Connecticut western news., 1898-06-30
Into the Spanish Trap.

HttNt DtSu ldTset JudSlHb run Aile rife and constant fire they poured in on the Americans.
 Into the Spanish Trap.
 Colonel Woods men, with an advance guard out in front and two Cuban guides before them. but apparently with no flankers, went squarely into the trap set for them by the Spaniards, and only the unfaltering courage of the men In the face of fire that would even make a veteran quail prevented what might easily have been a disaster. As 1t was. Troop L, the advance guard under the unfortunate Captain Capron, was al- most surrounded, and but for the re-en- forcements hurriedly sent forward ev- cry man would probably have been kill ed or wounded. There must have been nearly 1,500 Spanlards in front and to the sides of us" said Lieutenant Colo nel Roosevelt when discussing the bat tie. They held the ridges with rifle pits and machine guns and hid a body of men in ambush in the thick jungle at the sides of the road over which we were advancing. Our advance guard struck the men in ambush and drove them out. But we lost Captain Capron, Lieutenant Thomas and about Is men killed or wounded.
 ''The Spanish firing was accurate. so accurate indeed that 1t surprised me, and their firing was fearfully heavy"
 'T want to say a word for our own men," continued Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt. Every officer and man did his duty up to the handle. Not a man fiinched."
 From another officer who took prom inent part in the fighting more details were obtained. When the firing be- gan," said he, Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt took the right wing with Troops c and K under Captains Llew- elyn and Jenkins and moved to the support of Captain Capron. who was getting 1t hard. At the same time Colonel Wood and Major Brodie took the left wing and advanced in open or der on the Spanish right wing. Major Brodie was wounded before the troops had advanced 100 yards. Colonel Wood then took the right wing and shifted Colonel Roosevelt to the left.
 "In the meantime the fire of the Span iards had increased in volume, but not withstanding this an order for a gen. eral charge was given, and with a yell the men sprang forward. Colonel Roose- welt, in front of his men, snatched rifle and ammunition belt from a
 
 ing with his men, led the advance. For a moment the bullets were singing like a swarm of bees all around them and every instant some poor fellow went down.
 "On the right wing Captain McClln- tock had his leg broken by a bullet from a machine gun, while four of his men went down. At the same time Captain Luna of Troop F lost nine of his men. Then the reserves, Troops K and F, were ordered up. There was no more hesitation. Colonel Wood, with the right wing. charged straight at a blockhouse 500 yards away, and Colonel Roosevelt. on the left, charged at the same time. Up the men went. yelling like fiends and never stopping to re- turn the fire of the Spaniards. but keep ing on with a grim determination to capture that blockhouse.
 That charge was the end. When within 800 yerds of the coveted point, the Spaniards broke and ran, and for the first time we had the pleasure which the Spaniards had been experiencing all through the engagement of shooting with the enemy in sight"
 In the two hours fighting, during which the volunteers battled against their concealed enemy, enough deeds of heroism were done to fill a volume. One of the men of Troop F. desperately wounded. was lying squarely between the lines of fire. Surgeon Church hur- ried to his side and with bullets pelting all around him calmly dressed the mans wound, bandaged 1t and walked unconcernedly back, soon returning with two men and litter. The wound ed man was placed on the litter and brought into our lines. Another soldier of Troop l., concealing himself as best he could behind a tree, gave up his place to a wounded companion, and a moment or two later was himself wounded.
 Sergeant Bell stood by the side of Captain Capron when the latter was mortally hit. He had seen that he was fighting against terrible odds, but he never flinched. Give me your gun a minute" he said to the sergeant. and kneeling down he deliberately aimed and fired two shots in quick succession. At each fire a Spaniard was seen to fall. Bell, in the meantime. had seized dead comrades gun and knelt beside his cap- tain and fired steadily.
 When Captain Capron fell. he gave the sergeant parting messages to his wife and father and bade the sergeant goodby in a cheerful voice, and was then borne away dying.
 Hamilton Fish the First Man Killed.
 Sergeant Hamilton Fish. Jr., was the first man killed by the Spanish fire. He was near the head of the column as it turned from the wood road into range of the Spanish ambuscade. He shot one Spaniard who was firing from the cover of a dense patch of underbrush. When a bullet struck his breast, he sank at the foot of tree with his back against 1t. Capron stood over him shooting, and others rallied around him, covering the wounded one. The ground this aft ernoon was thick with empty shells where Fish lay. He lived 20 minutes. He gave a small iadys hunting case