The Portland daily press., 1898-09-24

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of the press dispatches and he had to
keep his eyes open to prevent things got.
ting out which were contrary to orders
from the commanding officer.
| Besides this Siboney station Captain
Buffers corps had charge of four or five
| other stations. Two Of these were at, the
front and connected by telephone with %
station at Aguadores, six miles outside the
American lines and opposite the feet
Only the Aguadores river ran between
this signal station and the Spanish out
posts. Sergeant WEIGH, with Corporals
Cox and johnson and Private Worcester
had charge Of this station. They were
alone with a guard of two hundred
Cubans, who were sure to run at the first
fire, who were the greatest thieves in the
whole army and who had to be watched
as closely as the Spaniards This station
Was only telephone nailed on a tree.
4 The men at the front sent their mes
sages of the result of the firing of Samp-
sons fleet to this station and Sergeant
Telch and his men wig-wagged these
messages off to the ships. The fleet was
lying several miles off shore and had to
4 tire over the hills of San Juan into Sapti-
ago. By sending the results of the bonn
| bardment of the ships the sailors were
| better able to direct their fire, and while
\ she bombardment continued the Maine
\ lmen performed this work. The stations
ast the front were very much exposed and
were under fire while the bonn bardment
Illasted. The expert photographers of the
Maine corps had their hands full in the
\ Various stations and were worked about
'lll the time The III lies of telephone and
telegraph lines had to be patrolled con-
eItantly day and night by the signal corps
rfden to repair breaks and keep the lines
| IN working order. The Spaniards now
hnd then got into the lines and cut these
Wires. the Cubans took delight in cutting
Them and even the American soldiers
Would tear the wires down when they got
| IN their way.
\ Captain Butler and his men were on
\ 5he jump day and night. They did not
| have the experience of regulars but they
| brought with them Yankee brains and
| ingenuity and what they lacked in
|Epractice they made up with their grit
land hard work. Soon the Maine men
| began to show the effects of hard work.
Many of them were taken sick and sent
home and this made the work harder for
the. rest of the men. Finally Santiag o
surrendered but this did not end the hard
work for the signal men were busy after
eyu,,a had tn hf fired.
| AFTER many vexatious delays these men
were ordered north and reached Camp
N5ykoff. From the tropics they were
IrI,laced at once in the cold camp at Mon
lbErnk Point and then sickness came for
many of them. 1t was very cold at Mon
lttauk and the men suffered not little
rr,m this cause. They were all glad to
!sdt away from the place for to them it
seemed as bad if not worse than Cuba.
| Captain Butler has many interesting
things to tell of the fights about Santiago.
| While he did not witness many engage
nents he heard of Them from the lips OF
Those who were in them and on the spot.
HE says that the troops stood the cam
lfDaign we'll until after the surrender and
| then they commenced to go to pieces.
| The commissary and quartermaster de-
llpartments has been much criticized for
the way the men were supplied, but
IGcaptain Butler says many of these criti-
toisms are undeserved. The regimental
lofn GERS are to blame in many cases for
their men being starved and i'll supplied.
The Maine men were well fed and sup
piled compared with the other troops.
| The quartermaster sergeant Of the com
\ mand was jewel, according to Captain
| Butler, and what he couldn't get for the
| Maine men could not be had. OF course
the Maine men were widely scattered,
and it took great deal of time and much
| hard work to supply them all. No
| wagons were to be had but they succeeded
| in obtaining enough mules to pack pro-
visions on. They had no pack saddles and
were Obliged to tie the provisions on the
hacks of the mules with wire and rope.
Many funny stories are told of the en-
/ Engagements between the signal men and
the mules, but after while the men
from Maine got accustomed to the army
mules and had very little trouble with
4 them.
4 Speaking of the use of balloons in the
| engagement of San Juan, where it is said
the signal balloon was responsible for
| much of the loss suffered here in indioat-
ing the position of the American lines,
| Captain Butler said;
| "This balloon was first sent up some
three miles from the front with Major
Maxfeld of the signal corps and Lieut..
| Col Derby of the engineers in the car
The engineer officer could not get good
view of the Spanish lines from this
position and asked to have the balloon
taken further to the 'front.' Ths signal
officer did not like to refuse because he
thought the engineer officer might think
he was afraid to go up to the 'front.' So
the balloon was taken down, carried to
the front and sent up again. Immediate
| Iy the Spaniards trained their guns on
this point and the slaughter was great as
the balloon Indicated just where the
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