Omaha daily bee., 1898-09-21
ECHOES or THE LATE WAR.

as we'll as the spiritual affairs of their re-
spectiye ships, and as soon as active opera
tions ended they launched out with Criti-
cisms of methods and reflections on men Of
the navy. Three of the hairtrigger chap
lains managed to satisfy the Navy depart
ment that they did not mean what they
said and escaped court-martial. Chaplain
Mcintyre Of the oregon was not so fortu-
nate, and he is to be tried by a naval court
martial, which will convene at Denver,
where the parson made the offensive re-
marks which fractured the naval regula-
tions. The substance of the chapain's Of
Tense was broad charge of cowardice
against Captain Evans of the Iowa in the
battle with Cerveras fleet. He also re-
hected on the admiral OF the feet by in
sinuating that Sampson reported he was
within four miles of the Colon when beached
in order to get a share of the prize money.
The chaplain's explanations and denials
place him in a pitiful plight. In an inter-
view in Denver a few days ago he said
while l was hasty and incomplete in my
statements l most certainly deny that l
made the statements which the newspapers
said ! made. / can see very clearly where
l was wrong My sin was that of omission.
In speaking of the positions Of the Iowa and
the Oregon l should have stated, what was
very well known to us all, that the plan OF
battle had been formed and the orders and
instructions for the movement Of each ves-
sci had been issued a month before at a
council OF war held on Admiral Sampson 8
flag ship New York. / would certainly have
made these explanations had l been thor
oughly myself. l do not claim that l
did not know what l was doing, but l do
say that my inadvertedness was due TO
my overweight condition and that this
would never have happened had l been
we'll"
The tragic death of General Haskell at
Columbus, o., few hours after marching
home at the head of his regiment, removes
one OF the distinguished heroes of the Santi-
ago campaign. His gallantry in that strug-
gle brought him promotion from a colo
nelcy to brigade commander. writer in
Scrbner's describes his conduct under fire.
"Then for the buzzing of rife balls and the
sight of DEATH On the ground lay our colo
mel, Haskell. Like all the old 81 men, who
knew not the magazine rifle nor the fiat
trajectory, he had sCorned a crouchng posi-
ton
"He went into the fight well in advance
Of his men and advanced with drawn saber,
at the full height of his manhood, and he
went down like log, with three Mauser
bullets through parts of his body-one at
the breast, one at the knee, one through the
heel.
did not those three bullets measured
along the height of man tell the story well
of what the fire-swept zone of the Mauser
rifle is?
"The regiment was on it's face, directly
after the colonel went down, in lane that
offered some shelter, and two lieutenants,
H6rdaway and Roberts, called for volun-
teers from the men to go out and take the
colonel to this lane.
They could have had all the regiment
but they took five men and three of these
were shot before they got back and laid the
colonel in the shade"
The wounds did not incapacitate him from
duty, but they, with the excitement of home
coming, precipitated his death.
The family of young William Tiffany, lieu
tenant OF the Rough Riders, who died Of
fever on his return to this country, paid
touching tribute to his memory few days
before the disbanding Of the regiment. Tiff
fany's family placed large sum OF money
in the hands of the regmental officers for
distribution among the families of men who
died or were wounded and were needy. Col
one Roosevelt sent for an officer of each
troop and asked about the men that had
been killed. Almost every officer was able
to produce letter from some widow telling
of her sad position since her husbands
death. Wherever it was found that there
was a baby the colonel would say:
We'll, we will make it tritle more for
the baby's sake"
To some officers he gave money, with in
,l.a, ,ln fIrtH rnt &c
quickly as possible Others were given
checks, to be sent by mail. Carefully
Colonel Roosevelt inquired into the circum-
stance OF each woman, and then decided
on the amount to be given. To each officer
he said:
"Just see that she gets 1t in memory OF
poor Willie Tiffany; you need not mention
me-" Then he inquired for the sick men.
Some Of them he saw personally. Colonel
Roosevelt has no tact to accompany his big
heart, and he simply thrusts the bills into
the hands Of his men, saying as he did so;
at is for the wives and babies" Many OF
the soldiers went out with tears in their
eyes and unable to speak their thanks.
General Merritt's private secretary writes
to a friend in Washington: "Cavite is
strange looking place. The streets are mar
row, houses only one story high, and the
horses are but mere ponies. They are
driven to funny little two-wheel contrivan-
ces Another man and myself drove around
in one of these carts yesterday afternoon
and all it cost us for the two hours we
had it was 80 cents, Mexican; 10 cents,
American. Notwithstanding this low
charge, clothes and the like have gone up
in price, although l ordered linen suit,
and the price is to be 81, Mexican; $3.50,
American. The rainy season is now on and
when it rains 1t rains hard, coming down in
regular torrents. The mornings are usually
clear, and much to my surprise, l haven't
as yet found any extremely hot weather
| think the climate Is not half as bad as 1t
has been pictured. Certainly it is not over
hot"
The Russian naval officer sent to observe
the operations OF our fleets in Cuban wa
ters is enthusiastic in his praise of our
ships and the men who man them. Never
before did he see such accuracy OF gun hre,
such marvellous perfection OF machinery
and such skill on the part OF ofiicers' en-
gineers and crew. His conclusion is that
the United States navy is superior in quail
ity to the navy OF any other country-and
in thus reporting the Russian ofhcer SHOWS
that he is an expert
AS a token OF the esteem in which the
n bnI Colnnpl Roosevelt they