The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-07-30
SUFFERING AT THE FRONT

SbOney, Cuba, July 16.-An officer at the
front gives me the following description
of the condition Of our enlisted soldiers:
added to the discomforts usual in war,
which were 70 be expected, an epidemic Of
yellow fever threatens our devoted army,
more than threatens; it is upon us. 1 was
Informed this morning that by official re-
port twenty-five hundred of our gallant
men are hors de combat. One cannot i'm
aglne harder lot than that of this army
today. Sickness of any kind is appalling
when IL breaks out among strong healthy
men In hospitals or at home, It is bad
enough. Here, when the scourge comes,
st finds its victims overtaxed, broken with
fatigue. and weak from lack of food. Ly-
sng in trenches half filled with water, pro-
tected from the drenching floods of the
Cuban rainy season by only shelter-tent
perhaps; perhaps by a poncho, but more
often the thin army issue blanket, and
sometimes not even that the lot of the en-
listed man is Wuly a hard one An Eng
iish correspondent said to me, speaking of
our boys: They make him carry his
house on his back like a snail, load him
like peck-mule, expect him to live on air
like a chameleon. and with 1t all fight like
a Trojan and now he has this new ter
Tor staring him in the face; and, with
his comrades dropping in the bitches
around him, insufficiently clothed and al
most unfed, he faces the presence of the
plague as before he faced the bullets on
San Juan hill-unfiinching. Truly the spir
1t of the American enlisted man is a Won
derful thing. An old gray-haired colonel
was speaking to me about his men in
the trenches after the fight at San Juan
hill, two weeks ago. when one of the
wounded men passed by and saluted I
had seen what those some men had done
that day, and made a remark about the
actual honor of receiving that salute. The
old man turned approvingly and said:
Why. feel that it is positively absurd to
talk about these things: but after what
] have seen the enlisted man of the Ameri
can army accomplish during the last few
weeks and today. 1 feel. by God, sir like
taking off my hat TO every one I meet"
And these are the men who, after being
corralled ike aattle in crowded trans
ports. cut their way through the Cuban
brush. built roads. did skiriljsh and picket
duty. and carried their heavy rifles and
and blanket rolls for miles each day in
the heat Of a tropical sun, and camped
each night unprotected from the West In
dian dews reeking with malaria After
a week of that life. living on muddy coffee
and wet bareback. they stormed a posi-
tion before which Caesar would nave halt
ed The soldiers Of Rome. And now comes
the menace Of yellow jack
L seems that something could or should
be done for ,hem-as If il were. in an in
definite way, some ones fault that these
brave men should be neglected. To US
who have been with the army Of the in
vasion for some time, i, is not 50 patent
We have become perhaps a little duued.
To a newly arrived observer the condi-
tons as they exist al Siboney, n Caney,
mus; appear little short Of horrible Lasr
Week Gen. Miles arrived-the great Niles.
whom the army looks 10 for reform and
advice and appreciation. The terrible con-
dition Immediately appealed 10 aim. and I
believe he was a. shocked = man as one
ever saw. l saw him when he first landed
at Sisoney. sitting in the rain Wrapped in
a great coat. with his very uncomfortable
Snd wet stan. Behind him was me hos
piJal filed win cots Of sick and wounded.
In front was 8 camp OF some reserves left
gincers l beljevel Right out in the rain
with only a shadow Of a shel,er-tent 20
protect them. and in the valley were
thousand or more Cubans huddled to-
gether under a guard. getting provisions
from the commlsary. I told the general
this was heavenly compared with VIVA; We
would find AT the 'front.'. The reply Of the
veteran Of ;hirty-fve years. who had seen
every phase OF military discomfort. was.
Ny God. something mus: be done fo- the
c0mf0r, Of trcze mem" I be,iav.- ,aa.
things .iI Ls better now shat Miles Is
here; and the army does. The crying need
o. IN intelligent, responsible authority
WIS Patent.
IN tie a.'rtas 70 come, when. through
the snau ot rec ape and official rc7oc5s.
tie responsibility Ger rhese 2oaG.,5oas
-sh4ll be placed, se;aecue VIII be he'd 10