The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-07
BOTH MAN AND FIGHTER
sHAFTERs GOOD AND BAD Quail
TIES UNDER A sEARCHLIGHT.
Cubans Had More Respect for Their
Fine-LOOking Garcia-Incidents
Observed Near Santiago.
James o'Donnell Bennett. in Chicago Jour-


If. as I suggested yesterday the irascible
Garcias pride and fretfulness opened a
breech between the Americans and the Gu
bans Skaters rudeness and his ignorance
OF diplomacy widened it, / believe him to be
at heart a kind and sincerely conscientious
man. possessing few, if any, Of the endow-
ments Of intellectual greatness. The difficult
proposition he faced during the anxious
days of preparation at Tampa weighed on
him heavily The vastly more difficult one
he faced when he looked down from the
heights around Santiago and saw what the
foreign military attaches, whispering among
themselves. called apparently impregna-
BILE city-impregnable. at least, to storm,
and to be taken only by siege-weighed on
him still more. Behind him were miles of
mountain road quilted by tropical rains and
punctured by outcroppings of'rock so sharp
and frequent that one journey over them
racked the sturdy army wagons wore out
the mules, and well-nigh Frustrated the
men.
Before him lay the town. basking beneath
a pitiless sun, it's approaches guarded by
contrivances of childlike simplicity, but-so
far as their effectiveness was concerned-of
devilish ingenuity. l refer to the meshes OF
barb-wire and vines, which the Spaniards,
days before had laced across the paths and
open spaces.
From those heights he could see, by the
aid of a good glass, Spanish soldiers work
ing like moles among their intrenchments
and mounting at one point guns taken from
some place the holding of which was not OF
such vital Importance. Looking behind, and
thinking of that mountain road, the wharf
less shore at Siboney and the siege guns
that lay half a mile out at sea on the
Orizaba, he gave up the idea of siege guns.
Looking in front again he must have seen
weaknesses and gaps that to the
unframed e civilians eye S,aoX were not
storm and pitched battles. The choice must
have been like wading between the devil and
the deep sea. For the responsible man it
that General Shafter was the responsible
man, one could not blame him too severely
for breaking with the amenities of ordinary
polite intercourse, for being sharp and short
and often very rude.
Still he was blameworthy. The conduct
of campaign was his business; for it he
had lifelong training, and however diff
serve a semblance of his usual demeanor.
II business man has complicated deals in
hand and is engaged in some tremendous
financial campaign involving millions, that
doesn't necessarily give him a free pass to
insult people with whom he may come in
contact.
LEARNED TO HATE SHAFTER.
In certain quarters the old man got to be
hated. Among other people, who were
even-tempered enough to take his affronts
good-naturedly and to make allowance for
them, he was subject of ridcule They
laughed at his enormous bulk and his queer.
uncertain voice, which, when he would be-
gin to speak, would be pitched to a heavy
chest note and would get away from him
and go sailing off in a thin, piping treble
the sound of which would make YOU want
to laugh in his face.
Now, all this was bad, because the COM
manding general mustn't for an instant be
subject for light laughter He may have
weaknesses but they must be of the kind
men who have travelled a pace or two
through this wicked world will secretly adj
mire.
And when you would see the commander
OF the army of invasion sitting on the edge
OF a cot, hatless jacketless and shoeless,
with two sergeants slapping the back of his
great fat neck-well, it wasn't an inspiring
spectacle. You felt sorry for the old man.
and you felt there were more chances than
one he might die of heat prostration. But
you didn't think of him as a commander
whom it would be joy to follow to the
death, or for whom you would cheer your
self hoarSe as he rode by
/ never was able to discover, by the way
what particular ailment the generals slap
treatment, as it came to be called, was cal
culated to cure. Presumably it drove the
blood from his head and into other portions
of his capaeious body. tried it once, ap-
plying the blows to the back of my neck
with the palm of my hand. when I had
combination of sick headache and incipient
sunstroke. The only result was a tendency
to loosen the teeth and make the water
come to the eyes.
TO return to the generals personality,
will say that in the course of nearly six
have had to face some very disconcerting
personalities. ranging all the way from men
who froze and wouldn't say yea or nay, to
men who got furious and abused me and
the paper l worked for and the reading
public that was so debased as to want to
know anything about their affairs.
A third kind of qnan-Gnd in a way he is
the hardest to deal with-is the kind that
tries to kid" you out of your interview.
Philip d. Armour is of that type, when he
kindness and dignity itself. Otherwise he
will say, in half-sneering, half amused,
nasal drawl that is fairly maddening: well
man I'll send for you and give you a fine
ham and be as talkative as you choose.
factory and the Armour Mission. Good
morning"
A FAT MANS TEMPER.
Skaters was a combination of all three
types. Sometimes he would be glumly ST
lent, not seeming to see you. At other times
he would '"kd' in a sardonic strain, and
again he would wax angry. Once he tried
the latter tactics with the wrong man and
got taken up with celebrity that delighted
all our hearts. The wrong man was
Cramer, of the Atlanta Constitution.
Cramer asked the general question which
was civil enough-though, of course, a civ
ilian's question-about prospective move
ment.
Now young man, don't you know you
haven't any right to ask me such ques-
tions?" Numbered the general, and he be-
gan to get apoplectic.
the same salary you do for asking those
questions
As CTamer swung round to leave the
tent Lieutenant Miley, the generals chief
aid-de-camp, and man of uncompromising
dignity, grew white with rage and amaze
ment. / think Shafter was secretly tickled
by the effrontery of the answer In any
case he called Cramer back and told him
in a kinder way that the question really
wasn't a proper one. and they fixed up
lame sort of armistiee,
A more grievouS case resulting from the
commanders unfortunate way related to
the retirement of Captain Dowdy, who was
the military commander of the Seneca on
her trip from Siboney to New York. Dowdy
is afflicted with some kidney trouble. and
the retiring board was sitting on his case
while the Fifth Army Corps was in trans
port from Florida. Even before that there
had been some tentative action looking
toward Dowdys retirement. Appealing to
General Shafter, Dowdy assured him his
trouble was not so serious as reported; that
he was fit for a campaign, and that, at all