The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-18

Some Unpleasant Features of Porte
Rico Camp Life.

Some Unpleasant Features of Porto
Rico Camp Life.
Some of the battery boys have tales of
hardship to relate. Captain Curtis's men
landed in Porto Rico on the third day of
July and embarked for home on the eighth
day of September. During the time they
were camped in Porto Rico the weather was
very wet and disagreeable. Most of the
time they camped near swamps. Part of the
time the men had only bareback and coffee
for subsistence. They slept in the rain part
of the time. In the evening they would
place their rubber ponchos on the soggy
ground, and then, wrapping themselves in
their wooden blankets, would lay down for a
nights sleep. The tentage was in a dilap-
idated condition, allowing the water to come
in like sieve. Private Harry Riley says
his blanket was not thoroughly dry from
the time they landed on the island until a
week before leaving, the last week being
the only time the weather was pleasant.
Captain Curtis's battery made the longest
forced march in the history of the Porto
Rican campaign. The march was made
curing the latter part of August, from Guy
ANA to Ponce. The start was made during
a very heavy rain over bad roads. The
carriages of the guns sank into the mud
heavy powders. causing the gun carriages
to come down, shake and rebound until it
almost seemed as il they would go to pieces
The mud stuck to the carriages like gumbo.
The mules became fatigued. and it was only
with whip and spur that they were forced
onward The men were forced to wade
through the muck and water knee deep
Several became exhausted on the road, but
caught up with the battery again during
the night All the subsistence the men had
on the march was bareback and whatever
they could forage along the route. The first
day the distance OF twenty miles was COW
cred. The second day of the march the
weather was terribly hot. The men say
the rays of the sun were broiling hot and
the persriration tricllled from them as
though they We're taking a shower BATH
After another days hard journey they
marched the distance of forty miles in two
days. The men We're all tired and ex-
hausted.
The poisonous centipedes were so numer-
Gus at the camp near Ponce that they be-
came fright to the men. The centipedes
are about two or three inches in length
cts, clothing and knapsacks The men
would sleep on the caissons or on any other
elevation that would make them secure
from the deadly centipedes. Four stakes
were driven into the ground in the form
OF square, on which were paced a number
of ,boughs. This arrangement. served as a
bed, and in way protected the men from
the centipedes. Some of the more nervous
men would not sleep at night for fear OF
these poisonous creatures, and would walk
around the greater part of the night, hunt
ing safe place to rest. The men say the
region where they were camped was very
thickly infested with centipedes. 1t was a
common occurrence to find from two to
three of them il their blankets. One morn
ing member of the battery caught fifteen
centipedes under his blanket, and he could
scarcely believe he escaped being stung A
curious kind of lizard inhabited the places
where the battery camped. The lizards
were from seven to ten inches long and had
a peculiar way of initiating their necks.
They were very numerous and at first the
men had horror of them, but after the
surgeons said the lizards were harmless
the battery boys caught them in great num-
bers and have brought many along as SOU
yenirS.