The Dickinson press., 1898-08-27

war;" asked the reporter. "Why, l
think it was the most natural thing to
do" said the colonel modestly. "I'm
glad I went. I've had a good time and
have enjoyed it. It wa a little rough
at times, but did us lots Of good. I feel
splendid now" "You are fond of ad-
v~enture?"
Colonel Astor smiled and said quiet
~: Why, yes. Don't you think every
body is? I like outdoor life and am nat
urally fond of anything of that kind"
His tastes are rather inclined to active
outdoor occupations. He likes hunting
and fishing and yachting, and he is
very fond Of farming. He thinks Of buy
ing q hacienda somewhere on the south
ern coast of Cuba for shooting and fish
ing. It will be a delightful place to
spend some Of the winter months. Colo
mel Aston thinks. that along the Carib-
bean sea is every bit as fine as on the
Riviera. The country there is just AZ
beautiful, he says, as on the Mediter-
ranean, and the many islands to a large
extent keep out the heavy seas.
"Where were you during the big
fght?" asked the reporter. II was on
Ell Poso hill, where we had a pretty ex-
citing time. Grimes battery was sta
toned on Ell Poso, and the shells and
shrapnel came pretty thick for awhile"
"Of course you had a horse?' "Yes. I
had three OF them. You see, it was
necessary for a staff officer carrying or
ders to be mounted" By the way, one
of Colonel Astor's horses was hit by a
piece Of shrapnel. 1t scraped along the
side Of the horse and made q wound SIX
or eight inches long. Fortunately he
had dismounted at the time, and his or
derby was holding the horse.
sis it true that the Spaniards used
explosive bullets?" "No, I think not.
The Mauser bullets, in addition to the
singing noise they made, had a crack
ing or popping sound as they went
through the air. This probably started
the stories that they were explosive.
The Mauser bullets went very rapidly
through the air, and, although I can't
explain the thing scientifically, it will
probably be found that this rapid mo-
ton, together with the length Of the
bullets, in some way acted upon the air
and made the cracking noise" "You
heard a good many of these bullets,
then?" ooh, everybody heard them,'
said Colonel Astor. I'VE heard the bull.
lets all right. The great trouble was tt
tell where they came from. The smoke
less powder used by the spaniards made
1t impossible for us to tell where the
shooting was. Unless we could see the
fash itself we couldn't locate the gun,
The S~paniards did some pretty good
shooting"
Colonel Aston told how General Shat
ter and he went in the first boat which
landed in Cuba in the Santiago cam
paign. The second boat following then
was fred at by the Spanish gunners a
MORO. "When we landed" said Colo
mel Astor, 1--WE walked for a short dis
tance, and then mounted mules ant
rode inland. This vas about eight mile
west of MORO. We rode to Genera
Garcia 8 camp, and General Shafter an,
he had q conference. After they hat
finished talking the buglers Of the Gu
ban forces saluted us with a call am
the Cubans drew up in a double line a
we passed" -
"What did you have to eat at th
front?' was asked. "Pork and bean
and bacon, coffee and such things,
said Colonel Aston, with q laugh. Nv
didn't like it very much, but I think !
did us good. We had also plenty 9
canned beef and hard tack. The foo
we had was good, and except when th
roads were almost impossible there wa
no cause for complaint. Once thersol
diers got out Of tobacco, and they miss
ed it very much. But they couldn't &c
1t because all that could be transporte
to the front at that time was food. an
ammunition. There was also a goo
deal Of Inconvenience at times for col
water. Water in a canteen a be cool
ed by wetting the cloth covering Of th
canteen and allowing the air to evapt
: rate 1t, but that was sometimes impras
!. ticable when the troops were on ;th
+ march. There was q good deal Of incor
y~enience also from the heat. PERSONAL
1didn't suffer much from it,"
! "Where did you sleep2" "For I'll
first few nights we slept on the groun1
: and I caught malaria by doing 80. "
: were all more or less i'll at times, bl
g under the same conditions we shoul
have been so anywhere. Let a man use
70 sleeping in Q house go out Of dooi
and sleep on damp ground, even in tn
climate, and he will very likely get M
laria. My temperature rose to 1O8 d
grees sone-day, but even with that
didn't suffer very much. After we 8
some cots and were raised a foot OF
1rom the ground our malarial troubl
9sppeared We took 9 great deal