New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-07-10
NOW THEY FOUGHT IN CUBA.
sroRIFs OF TIE CALAMITY sHO"N
RY AMERICAN SOLDIERS.
lay TELEGRAPH TO TIE ThlDUNE'I

", ce,re Of the group He was Captain j. g.
w. of the 9th Cavalry. just back from SAN
ro with n Mauser bui!et-hole through MS
-, from wrist 10 shoulder. Captain Kerr Is
or crav-haired Kcntuckan, with the easy
1arpor and picturesque descriptive power char
'..or,s,,c Of the men Of his native state. He Is
',.o trained and experienced soldier, capable
." 4rdriDc accurately Of the conditions at the
<-ort After participating In the fearful fight Of
,.,,, before T.! Caney he has come to certain
..rc,,eiorq. with reason TO back them. They
are as follows:
ri,st antiquatad Springfield rifles are worse
.,or useless against modern arms; second.
,bree-fourths Of the people Of Cuba are in SYM
,a,hy with Spain. and those who are not can
rot he expected 10 render any effective assist
ance 10 our troops: third. without action at Ma
Add seeking peace only a war of determination.
carried 70 the bitter end by three hundred thou
eord American ;roors. can make Cuba ours.
Officers who reached Tampa to-day agree
unanimously with Captain Kerr on these points.
All Of them are capable OF Judging, and all say
that convic;ion will he forced upon the Nation
on these points before a month has passed.
SPRINGFIELD RIFLES INEFFICIENT.
Concerning the utter inefllciency Of the Spr!cg-
held rife Captain Kerr was especially en-
phatic "Why, we had 10 drive the list New
York and other volunteers away from our lines
20 save cur commands from being simply
slaughtered" said Captain Kerr. and It was
not because the volunteers We're not good SOL
diers, for no one ever had better or Drawer men
In battle 1t was on account Of their rifle
you can't say It too strongly. 1t is nothing
but q crime TO send men into the field carrying
old pot-meta Anticipated muskets, called Spring
field rifles that have been in the hands OF school
boys and militia companies for twenty years
in the fight at Caney it was simply murderous
Every time one of them fired 1t was like
starting a signal fire. and it was followed In
stantly by hail Of bullets from Spaniards we
didn't see, and who didn't know where We were
until they saw the smoke from the Springhelds
going up out Of the bushes.
After a company armed with Springhelds had
fired a couple Of rounds their position was plain
70 every Spaniard within rife shot Of them, and
our men armed with Springhelds sur
rounded with smoke that they could not see
each other All they could do was to blaze
away blindly with the comforting knowledge
that even If they knew where the Spanards
were who were shooting them down their rifles
probably would not carry far enough TO hit
them"
HOW OUR MEN FOUGHT AT CANEY.
when you understand what kind OF fight It
was at Caney. you can see that the Springfelds
were simply worse than useless The fight on
July was the only real fight Of the lot on all
the other days It was simply sk!rmishng. hot
enough. Of course, but not case OF wake up
and drive 'en out. as II was on the Is.
"Our regiment was engaged east Of Caney
the 1st our orders were to drive the Span
!ards back out OF the rifle pits. which were moth
ing more OF less then Notifications. 1t was an
awful task for men on foot, armed only with
rifles to undertake. but we did it; other regi-
ments did as much. In Europe, they would have
called the Spanish position impregnab!e except
for artillery. We had no artillery but we had
TO take It.
THE fight was the coolest thing you
We could locate the rife pits at the top Of the
hills. but we could not a Spaniard. our men
marched up like the heroes they We're. Regu-
lars and volunteers alike. Men dropped on all
sides before we even got a shot at the Span
tards Before we got to the rifle pits they killed
and hurt a good many more than we did. but
we 1ust kept on until we got to the pits, and
drove them out.
when our men got into the ditch II was from
three 10 five feet deep with dead Spaniards;
there were only a few wounded. They must
have sent their wounded to the rear during our
advance Most os the men in the ditch broke
and ran when reached them, but some OF
them stayed and fought like devils. We sur
rounded about twenty and captured them. one
man. a private Of the Regulars, after he fired
his last cartridge. pulled out phial Of poison.
drank the contents. walked away few PAGES
and fell among a heap Of dead men
HOW CAPTAIN KERR WAS SHOT.
81 got winged just as the fight was about over
for the day. The Spaniard who shot me was
not twenty yards away; his bullet entered my
wrist as my arm was extended. and came out
near the shoulder. ] don't know what became
OF him. but l guess he's up there yet"
What is the sensation OF being hit with
Nauser bullet Captain" asked officer In the
group.
well II makes fellow pretty mad" was the
response. 1T doesn't hurt much. Our surgeons
over there were glad 10 find that the explosive
effect Of the Mauser bullet IS not noticed at ALL
The Mauser is an humane weapon. just as our
Krag-Jorgensen Is. The bullet IS small and bores
its way clear through. It sears the wound as 1t
passes and there is no profuse heInOrrhage. rake
my own case. for instance. The sullet entered al
the front % the wrist. passed clear through the
elbow Joint and came out below the shoulder
A Springfield bullet taking such q course would
have shattered my arm 20 tina. amputatioh
would have been necessary. With the wouhd
have can carry my arm comfortably III d
sling, and the doctors tell me tina the cIpo"
Will probably not be stiff"
what sort Of fighters are the Cubsns?' asReu
an officer.
NO fighters at all" he replied. lhey are 50
used 10 running from the Spaniards mat you
never break them OF IT, At Caney me CREEKS
and other safe hiding places were full or 'hei'i
They have nothing in common with oursod'erS'
and VIII not cooperate with them hey d'c
Spanish In their language and their haoi'"'
Nearly all OF the Spanish volunteers ain suei-
Has are Cubans. and they are better 'shte''
than the Cnhn,,c ro ~, n,lr eide The GlerlIIa9