed. The
body of Surgeon Gibbs, who was shot
within the lines, was the only one which
had boots on. The Spaniards had
stripped the other three of every rag.
There was time for very little ceremony.
AS many marines as could be spared from
work on the trenches-400 out of the en-
tire $40 perhaps grouped themselves about
the graves and uncovered. Few tears
were shed, but every man looked grim.
The strong voice of the chaplain had just
started the first lines of the Episcopal
burial service, 81 am the Resurrection and
the Life when from that same old second
ridge OF hills there came volley of mus
kerry which brought every marine to at
tention in a trice. There was no scene.
Most of the men fell into line and marched
to the trenches Immediately. The others
sank down on the grass, where they had
their rifles cooked and ready, one eye on
the enemy, the other on the open graves. At
the sound of the second volley Chaplain
Jones shifted his position slightly so that
the mound of newly turned earth came
between him and the enemy; but his voice
never faltered for an instant, and, al
though the bullets battered hot and fast
around him, he read the service calmly
and reverently to the end.
Later ON that day and during the fol-
lowing there were far more thrilling
events than any which had gone before.
There was hot fight at nightfall, in
which seventeen Spaniards were killed on
the beach by single she'll. The Marble
head and "DolphiAn turned seward and
shelled the outlying hills, while in the
harbor the Spanish fire on the despatch
boats became so fierce that the "TeNas'
had to come to their rescue with her guns
But looking back at this close range upon
the last four days at Guantanamo, the
picture which stands out clearest on the
mind is those open graves, the marines at
| full length reverently chanting 'Our Fa-
ther" while their guns spat at the enemy;
Dewey, the marines mascot mongrel pup,
perched on the earthworks wagging his
undedgcd tail most unconcernedly, and
! full in the sunlight the tall, strong figure
/ of Chaplain Jones as he chanted sonor
ously: "Man that is born of woman"
| Dyspepsia Easy to Nanquish.