Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1898-08-02
A cHApLA,N,s EXPERIENCE.
HIS LONG JOURNEY ON FOOT WITH
OTHER WOUNDED MEN.


given TO the newspaper men In Newark
yesterday BY Chaplain Galloupe Of the
Ninth United States Infantry and rector |
OF st. Paul's Episcopal church In that
city. The more interesting parts Of the
story are a. follows:
"The very first thing that want to |
say TO you said the chaplain, after an |
OF greetings" Is about the
members Of your own craft. The news |
paper men at the front deserve as much |
credit as the soldiers. At all times they |
were willing and ready TO render every |
aid In their powes and put up with every |
Inconvenience. They carried water and
food on their backs for distance Of eight |
miles, and were invaluable In their help |
to the wounded. I cannot say too much |
of the personal sacrifice Of the news
paper men.
''And now ! want you, as q personal
favor to me, to absolutely deny all OF
these sensational stories that have APP
peared about me. They are untrue.
"On June 20, was sunstruck while
aiding the wounded, carrying water and
food, and WAS ordered to the hospital at
Siboney by Lieut.. Col. Ewers, command
ing our regiment. Two days later, on
July l, while still at the hospital, heard
Of the fighting at the front, and, think
Ing that 1t Was my duty to be there, and
feeling we'll enough to make the journey,
| walked the eight miles to the firing
line. This was 10 the morning, aud all
that day worked with the doctors, help
ing them with the wounded.
ha1 AZ all Aaxy AZ
about in the afternoon, made my way
to small clump Of trees, near which
there were some wounded men, In the
endeavor to cool of bit, for was still
suffering slightly from the effects Of my
sunstroke and the sun had been too much
for me. At this time WAS about half
mile behind our firing line, which was
about thousand yards from the enemy.
was facing the firing line and heard
nothing coming, nor did | see anything.
IL Is impossible for me TO tell how was
hurt, but the next thing ! knew | was
regSinipg consciousness. Twas lying on
my left side, and ut first ] was sure that
my right arm Was broken. | sat up and
began feeling myself all over In dszed
sort of way, trying To find out where
VAS hurt. My first sensation was that OF
loneliness. Oh, | thought, II only had
some one 10 talk TO. IL was terrible
feeling that OF thinking that WAS going
10 die all alone there with no one about.
tell you was nightly scared.
"well, | looked down and found the
front Of my shirt all torn away and nv
exposed chest mass OF dirt and blood.
was all shaken up and pretty sore, but
soon discovered that | WAS not badly
wounded. All this time had been think
ing OF the brevity OF human life and OF
how uncertain IL all IL. So, as was say
ing, concluded that still had fight
ing chance, and getting on my feet start
ed of for Siboney.
"Never, even should ! live To be n
thousand years old, will forget the 5
mile walk" continued the chaplain.
There were some 700 or 500 men on that
road, wounded In every possible manner,
all with but one thought, TO get back
TO the hospital st Siboney. Had they
been unipjured they would have been In
the front rank, but 10 y they were Actual
ed by that one thought, to get 10 the
rear. There was but one ambulance, and
that had 10 be dragged by men, AS the
mules we're transporting ammunition To
the front. The consequence was that the
wounded were compelled 10 go 1t on
their own hook, with such assistance as
they could give one another.
by the time | had reached the road
night had fallen. The moon WAS par
italy out, and by Its half light the poor
fellows could be seen dragging them
selves along as best they could. Here
and there man had dropped at the side
OF the road and Was fecbly calling for
water. Some OF the men, most OF them,
In fact, had been without water or food
for owes thirty-six hours, aud their suf-
fering was fearful.
AS went along giving what assist
ance could here and there, the sight
made an impression on my mind that !
shall never forget. Words cannot de-
tears came to the chaplsin's eyes had
been struck by an exploding shell; his
right foot was gone, and his leg from
the knee down. was nothing but mass
Of pulp. He had gotten comrade TO
cut branch from tree, and this he had
bound about the stump with wisps OF
grass, so that the leaves dragged along
the ground and protected the wound.
And so rugged up, that man dragged him
self over those eight miles on all fours.
| He took twelve hours to do IL, and when
he reached the hospital took his place at
the end OF the line Of about GOO wounded
without murmur or complaint. When
the doctors found him, as they did Ia GO
ing along the line looking for the worst
cases he was calmly chewing on the end
Of plug OF tobacco. The doctors all
| said that ne had no excuse to be living,
and that he ought TO have died from the
loss OF blood, but they fixed him up,
and he Is now doing nicely and will re-
cover.
One wav In which the Spanish did
much damage was with their sharpshoOt-
ers. The officers tied the men away up
In trees In such way that they coulnn't
get down. Each man was given can
teen OF water and box Of cartridges.
"They would remain quiet until we
had advanced beyond them and they
were in our rear aud would open fire,
picking of stragglers and small detach-
ments with the greatest ease. Ii was
| lmpOSslDle TOT US 10 iOcalt tiieul, rs tney
had smokeless powder, and we could not
see them In the trees. In this way We
lost many men.
Chaplain GsllOupe found the climate
OF Cuba better than he hsd expected.
While 1t WAS exceedingly warm during
the day, the nights were cool. There Ia
but short period Of twilight, night
coming soon on the heels OF sunset
There was shower nearly every day.
At noon, with unfaiing regularity, the
clouds would begin to gather, and
promptly at 2 O'Clock the rain would
begin. From then until there would
be the severest kind of thunder sho yer,
after which II would clear up. At II
o'clock at night 1t would rain again.
cold, hard rain. This would last about
two hours also. These rains come so
regularly that one could almost tell the
time BY them. The men stood this very
well, nearly all cases of sickness being
from sunstroke.
The Spiniards In their fighting are
using explosive bullets, he says, and
brass bullets, and samples OF these have
been taken from wounded soldiers and
sent on to washington.-New York Sun