The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1898-09-02
GRAVES OF HEROES.
MANY BODIES ON HILLSIDE
NEAR SANTIAGO.

Little Aid for Invalids-wounded Pass
Through Trying and Dangerous Or
deals While Making Efforts to Reach
the Hospital.
James Langland wrote from Siboney,
Cuba, ;zder date Of July IA, as fol-
lows:
For nearly a week Capt. Capron's
grave was the only one on the hillside
just above the western part Of the
village. Now there are many beside
1t. Most Of them are the resting places
of wounded men who have died in the
hospitals.
Every day several details of soldiers
or of Cubans are sent up to open new
graves in the rocky ground, and they
are followed by professions carrying
stretchers on which rest the dead. The
funeral ceremonies are brief and SIM
pie; usually they are confined to the
reading of the burial service and a
shcrt prayer. The interments are made
about shutdown or after the moon has
risen, when the air is cool. Every
thing is done quietly, almost silently.
There is no firing of salutes over the
graves and no sounding of trumpets.
Persons few PAGES away may not
even be aware that the soil of Cuba
is receiving the remains of more Amer
lean heroes.
There can be no denial of the fact
that conditions here are against the
recovery OF those badly hurt; wounds
ordinarily considered slight are dan
gerous. The heat, combined with hu-
Nudity, the unsanitary state of every
place occupied by Cubans and the lack
OF accommodations, as we'll as of the
luXuries which are Of so great value
In sick rooms, impose heavy handi-
cap upon the invalid. There are too
few nurses to give the proper amount
OF attention to the disabled and those
that are here have to contend with
many and great difficulties. They are
overWorked, underfed and without the
right kind of shelter either day or
night. 1t is almost a marvel that they
have been able to do any work at all.
One reason why so many of the
slightly wounded fail to get we'll is
that after receiving their hurts they
were compelled to walk many miles
over wretched roads or to ride in
heavy, jolting wagons to get to the
hospitals. After the battle of Canea
July l, many soldiers came all the
way to siboney to get treatment.
For we'll man the journey is any
thing but pleasant. He imagines, and
with reason, too, that in the dark re-
cesses OF the tangled forest on either
side lie concealed men whose business
1t is to kill without mercy; he hears
mysterious noises in the underbrush
and the unfamiliar cries and calls OF
night birds; he stumbles over the dis
carded clothing of men who have pre-
ceded him; he sees hideous objects
crawling across the path; he finds a
rude litter under tree and wonders
what has become of the soldier who
was carried on it; here and there he
recognizes the dim outline of newly
made graves.
| The road becomes narrower and
darker and more wearisome as he pro-
ceeds. The miles seem never-ending.
At last, after what seems to him an
eternity, he energies into the light and
finds that he is on the top of the high
hill overlooking the town which is his
goal. He staggers down the rocky
slope to find at the foot the rudest
kind of shelter, the poorest kind of
food and the hardest kind of a bed.
This is the experience of strong,
healthy man. What must have been
that of the wounded, who for days
and nights kept coming from distant
battlefields in search of relief?
| Those who were carried in wagons
Jared little better, but not much.
They had companionship, and COM
pany under such conditions means
much, and they had some protection,
though not always. But the wagon
reads were worse than the trails. Cut
up into deep ruts by the heavy team
ing and the passage of batteries of ar
tillery, filled with rocks and other OBJ
structions, hub-deep in mud and slime
IN the swampy stretches and made
dangerous for six-mule teams by steep
hills and sudden turns, they were
about as bad as they could be.
The six or eight wounded men
crowded into each wagon were unmer-
cifully jolted. In some cases their
wounds were started bleeding afresh
In no case, it is safe to say, did the
long, rough ride do a disabled soldier
any good. On more than one occasion
wagons loaded with patients were up-
set, causing painful bruises and break
ing limbs.
The regular Red Cross ambulances
did good service and saved many lives.
They were comfortable and afforded
shelter from the sun and rain. The
wagons were open, only few of them
having canvas covers. The wounded
protected themselves by holding
branches Of palm leaves over their
heads. When it rained they usually
got wet. their rubber coats having
been abandoned on the battlefield or
| on the road