The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-10-07
AN EARLY STORY


or the Fight that COH5sCturod that the
Third Infnpiry Detachment had Been
wip'd out
MINNEAPOLIS MINI, Oct G.-Ar-
thur / Pegier. the stat correspondent
Of the Journal. wires at $3.50 this morn
ing from Walker, Alinn.: The force of
eighty men, under General Bacon have
been annihiIated. do not know whether
Inspector Tinker has more information
than have but ne sent word to the war
department las. night that the Third In
fantry detachment had been wiped out,
] gUt in very late from an expedition on
tho Flora. We started out to carry SUP
nlieg and raaions to the troops. II was
very dark on the shore and We slsnall-
ed for an hour. Corporal Nettleknyen
used the coda In use at Santiago. Either
the troops have been driven inland or
there is not a man OF them LETT. No
answering signal Of any sort was re-
ceived although We lay OF and ON the
whole length OF the feadland.
To land was an impossiblllty IN the
dark, as the relnforcements from Brain
erd have not arrived and there was only
one old winchester rifle on the boat
Reddy I.aZard, captain ut the Flora, Is
dead game man and he would have
landed There Ia no possible d1ubt that
the small force on the boat would have
been annthilRted II this had been done!
There were men aboard who preferred
10 die in an EFFORT at rescue however fu-
tile Il might have been. We had our
blankets and rationS fF the blue coats
and II any Of them survived they slept
last night IN the open. Aheavyfro5t per
vailed there, There 10 not 90 much as a
coffee bean 20 divide between the whole
command this morning. AZ d later date
1 am going 10 tell Inc whole truth about
this expedition. never knew Of such
gross mIsnAnagement or witnessed such
criminal obstinacy as has been eEhibit-
ed here. The men Of Bacon's command
were taken out under conditions that
would disgrace militia sergeant were
he responsible for them. Every life that
has been lost here ID a useless sacrifice
It broke my heart to see the poor fel-
lowe dropping. Had = proper forcs been
sent here in the first place, not q shot
would nave been flred. I have hopes
that Bacon may have entrenched him
self and that the failure to answer slg-
mails last night was due to mis- det9Tmin-
alton not to betray HE location. The
men had 100 rounds Of ammunition each.
I hardly think they have exhausted their
supply. The newspaper correspondents,
Brill, Beaton and Knappen are atill with
the troops. / went with the force, de-
termIned to save them II possible, but II
was impossible TO locate them. Imme-
diately on my return from Bear leland
sent my chartered steamer with Gus
BotulIeu, q friend Of the ChIppowaB ard
q man who has Chippewa blood IN his
yeins, TO pick the Newspaper men up II
there % any such thing, He 10 now on
that mission and GS no 10 absolutely
fearless. ] have strong hopes, dare
not expreGs my opinion OF the outcome
so TAR az they are concerned, unarmed,
III clad, out Of condition, Without food
or drink, the press representatives with
Bacon are IN desperate straits, be-
lleve on our run last nlght we did all
that human beings could nave done 10
find the missing. There was something
horribly ominous in the dead silence
that came from that atrGtch Of brush
where the fighting occurred, do not
fully endorse tho belief that every mon
in the command is dead. because Cen
erai Bacon IS Gn' old Indian fighter and
however badly handicapped, doubt
very much whether ne would permit
twice the number Of chlppewqS 70 get
away with him.
Corporal Nettlekoven, tho sharp
shooter 10 worth his weight In gold. He
dropped a couple OF bucks over on the
point yesterday evening with mis- Krag-
Jorsensen at 1000 yards. Both tho In
dams were distinctly seen TO stnRger
and collapse after he had stot At them.
our lighting preacher Is worthy OF dis
iinEu!shed mention. After the pilot waR
shot and had gone about tho Flora af-
ter the marshal'B Instructions, Rev MIR.
Chandler took the tliler and with a
storm OF Winchester balls whlstllng
around hls head, brought tho boat away
! Into port. Go NOT know what sort OF