The San Francisco call., 1898-11-28
HE. .BREATHES
 THROUGH A BULLET-HOLE Soldiers 's.Lung Pierced
 by a Mauser Missile. A REMARKABLE RECOVERY VETERAN OF MALATE ARRIVES ON THE PARA.
 He Tells His Sensations When the ..- Shot Shattered His Breast .::..-. bone and Went Through :.-.> .-.:.: -. Him.
A REMARKABLE RECOVERY
VETERAN OF MALATE ARRIVES
 ON THE PARA.

.-. .''Victor Henry Holmes. aged 19. private of Company K. Tenth Pennsylvania, U. s: " inValided home,'' is a simple entry in the war records which reached this city. en route to Washington, by the City . of Para But the boys bravery in battle and suffering from a bullet wound through his lungs deserves more eXtend- ed mention.
 When President Mckinley called for - volunteers last April Young Holmes and thirty-five fellow students at Waynes- burg. Pa, college laid aside their studies and ambitions. took up their muskets and bade farewell to weeping relatives and sweetbearts. These boys all joined Com pany K. under Captain Crago, WayneS- burg graduate. The most popular soldier in the company was young Holmes, the all-round athlete of the college and the winner of highest honors in oratory and literature.
 On the morning of August 1 in far away Manila he was brought in from the bat, tie ground with a Mauser bullet wound which the surgeons pr9nounced iatai H. The deadly missile struck him square n the breast shattered the chest bone and perfOra ted the right lung, making its exit beneath the right shoulder blade Wll9 every breath blood oozed from the wound and the surgeons gravely declared the young patriots hours were numbered But Mother Nature said no, the youth must live. Holmes splendid consututlon and great vitality saved him. and though q Tible suffering. his recovery IS assured Immediately on the arrival of the City of Para Dr. Porter had young Holmes taken to St Luke's Hospital. The pa tent stood the long journey remarkably well. and as soon as he has regalned portion of his former strength an opera tion will be performed which will hasten valescence. Owing to lack of medical facilities and inexperienced nurses at Ma nfla the wounded soldier did not recely9 proper -treatmen. Suppuration followed. and the orifces in his breast and back have been discharging pus for months. While he suffers no great pain, HoiIneS has a raCking cough which causes him Yo1ing Holmes has all the characteris- tics Of a.good soldier and tells his story with the greatest modesty. Here is his account of the battle of Malate:
 The fight began about midnight July Sl, and l was ordered to vidette duty at the extreme right of our lines. l had been firing at the enemy for about an hour when bullet struck me in the chest: l fired one more shot from my Springfield and then fell. L presume that shot was fired automatically, although l remember every incident. When. the Mauser struck me II seemed as if a thousand redhot nee dIes had been nlunged into my breast That was the only sensation teIt. me re, coil of my nusket knocked me down ana caused the blood to gush from my breast. I walked and. crawled about 400 yards to- ward Dur lines and fell exhausted in an
 @As fearly as I can estimate the time I laid there about an hour before my com 
 the rear. I had not lost consciousness, al- though the wound bled terribly. The sur Reons examined my injury and said it was fatal We'll I though of my widowed mother. and sister and I didn't want to die.
 T was placed in the hospital at Manila and remained:there two. months: The sur geOns were not properly equipped, the nurses did not know their business, and l did not get well very rapidly. l often eX- pressed a wish to my fellow sufferers that the Red Cross had been allowed to send nurses to the war. But they weren't and we had to suffer in consequence. Then, too. the food abominable. Why the morning we went out to fight we were given half a can of salmon and six hard tacks for twenty-fOur hours rations. When we were in the hospital we fared no better I was pleased, indeed, when the doctors told me I was to be sent home. l knew I would never get well down there.'
 The wounded soldier still worships the Stars and Stripes as dearly as he did the day he enlisted. but he declares the volun- teers were badly treated.
 Young Holmes is anxious to learn some thing of his only brother. who went to Cuba as a correspondent when the war began. His mother has not heard from the elder brother for months and they fear he is dead.
 Mrs. Holmes the widowed mother. lives at MiIlsbero. Pa., and is assistant princi- pal of the Brownsville public schools.