The Florence daily tribune. (Florence, Colo.) 1898-1903, 1898-09-13
STORIES OF BATTLE.
WOUNDED HEROES TELL OF THE
FIGHT AT SANTIAGO.
Freaks Of the Bullets From Spanish Man.
sc1-Msjor Conrad and Major savage
Jokcd In the Midst of Danx~r--A Cuban
Shot while Robbir g the Dead.


Shot while Robbir g the Dead.
Good stories Of the fight at Santiago
will be told as long rs any Of the heroes
who fought there live to tell them.
Here arc some that were told recently
by wounded men in the Marine hospital
on Staten Island:
Peter Bergman of Company G, Fourth
infantry, was shot in the neck, the bull
let entering at the collar bone an inch
from the throat, and coming ont Just
below the shoulder blade. He said: ~
was shot in the charge on San Juan on
July l. The bullets fell like rain and
not one Of us expected to get out alive
We would run forward about 25 or 80
yards and then drop fiat on the ground
fire few volleys, and then get up and
make another dash Of few yards.
"The storm of bullets was SO terrible
that living men could not have gone
against it for more than half minute
or so at time. But we gained few
yards at every rush and kept on that
way until we reached the trenches and
drove the Spaniards out You could not
through they would stumble on with
the others until we all went down to.
gether. But every time we jumped to
onr feet we left some lying fiat on their
faces My own company drove right
into one of the Spanish trenches, which
made our loss the heaviest in tho regi-
ment. In an hour and a half we lost o
killed and II wounded out Of so men,
little over one to every four
when l was shot, l lay insensible
for awhile. When l came to, remem-
bered we had crossed sunken road,
which had been cut down about five
feet crawled back to that, and some
of our boys bandaged me up, and was
lucky enough to be put into an ambu.
lance. All who could walk had to do
80, and the rough, heavy provision and
ammunition wagons were used to carry
back those who could not got into tho
ambulances The roads were terribly
rough and stony, and the rough wagons
would throw tho poor wounded fellows
| about. could hear their means when
the wagons shook them up. 1t was so
awful that, even with bullet hole
clear through me. could not help pity
ing the poor fellows worse off In tho
wagonR
Henry P. O'Malley. who laughingly
claimed to be a lineal descendant Of
Charles O'Malley. the Irish dragon,
belonged to Company B, Eighth in
fnntry. He was shot In the right hand
and arm at Ell Caney. He was just aim
ing his gun when n bullet struck the
barrel, ran along it and struck O'Mal-
ley's first and second fingers, then his
thumb and then passed through his
| arm, near the shoulder. He said:
II have been in the army for ten
years and seen service ON the plains.
Before that was In the Cape mounted
police in the Zulu war in Africa, but
never saw anything like the storm of
bullets at Santiago. These new guns
make 1t awful to charge ON earthworks.
1t was hotter than anything ever i'm
agined, but our men fought like demons,
and our officers were as cool as though
they did not know there was any dan
ger. Major Conrad was in command Of
our regiment our colonel being sick.
While we were all lying down he walk
ed along the front as though we were
on parade. l heard him call to Major
Savage, who had command of the Sec
ond battalion, Come over here, major,
l'wans to ss1o'V Jon something
There WAS storm of bullets sing
ing over us, and Major Savage called
back, Whats the user oh. come on 7
called Conrad. You are just as likely
to get shot over there as ever here. ;
Both men talked as though it was a sort
Of joke. / saw the Second Massachu-
sets. They acted splendidly. noticed
one company in particular. think it
was Company II. The officer WAS giving
the command to fire by company just as
If they were ut target practice. 1t was
'Loadr Aim!' then pause FireP
and the whole volley went together.
They kept it up like clockwork. The
regulars were all watching them. And
the colored troops did splendid work
too. How our men cheered them when
they came back from Ell Caneyi And
when one regiment of regulars cheers
another you bet there is something to
cheer for.
1.-THE Spaniards could not understand
fire saw one color bearer who was q
perfect devil, and he had charmed life
When everybody else lay down, he
stood up and waved the flag. For go
minutes he stood there, until the flag
was nearly cut to pieces with bullets,
and not one touched him. There-was
some newspaper man among our boys
when we charged ono of the block
houses. don't know who he was, but
no was daredevil. He throw away his
papers and found q gun which. some
wounded man had dropped and fought
with us all the way mp the hill. He
was the first man to get into the block
house when we took it.
William Sillman of Company B,
Eighth infantry, was shot in the leg in
front of Santiago. He said: tine Gu
y-r~~ i 4 l.. -