The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-07-16

cry house was crowded. The foreign
I consular representatives endeavored to
make the homeless people as conforta-
| Die as possible. There was little sleep
! for any one. About the plaza men
smoked and women lamented and Wept.
one Gght-hearted young man rum
mayed about in a mass of luggage and
extrlcated a guitar, and soon the
strains of La Paloma'' fioated out
upon the heated air. Hundreds caught
the enlivening spirit of the music and
hummed in soft concert. The low voices
of the southern women chimed in.
The majority went hungry. Yet there
was no murmuring. So passed the
night.
Upon such a scene the sun rose this
morning. He seemed to gaze hercely,
as if angered at the misery below him.
missary wagons arrived with provis-
ions, which, for a while, brought cheer
to the hungry thousands.
No Shelter For Refugees.
FL Caney can afford no adequate shell
ter for the refugees. They already are
muddy roads toward Siboney. They are
thrust aside every hundred yards by
the ammunition pack trains and the
heavily-laden cOmmissary wagons. WO-
men and children are taken up, Wher-
ever it is possible, by our returning
wagons and the fatigue of their jour
ney is thus somewhat a1Ieviated. In
places the road is a Veritable bog and
the streams have swollen 50 that it is
necessary to wade in the shadows for
half a mile. Soldiers in working dress
are trying to make the road passable
for heavy artillery.
Much has been written about the vol
unteer regiments with the army and about
their good behavior under fire: In the
descriptions of battles the regular soldier
granted that he is brave and will give a
good account of himself under all circum-
1 would like to put in a word on behalf
OF the regulars and the men who COM
the services of the volunteers to tell the
truth, which is that the regulars have
formed immeasurably better service
War is not altogether question ofbrav-
regulars rate at par. The regulars fight
better, however, because they have spent
attended by the innumerable petty blum
ders inseparable from volunteers in their
The regulars carried the forts at Ell
Caney and San Juan Hill. Give the vol
Should not ct forget that the regulars u9 are
here fighting like devils. These men do
the right way.
Volunteers Sent Back.
Volunteer. regiments have been taken
out of the firing line. This is not at all
to their discredit, for the Springfield rifles
with which they are armed are alone re-
spOnsible.
Springfield ammunition makes a heavy.
white smoke which draws the enemy's fire
and obScures the vision of the firing line.
regiment was ordered to cease firing on
this account, after 1t had suffered a loss
of SO men within two hours. The Sew
enty-frst regiment of New York and the
Thirty-fOurth Michigan were taken out of
the trenches for the same reason and de-
tailed to work the roads, much to the
chagrin of the officers and men.
Scores of volunteers slipped away from
their regiments during the firing Saturday
night and Sunday morning and crept up
with the regulars on the firing line, only
to be summarily chased away by the reg
ulars as soon as they were detected. These
volunteers had left their own regiments in
the shelter of the ridges. They returned
so mortified that they wept and threaten
ed that unless supplied with Krag-JOrgen>
sens they would throw away their SPRING
field rifles. The volunteer officers were
equally Disguised but they realized that
they must yield to military necessity.
They said that they We're determined to
secure d good position in the assaulting
line when the general advance came.
The volunteers have received their bap-
tsm of fire, and will be classed as vet
Grams upon the same plane as the regu>
lars