The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1898-11-11
Litchfield County.
WASHINGTON.
BEN roUnors AT PORTO RICO.


guard, so have to stay up all night as
there is no one to relieve me. have
just come In from raid. Our men were
all paid off, Tuesday. And as they had
q little money, they thought the only
thing to do with it was to spend it. Some
of the men got out of the company's
quarters, and with some of the 10th reg
ulars, went TO big gambling den near
Ponce. The captain soon found out that
they had gone, and IS was in charge of
the guard, he ordered me to take a de-
tail of the guard, and arrest them. /
started out, and when we reached the
place, posted some of the men around
the outside of the house, and with the
rest l walked into the house. They
didn't do thing but try to get away.
Two or three of the regulars showed
fight, but when they had bayonet stuck
under their nose they thought better of
own men, as they all like me pretty well
and always do what / tell them. Iguess
that have seen and had more fun than
any other roG-commissioned officer in
the company. IL there is anything to be
done, and any trouble expected Sergeant
Fulois catches it every time. like it
though. lam getting so that would
rather fight than eat. About the best
thing that have had so far, was little
time that we had with a Spaniard. The
last time that L was on guard, about a
week ago, was walking along by the
Spaniard's house, which is just back OF
where we have our kitchen, and saw q
dead calf lying there. 1t must have been
there for several days, judging from the
condition 1t was in. Well, we had been
waiting TO get crack at the Spaniard,
for the way he had treated US. The
boys would often go and try to buy milk
of him, but he wouldn't sell us drop,
but would take it all to Ponce, to spite
US. When saw the calf, | made up
my mind that we would fix him, so /
walked right into his house, and took
him to where the calf lay, and told him
that If the calf wasn't buried inside an
hour, would put guard over him, and
make him do it. Inside of an hour /
came around to see il he had done it. All
he had done was to scoop little hole in
the ground and cover it over with loose
dirt. L made up my mind that he would
dig hole now, anyhow, so l called a
sentinel, and told him to use his bayonet
IL the fellow didn't work. I made him
dig that hole six feet deep and four feet
square! And you could have put the
calf in a bushel basket. / guess he used
all the Spanish cuss words he could
think Of while he was digging. AS good
luck would have it, had some more fur
with him before the day was over. Ii
the afternoon, he and his son got into a
fight with q native, and machetes were
| flying in the air. We heard the racket
and went out and did the three of them
up brown, and then put them in the
guard house. They were nice looking
lot after the scrap. All three were pref
ty we'll cut up by the machetes. The
captain told me to take them down tC
Ponce and put them in prison. We haG
picnic all the way to Ponce. First one
would try to get away, and then another
until we finally had to use the bayonet
on them. After that they went alor 6
like little lambs. When [ reached the
prison marched them right into a eel
and locked them in. / then went anC
gave the mayor letter from Capt Rod
man. After had finished my duty,
noticed tue Masonic emblem on some OF
his things on his desk, and asked hin
II he was a Mason. He said, "yes."
told him that my father and brother were
Masops. L had quite chat with him il
his private Office. His Office was decor
ated fine. The ceiling was frescoed, arc
the walls were covered with the emblem
of the United States, the eagle and shield
We have been in camp for nearly si1
weeks and for four out of the six we hat
to sleep on the bare ground, until finally
our offic re- made kick. Then we wer.
given plank to make floors for our tents
We have over 20 per cent of our com
pany in the hospital, and Ia it any won
der, after lying in mud and water fol
four weeks9 The only thing that hal
kept me so well is the quinine. have
not had sick day yet. Sergeant Curtis
and one Of our musicians left for home
Tuesday. They are tosh knocked out
Several other of our men are not expect
ed to live. This would be q fine place
for DR. Ford, and even among the ma.
tives there are no doctors. When a ma.
tive gets sick here the chances are ten to
one that he kicks the bucket. Well, we
got our pay for the month OF August. |
got about $35. At the end of this month
will draw $40 80, and will have quite
fortune. Frank Sharp Ia in my com.
papy. When / was made corporal In
Peekskill, he was made about week
later. Frank and and three of the boys
went out on foraging expedition few
nights ago, and we had roast pork and
chicken fricassee for two or three days
after that. It was great change
from the hard tack, bacon, etc., that we
had been living on. There has been 70
talk of mastering out as yet, but some-
thing will have 70 be done soon or they
will all be sick. IL is getting to be quite
comfortable here now. The rainy sea-
son is nearly over with, and the roads
are getting settled. Last week we had
the equinoctisl storm. We had rain for
three days and two nights, and in all
that time we never had dry stitch on
us. don't believe there has been a day
that haven't been wet more or less.
We are pretty well used to It by this
time, so we don't mind.