The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-07-03
How the Mauser Bullet Leaves the
rIan it Strikes, When it
Mushrooms"
DEAD MEN MUTlLATLD
No Mistake That the Spanards Hacked Sergeant
Smith to Tlincemeat-Cuban Officers
Blown From Cannon.

New York, July 2-As soon as the Pan
Their, which is now at the Brooklyn navy
4 yard, receives her armament it is expected
hat she will join the new flying squad
zH1iof Commodore Watson, which is be-
~ y iorrned to harass the Spanish coast.
The Panther will carry complement of
Rs4 sailors and marines. The battery Will
consist Of six 5-inch and four rapid-fire
guns.
1t was from the Panther that the first
body of troops consisting of 600 marines,
was landed at Guantanamo.
A man on the Panther who was present
when Surgeon John Blair Gibbs was killed
told the following story of the killing:
surgeon Gibbs was shot while dressing
q wound. The bullets were pattering about
like hail. Gibbs had cleaned the wound
of the man and was dressing it when
he was struck. The bullet, a Mauser,
mushroomed It went in at the left temple
and came out at the right Where il went
in the hole was about the size of a lead
pencil. Where it came out it was as big
around as a tea cup.
''He was leaning over at the time and
fell forward on his face. When picked
up he was dead.
1.-The stories that our men were not mu-
tilated is wrong. I know what 1 am talk
Ing about. Sergeant Smiths body was
mutilated. His heart had been cut out
when we found him. He was so chopped
up that all we could do was to bury him
where he lay.
1.-The day Of the last fight Captain Ell
ii0tt's men closed up a well that gave
the Spaniard's drinking water. After the
fight we found forty-seven dead Spaniards
that had tried to reach a stream to get
water. They had dragged themselves to
1t, and some were on its banks when they
died. We sent the Baby McCala-that is
the name Of the Marblehead's launch
to the city of Guantanamo under a flag
of truce and asked ~ Spaniards TO bury
their dead We told them they might
send out men and they would not be in
terfered with. They didn't do it. We sent
them word again, but they refused to bury
their own dead The bUzzards were about
lr swarms and the sight was a sickening
Dne
''The treatment Of the Spanish wounded
Is terrible. They leave them on the field
? to die. There are no ambulance corps in
their army and their soldiers are naked.
Their guerillas wear a roughly fashioned
palm leaf hat; another palm leaf as a
mask. A cartridge belt, a machete, rifle
and pair of soles tied on like sandals
Is their make up.
1.-THE Cubans go about in the same way
and make no prisoners. They cut the
Epaniards' threats AMI smile We did not
think much Of the Cubans at first, but
they are wonders. They go through that
brush like rabbits. head down and ma
rhete ready. They come back with a
Spanards gun and equipments. Asked
where the prisoner is they say 'Hspan-
lola and draw their hand across their
throats.
There is plenty Of fun in the camp and
the Cubans furnish it. We gave them
shoes. In a day their feet would be Bills
tered and some had corns. They have cut
up the shoes until there is nothing left
but the soles and these are tied on their
teet When they got the shoes they were
pleased. That night many of them came
back to camp over the cactus in their
bare feet, carrying the shoes on their
backs"