The evening times., 1898-09-20

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1.-THE men on the transport were
leeches,, he said Some of the boys, in
order to get eatabie food on the boat ate
with the engineers They were obliged
to recompense these men for what they
ate however. and those who had money
willingly gave that up for something to
eat while others traded relics which they
had collected for food. The walters to
the officers on board the ship charged us
so cents for a sandwich one man paid
s1.25 for three bottles of beer and ginger
ale cost rs cents a bottle. Several of the
boys were very weak and sick coming
over. Some one proposed that they Sc
cure some whisky They sought the
walters who sold them n pint for S.. One
man gave up small gold cross which
he had for three sandwiches. The men
were giving away everything they mad
The walters preyed upon them and when
they arrived at Montauk they were sick
and tired, without money. even having
lost all the relics they collected in Cuba"
Private Calvin said that Col. Harries
paid no attention to their condition. He
was very strict in enforcing on US all
the work. he continued, but paid no
attention to our condition. The captain
we had first, and who resigned, was a
fine officer. He went to the colonel and
kicked about our grub. He was called
ing taken sick shortly after that, re-
signed. With the exception of Major
Urell, our officers paid no attention to
us whatever. The sugar that was drawn
for the use of the men was traded off
by the officers for canned peaches and
fruits for their own use. and we got
none"
Private L. E. Mclaughlin, of Company
b at Santiago. said:
..rhe har5ta uybinl, tIav ,,a NC 9
indigestible for the most part. We would
get a box of 1t in the company and when
| we opened it We would find that the first
three or four layers were all right but be.
low this the stuff was black and green.
We could not eat it. For the first three
days at Santiago we got practically moth
ing to eat. Then they began to dish US
out some hardtack and canned beef. They
| would give Gs four or five hardtack and
a little of the beef. The latter tasted
| like paste. They also served US canned
| tomatoes for a while but these were con-
stantly exposed to the sun and rain and
| gradually became unfit for any man 5
| stomach. They were served to us just
! the same, however.
They gave us quantity of oatmeal
also. 1t was full of maggots and little
| bugs, which we called 'weevils.' The
| 'weevis, brown in color were so thick
that they changed the color of the oat-
| meal from its natural shade to light
| brown. Every time | put some of this
| stuff into my mouth l had TO close my
| eyes. We had to eat some hing. how
| ever. and It was a case of eat this food
| or starve. Part of the time the oatmea
was only half boiled. The cooks were
incompetent and made life a burden tC
| US" -!
Private W. j. Mouth, of Company II,
said: THE canned roast beef which they
served us at Porto Rico was half tallow
and tasted like anything or nothing.
| When we went to work on Fort Capron
| on the mountain side we were subjected
| to all sorts of hardships in the flood OF
| rain which was constantly pouring upor
| US. Each night when our company would
! returngto camp after work on the forti
| fications the men would be exhausted
| On one occasion after working all day
| the company was so played out that only
| eight priyates and one sergeant were ca
pable of performing any further work.
George Vesler, of Company II, said:
Il am an old soldier. / served for sew
en- years in the Prussian army, but | neve
had any such experience as l have ha
here. don't blame the War Department
for our treatment, but l blame the con
/ tractors. We were half starved all tn
time. We had nothing but beans. spoiie
corned beef and hardtack. 1t did not sat
isfy our appetites. We felt weak an
gone. Many of us used to get up in III
middle of the night with an aching head
ache. and gnaw a piece of hardtack t
stop our hunger. If one of the boys hap
pened to get a chance to steal an oniO
or any vegetable. 1t was begged for by tn
others. who would plead for just litti
piece. 1t was certainly no way 10 trea
men. In my opinion, it was caused b
certain contractors having stocked IL
with these things and being bound tina
they would get rid of them.