The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-17
JOE WHEELER UNDER FIRE.
CARRIED TO THE FRONT on 4 LIT
TER AND jokes WITH AIDES.


TER AND jokes WITH AIDES.
Queer Things to BE seen in Cuba,
From the Erratic weeping of The
Clouds To the Adamantine Check
of the Natives-The Fruits OF the
island.
From the New York Press.
- - Frant Before Santiago, July l.
Gan Joe V,aselcr ana een. SKATER we're
sick in he'd when the san rose this morn
ing Gen. shafter was not wen enough
10 leave his tent Gil afternoon, but Gen.
Wheeler was carried to the front ON
stretchcr and arrived just as the war bal
Icon came down and reported its obserya-
tons. During an the terrible firms Of shot
and shell which lasted until darkness set
On Gen, Wheeler was The only man 1 saw
who did not dodge or duck He sat astride
his horse cooHy, giving orders, chatting
with his aides and taking things as they
came" as an officer who was lying on the
ground remarked.
Gen. Wheeler provoked one good laugh
which went all along the line. Through
his glass he saw the enemy retreating, and
he turned to group Of friends and re-
marked gleefully:
IT'S all right, boys; the Yankees are
yielding"
The little general corrected himself when
he saw the smile that came and said;
Il mean the spaniards, Of course, gen
tlemen."
The army has been in Cuba for more
than a week now. and the rainy season,
about which so much has been written,
still is under discussion. Two points must
be made ia favor of the Cuban rains. They
give warning OF their approach and they
don't last forever. OF course, the warm
Ing isn't especially valuable If there is no
shelter obtainable. And the showers al
ways last long enough 10 wet everything
that isn't under rubber, tim or wood On
the whole, the Cuban rains are not espe-
cially dreadful 20 contemplate, because
the sun is bound 10 make everything dry
again, and the sun shines every day OF the
year In this part of he island
II doesn't make any difference whether
the sun is shining or the stars are visible
if a shower blows up. The rain clouds
Just occupy that portion OF the blue vault
that they require for their sprinklinS mis-
sion. They don't try to interfere with the
sun or stars at all A big, black bunch OF
floating vapor appears over the mountains,
gradually envelopes The coast for a mile
more or less out at sea and-it pours. II
the rain strikes you in camp with nothing
but a dog tent over you, the best scheme
is to place all your clothing under your
rubber poncho, shoes, underwear and all
Then you enjoy the finest of shower bdtns
with the purest of water and you have
dry clothes to put on when the shower IS
ended. Some of the soldiers who have i'm
plicit confidence in their ponchos put their
clothing and papers on their laps and their
ponchos over al. Outlines the poncho be
trays them and they haven't dry stitch
left in the world
At Baiquir where the first troops dis
embarked, there is a little railroad which
ran from The landing place back 10 the
iron ore mines in the mountains. The
Spaniards managed to tie up the road ef-
fectually before eVacuating the place.
They ran the three locomotives into the
big machine shop and repair house and
burned the entire OUTFIT. The locomotives
were so warped and twisted by the heat
that no amount of labor or ingenuity
would avail to put them into shape. The
operation of the railroad would have been
of little or no use to our army. The tracks
and couple of hand-cars were utilized in
landing the stores and baggage, and a sin
gle armored freight car made a temporary
headquarters for the New FORK Press cor
respondent
The railroad which the army found al
Siboney, the second landing place, and the
point chosen finally as the base of sup
plies, has been made useful already. I'm
doubtediy it viii be utilized still further
when the troublesome Spanish force which
occupies Aduadores Is driven out. Aqua
dores Is the point on the coast a few miles
east, where the railroad turns and runs
north TO the city of Santiago, parallel with
mn O..
cupied Siboney thought they had wrecked
the five locomotives they were forced to
leave behind Them here. They stripped off
all the rods and nuts and bolts and levers
they could loosen and hid them in the
bushes. They carefully buried the bell
from one locomotive in two feet of sand,
twelve inches more than they give their
own dead soldiers. Then they fed the
place while the fleet was bombarding It.
When the Second Massachusetts and the
Seventy first New York landed here there
was a can for former railroad men. Two
hundred responded. The missing parts of
the locomotives were found and put in
place. Now the locomotives are running
up and down the fi-se tracks here, switch
ing coal cars and hauling stores from the
commissary depot on the beach to the
camps and the hospitals.
Four hundred dump cars marked "Jura-
qua Iron Company" and made by the L.
the tracks. They are loaded with 400 tons
of soft coal. The SpanlarGs withdrew the
kingbolt from the truss bridge over a cut
al this point. but their fiendish design was
not accomplished. The bridge was tested
before any weight was placed on it and
then strengthened. Cars are run across it
now. The machine shops of the railroad
and the iron company here. the water
tanks and the water supply system, have
all been found OF great use. The water
supply was not tempered with further
than by an Intellectual attempt of the
Spaniards to break the pipe line. The
Seventy first New York made their camp
IN and about the machine shops before
they went to the front.
Mangoes cocoanuts and a few lines are
the only fruits the army has seen yet. The
mango has a thick rind and a big oval nut
inside. Between the rlnd and the nut IS
a stringy PUPPY mess that is juicy and
tastes a little like a peach. One fine Della