The times., 1898-08-16
BEFORE SANTIAGO.
The Stories of Two Men Who Were
Shot in the Fight


Shot in the Fight.
People will no more weary of hearing
the stories of the men who were wounded
in the battle at Santiago than the latter
will tire of repsating them Everybody
wants to know the feelings of man who
is struck down by bullet A lieutenant
| now in New York hospital said to a Sun
| reporter:
The thing about that fight that para
yzed me was that we couldn't get al the
fellows we were fighting against Why,
co you know. never saw live Spaniar,l
IN my two days of fighting The next time
get IN shindy hope it will be hand
to-hand affair with bayonets Any fellow
can 40 that sort of thing If he has red
piood IN his veins; but its different to be
target for bullets coming from thesLord
KNOWS Whers- There's something mysteri-
Gus ana frightful about it, and it gets on
man nerve IT'S wonder to me that
any IeIiows could stand up to it as our
men oiu, and I'd have had some sympa-
thy Tor man who flunked.
II never forget the few minutes be-
lore got this hole in my side. We were
soAs forward under a scattering fire
from the 'front.' and all at once off at
Tue rlght, a. rapid-firing gun opened on
No. mere was no smoke. so we couldn t
iocate tne battery exactly, but we could
see the bullets playing over the long
grass like spray from a hose. They
uiah nave the range at first and the
shoWer of bullets went swinging back and
ipith. cnpping off the tops of the grass
anu coming nearer us with every sweep.
hou can't imagine the sensations II gave
US 10 watch that death spray. driven bv
some Invisible, relentless force creeping
On ana on, reaching out and feeling for
US. There was something unnatural
ABOUT IL, and we watched as though we
were Fascinated by it, / didn't feel as If
men mad anything to do with ii. 1t was
an impersonal deadly enemy that /
couldn't light and couldn't escape. There
wasn't living enemy within sight"
AT last. with one big sweep the shower
reaened US. Men all around me dropped.
ana then l felt sting in my side. and
uowh went. Somebody ripped out an
oath. and / was glad to hear it. 1T
sounded so magnificently human. / be-
ieve we We're all thankful when that
gun found US. 1t relieved the tension
but II ended my fighting"
It's all very well for him to talk about
being nervous" commented a wounded
corporal in a neighboring cot. ''but he
gave mighty poor imitation of a ner-
vous man down there. A man with a
record like his can afford 10 own up 10
having felt creepy"
Another wounded man, private, said
Luck was against me- for / got knocked
out at the start. Two of the men car
ried mo out of the lines and put me
down on the ground and / couldn't do
anything but lie there and curse my luck
and envy the fellows who were going on
nm hn rzrith thnIrF mn vain
beastiy hot and my wound panied me
badly and l thought Ia die of thirst.
thrashed around for a while and then
got so weak that / just shut my eyes
and lay still. The fellows had left me a
blanket, and when the sun sets in Cuba
and that awful chill takes hold of a fel-
low he needs blankets and a feather bed
and hot water bottles.
There was a man lying a few yards
from me- He had been horribly cut up
by piece of she'll and groaned every lit
tie while. though he was mighty plucky.
for his wound must have been terribly
painful. He didn't have many clothes nor
any blanket, and / knew ne must be
deadly cold couldn't walk or even
crawl TO him, and ] didn't know whether
he could move at all; but l sung out and
told him that If he could roll toward me
I'd try 10 roll towasd him. and maybe we
could get near enough to each other to
share my blanket.
He said he'd try it, so we began TO roll
II was bad enough for me, but 1t must
have been agony for him. We'd roll over
and then wed lie still awhile. getting up
nerve 10 do it again. Every move the
chap made forced groan out through
his clinched teeth; but we got together /
put part of the blanket over him and we
lay spoon fashion for warmth. My face
was turned away from him, and we didn't
say anything abut u guess we both did a
mighty lot of thinking. / lay there awake.
listening to the poor fellows groans: but.
by and by he quieted down. and thanked
God he'd fallen asleep. and wished /
could manage il myself
AT last did drop off. and didn't waken
until morning. Ny bedfellow's arm was
across my shoulder. and / squirmed away
very gently So as not to waken him. and
turned over TO look at him. l needn't
have been so careful. He was stone dead
and smiling as though he'd never known
a pain y Il