The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1898-06-26
By pouLTNEy BIGELow.

steamer painted rcd.
We anchored wltnin half mile OF shore
and discharged dozen regulars on a beach
OF which We Knew nothing excepting that
ii was about u mile from CdGdnas, In which,
according 10 our CUBAN guides, there were
or had been garrison OF 1000 Spaniards.
According TO all the PROBABILITIES, Span
ish force would be on hand 10 dispute our
landing. hose first few men who landed
through the surf went as cooiy as though
By special Invitation Of friends on shore.
There was no parade of fine sentiment, no
handshaking, no address from the COM
manding officer, no serving ont OF stmu-
latlng drink. which some times makes men
careless of danger
Thick tropical bushes lined the beach,
and behind these we felt confident that
Spanish sharpahooters must be lying in
ambush, with possibly a small piece Of
artillery that would open NJ ON our crazy
transport SO soon as we should have got
the bulk Of our landing party under way
for the shore.
Every private who went Oh this trip knew
the situation as well as his officers. There
was an omlnous silence on shore. and no
unnecessary talk on board.
We had no blucjackets on board, and had
therefore to make use Of the civilian crew
Of tho transport, four men, with con
swain named John Donovan. This same
John Donovan knew well that II he were
caught ashore hc would he treated as an
insurgent or pirate along with the rest Of
his crew OF ununlformed filibustors. But
John Donovan never bothered his head
about international law, more than TO re-
member hat he was 1t thoroughbred Irish
man, with a coating Of citizenship, and II
profound contempt for he "daeo." and all
others not of hts own skin and kidney.
John Donovan was n splendid picture of
manhood aa he stood up in the stern of
the whalcboat. steering with his long
sweep. and guiding his crew TO where he
thought the surf least dangerous. That
was not saying much for the transport
was anchored off a coral reef, extending as
far as the eye could read in each direction
The waves broke high on this reef, and the
men had TO spring out OF the boats and
drag them ashore for II distance of per
haps 100 yards. Some Of the boats cap
sized outright. and in each case there wer0
many minutes when the different crews
were up to their necks IN the breakers,
holding alolt their rifles and wondering
why The SpanlardB did not seize this OPP
porunily OF shootng them to pieces
As thoro were not enough deck hands on
the Transport, to row more than ono small
boat at a time, the commander called for
volunteers. There was no lack of them
from among the priyates one was my Ger
man friend BuerEer, who had served in
the FtHncJ- German war, had then served in
the United states navy, had b EN- trans
ferrcd TO the army aud had already served
Uncle Sam eighteen years. had mauy
chat with him during the UP and found
him ono of the few happy mon | have ever
met He loved the service, had no idea of
being anything disc than n regular soldier,
spoke English with a strong native accent.
was proud of the German emperor but
thought Germany wHs going to the devil
from too much government
Buergcr stepped into his seat, picked up
HIS sweep and pulled for the Cuban shore
with mechanical ease ami amphihlousness
There We're one hundred and six soldiers al
together on hoard, and about half of them
went ashore while the other half lined
the bulwarks OF the transporttheir rifles
ready
IT was hard to say which was the most
dangerous, to remain on the transport or
10 ashore. Both were bad enough as picnic
grounds. one shot from shore could send
the rotten old paddlehoat to the bottom In
fvr fathoms of water, with no means of
saving lite except by swimming amid
sharks and breakers.
There was a moment when about
dozen regulars stood alone upon the Gu
ban beach whIla tho small boats were
struggling through the surf to take of
moro mon But mover was there among
slightest hesitation to follow tho oranrI
given by the officers. The woods had not
nocn accommodated previous 10 landing
Of pro n" nv, osgu ns.u hIeu into 10y way
of soldiers nj once co,nmonccd '". m9uu,u.
into the unl,nown ana sron oosh ~
hullets commenced - sirg aho,,, u.s., ~
These were not ricl,n1 49, nv, wv, '"Is'
taken "A tboy honreno ,,I 70 'no o NY my woIc
,nandor did moi al, so o,,,,' ! Nv ouln.
from To,nra a., 80, n't s',u"'G u 10 start
marty IIc had ~ $50 w. wy "rsi lanulnR
swcens not heco,sn .,,, noh ~ pun the
thnn the res, h,t ny. any WIRE moro nravc
roNIng tryor,. va" 49, ''"piS LOT khoWleaee o.
on maj dav w,,., t,, liz, Wno vas III lha' nsht
nm NE ch,nnns ~ nat. enoush 20 know
honclessl,' s,,,o,, ~ 1, sU'Nnk nol,'e AGAIN were
tiriv ,nao Tug in're iIea OF landing
ne,ghhn,ho," q" ""Nuown peach In tho
nro,,yh a., W. STRONG garrison was
tn da,'. w. s'"ulp we enterprise as equal
lybo cnrloa ~ .n'' ot heutcnant Hohson.
sintin,' ~ ~" ,np narnor OF Santiago by
Nra sro,,' ,'ty "Srlitoar m me channel under
"'o IRON 'ne spanish forts
III, ,
e0'''' vi th's peculiarly American
attitude toward danger ia In the habit our
men have of acting ina,vidu,iIy m.
American hohtt,ar,