The herald., 1898-01-23

in line, and SO on. After a while the
rations for the boats officers ran short,
and the captain of the boat forbade the
steward selling me any more meals. l
then divided my own meal into three
and gave it to the boys. l had gone four
days without bite to eat, when one of
the walters reported it to the steward
and he took me in the pantry and made
me eat while he watched me for fear
l would carry the food out in the cabin
to one of the sick boys.
Every day at 5 p. IN. 1 had a large
pitcher of iced lemonade made at the
bar and the chaplain would carry it for
me while we went the rounds. / knelt
and raised the sick soldiers head and
gave him the cold drink handed to me by
the chaplain just when his fever was at
its highest. one night we We're passing
/ through the most dangerous part of the
country, where bands Of guerrillas were
numerous and not far apart, when the
commanding officer in charge of the fleet
gave the order for the boats to tie up to
q bank 1t was at corn field. the time
1890 at night a beautiful moonlight
night our boat was in advance and it
ran into the bank and tied up first with
4 the bow to the bank, but the boat swung
a little out so that the right hand guard
did not touch the shore. On this guard
was placed one full company of 100 men
to protect the boats.
| The office windows were all omen AT tha
time. l was sitting on the high stool
| that belonged to the clerk of the boat
| 1nI the office with me were Captain. Geo
| Cayton, one Of the pilots, whose wife in
| st. Louis was a friend of mine; CAPTAIN
Thomas Baldwin, the boats commander
and Jerry Wetzell, my brother-in-law.
the first engineer of the boat The nine
companies of the Twenty sixth Indiana
had marched off the boat to the corn
field, and the soldiers from the other
three boats had also marched to the san .
spot leaving one company to guard each
boat.
Before the troops had time to get in
line terrible firing commenced. Jerry
Wetzell, the engineer, caught hold of
me and tried to drag me off the stool.
to take me away. The groans and cries
of the wounded We're heart -rending.
clenched my feet around the legs Of
the high stool, clasped my two arms
around the rail that separated the WIN
dow sash, and clung so tightly that he
could not loosen my grasp.
The bullets We're flying around us
thick and fast the skylights and tran
SONS were breaking, and the broken
glass was dropping all around US. En-
gineer Wetzell stayed but a moment.
and then fell on his hands and knees on
the office floor, crept to the stairway
that led downstairs and disappeared.
After the battle | learned that he went
for safety to the hold of the boat. AS
soon as he let so of me Captain Cayton
| tried to pull me off the stool. After
two or three more attempts, he deserted
| me and went on his hands and knees
after the other one. Then Captain Bald
win of the boat grabbed me. He. too.
fell on his hands and knees. and went.
with his head foremost, down the stairs
to the hold of the boat.
As soon as he was gone ! flew from
my stool and ran down the stairs to the
gang plank and on to the cornfield The
first soldier | saw down and crying |
stopped and helped to raise. l put nv
right arm around his waist, and he put
his arm around my neck, and held his
other arm in front with my left hand,