The times., 1898-06-22
sTAMPEDEp THE CAMP.
one of the District Volunteers De-
scr;hes an Exciting Incident.


The following letter has been received
NV his father in this city from Warren
Reed. of Company l, First District hegl-
ment of Volunteers, in which is given
description of the stampede when occa-
stoned so much anxiety among the frlends
and relatives of the boys, together with
o.bar items Of the life of the soldiers in
camp:
"Tampa. Fla, June 19-There has been
,u kinds of excitement here of late
Thursday night there was a big stampede
of horses and mules, as well as OF men
The horses, belonging TO the Second Ne"
York. broke through the fence around
the corral and ran through the camp at
fuu speed. AT the first outbreak the
guards began firing their guns.
..The fellows tumbled out of their hunks
at a lively rate, and nobody knew for
the minute what was the reason for the
mad tempest of sound. 1t occurred after
tans at $3.50 o'clock We did not know
whether the Spaniards had broken into
the camp or whether there was fire
on hand A great many were so scared
that they did not know which way TO
prisoners climbed trees when they heard
the hoof-falls coming in their direction.
COMPANY X had nearly as bad starn-
pede There were between two ana three
hundred horses and mules in their AFFAIR
but. strange to say, there was no one
hlIrt. so far as can be learned, and only
two mules were injured. The animals
spread all over Tampa, running through
the streets of the city and its suburbs,
TTrnh gl
of them. But it was lots of fun while IL
lasted.
'.On Saturday morning a private named
Carter in the Fifth Maryland was shot
accidentally He is rather low now, !
understand
This is Sunday I commenced to write
this letter on Saturday. Carter is dead
"A few days ago Company b, or, al
least. some of its members, caught one
of those dark sea turtles, such as you
often see on exhibition in front of res
taurants. 1t must have weighed at least
225 pounds Yesterday, however, three
comrades and 1 beat that all hollow, By
capturing an eagle which measured si>
feet six from tip TO tip. This is the way
il came about:
I'VE were on the drill ground in The
afternoon-which place, by the way, Is
within ten PAGES of the bay-when we
heard q napplnS OF @iIlBS anu upoii ioofA'
ing across the small channel which runs
between the mainland and an island
which lay about $50 yards out, we saw
a large bird. AT first we thought that il
was a crane. We four asked the sergeant
! to allow US TO fall out and try to capture
/ it, but Just then the recall from drill wa:
sounded, and we went back to camp ant
| were dismissed.
well. it was a lively race to the beacl
! after that. and we striped and swan owe
to the island. The eagle, as we fount
! him 10 be, seemed to be rather weak TO
want of food, and his feathers were wet
! Before he could get together to put III
any great amount of resistance, he go
a crack on the head which fairly knock
| ed him silly as the saying goes, and thel
we SWAN back with our prize. AT first
one of the boys held the birds hea'
above water while the others held hi
claws He began 10 flap his wings s.
badly that he scared the fellow who wa
| holding his head and he doused his hea,
under water. That was my cue TO TAX
| the head away from him. By that tim
the bird got considerably stronger an,
he put up a noble fight. To make a lon,
story short, he is now in a tent all b,
| himself and is doing well. We expect t
ship him to Saks & Co., as we under
stand he is good contributor to tn
| fund for US boys"