New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-07-25
HE WANTED SPANISH BUTTONS

n
FIGHTING NEAR SANTIAGO
rr CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNEl
headquarters Fifth Army Corps. near San
.,ono de Cuba July 7-Private Edward o.
po,rs Company A, 10th Infantry. has grew
900 oea,nst the Spanish Government IL re-
-, 20 tho quality of buttons supplied on the
uniforms Of the Spanish soldiers. Bains KNOWS
o,rg yoman In Louisville, who mace MN
or,Isa that he would send her some buttons
sror, the clothing Of the first Spanish SOLDIER
no killed OF course. she thought or prass o"'
tons with some gorgeous design or o'her' suoh
90 soldiers are supposed to wear. but IN Cuoa
do not.
Rains is q Southerner. you know as soon
as he begins to speak He Is from MISSISSIPPI
In the attack on the San Juan fortihcations Oh
Julv I he had several shots at the enemy "hich
he believed to be effective One was az an Oh
hcer. The company had been ordered 10 re-
servo ,ts fire when seven Spanish officers were
seen in a kind Of she'd with 'ha'cheu 'oo'
Their white clothing showed that they were not
nriyates who wear kind OF blue checK baihs
cou,d not resist the temptation. orders or no
orders. and fired Just as the men were running
out Of the place. The second man fell. AS MS
comrades carried him away, Bains could not tell
whether the coveted buttons were on that or
Louisville would have to wait.
KILLED MAN AND HORSE.
A little later some Of the sharpshooters OF
Company A saw Spaniard on horseoacK' "e'-
oral Ared simultaneously. and man and horse
fell In a heap. Bains was one OF 'hose "no
WAS confident that his bullet did some Of the
work. but 1t was hardly case that wou'o
.ot,sfv the conditions Of the young woman's re-
quest.
That day Bains discharged forty-three bullets
q. tho Standards. but in the ordinary fighting
at long range 1t not possible TO Know
whether II was his shot another mans that
laid one of the enemy low. To make matters
uoree he was overcome by the heat. In the
limited States he had been Frustrated by the
ssrno cause and the long hours OF marching ana
the battle In the sun proved too much for him.
He was sent to the rear. and an ambulance
carried him to the division hospital near zen
eral Skaters headquarters four or hve miles
from the firing line. Here he was told that
there was no medicine for him. nor was 1t pos
sible TO attend to him. The hospital was only
| FOR surgical cases, and these more than oc-
cupied the time Of the physicians. So they
| could merely tell him to keep in a cool place
WANDERED TOWARD THE FRONT.
Bains was feeling little better by that time
| and the worst heat Of the day was over. so ne
wandered slowly back toward the front. mile
| or two passed. he came to the place where lie
had left his gun and blanket troll. Night com
ing on he went into camp by the roadside ana
| slept till morning. The next day he was sui
weak but tried to make his way toward the
! front 1t was hard work, and about : O'CLOCK
| in the afternoon he felt so wearied that he de-
termined to seek cool place at distance IRON
the road He turned into a family marked
| noth TO the right and managed to drag himself
| a distance Of about three hundred yards
There he came under mango tree. The
| fruit was q golden yellow, and he Thought Il
would prove refreshing. so he started to knocf
some down with a stick. He was so weak
however. that he couldn't hurl even a small
club and decided to sit down and rest until
he should gather his forces together little
Inst then he saw Mauser rife lying under
the tree. He picked 1T up. and. having heard 81
| much about the weapon started TO examine /
| closely First OF oil he noticed that 1t wa
| loaded He was critically looking over III
| mechanism when H. heard a shot from a tre
that stood not over sixty feet away. The re
port was the unmstakable one OF Mauser
and looking quickly up he spied a Spaniard II
the tree about forty feet from the ground
USED MAUsER on sPANIARD.
Beins had the Mauser in his lap. instantly
was at his shoulder. He aimed carefully. bu
the range close that unless much eX
| cited he could not miss. Only the mans RICH
side was In view. The Mauser bullet caugh
him In the shoulder. and he and his gun fell 10
| ge.her Re toppled over Sideways, but abou
ten feet from the ground struck the crotch q
the tree This hurled him over that h
do1 m
TO him he was dead.
Bains didn't stop TO wonder whether the she
alone had done the business or whether the ia
was needed He stopped the body TO GU
| off some buttons for the young woman In Ken