The times., 1898-07-04

10 be made out OF thelr position Dg reason
OF their use Of smokeless powder.
''The War Department has furnished
the necessary quota OF smokeless powder
for the heavy guns. but they remain in
the rear because Of the difficulty of their
transportation from the coast. as they
are of to the far right of the line of for
nation
Capt. CaprOn's Artillery.
"Capt Capron's artillery. which had
come through from Baiquiri without rest,
could be heard hanging away at FL Caney.
We had started with a view of getting
where we could observe artillery opera
tions. so we directed our course thither
We found Capt. Capron blazing away
with four guns. where he should have
had dozen. He had been shelIing FL
Caney at o'clock in the morning 1t was
now noon and he was still firing He was
aiming 10 reduce a large stone fort which
stood on a hill above the town and COM
manded it,
capt O'Connell had laid a wager that
the first shot of some of the four guns
would hit the fort and he had won the
wager Since that time dozens Of shells
had struck the fort, but it was not yet
reduced 1t had been much weakened,
however. Through our field glasses our
infantry could be seen advancing to-
ward it.
AS the cannon at our side would bang
and the shell would swish through the
air with its auerulous. vicious, whining
note we would watch its explosion. then
turn our attention TO the little black
speclls Of infantry dodging in and out be-
tween the groups Of trees. now disap-
pearing wholly from sight in the brush.
again hurrying across the open spaces
over The grass-covered slopes or across
the piowed fields The infantry firing
was ceaseless.
EOiIeys From the Enemy.
our men were popping away continu-
ously as a string OF drecrackers pop, and
the Spauiards were firing in volleys when
ever our men came in sight in the open
spaces.
MANY times we heard this voley fire
and saw numbers of our brave fellows
pitch forward and lie still on the turf
while others hurried on to the next pro
tectins clump of bushes.
For hours the Spaniards poured their
fire from the slit Of the stone fort where
their deep trenches lay and from the
windows Of the town. For hours our men
answered back from the trees and brush
and sulleys For hours the cannon at
our sides banged and shells screaming
through the air fell upon the fort and
town
Always our infantry advanced, draw
ing nearer and closing upon the village,
tnl al last they formed under a group of
nerango trees at the foot Of the very
h.u on which the stone fort stood
Then with a rush they swept up the
slope and the stone fort was ours Then
you should have heard the yell that went
up from The knoll on which our battery
stood. Gunners, drivers Cubans and cor
respondents swung their hats and gave
mighty cheers
Our batteries stopped firing for fear
We shorId hurt our own men, and dash
irg dcRn the valley the artillery hurried
across TO take up position near our own
infantry. who were now firing on El
Caney from the block-house and the
streets leading into the town.
The Spaniards Flee.
the artillery had not sent half a dozen
shots from its new position before the
musEetly firing ceased and the Spaniards.
broken into small punches, fled from Ell
Caney in the direction Of Santiago Lame
and myself hurried up to the stone fort
and found that James Creelman. the war
correspondent who was with the infantry
columns. had been seriously wounded
our men were still firing an occasional
shot and from the block-house and the
isolated trenches from which the Span
1ards could not safely retreat. flags of
truce were waving. Guns and side arms
were being taken away from such Span
iards as had outlived the pitiless fire
and their dead were being dumped. with
out ceremony. into a trench after the
Spanish fashion.
when left the fort to hunt for CreeI-
man found him bloody and bandaged.
lying on his back on a blanket on the
ground. His first words 10 me were
that he was afraid he could not write
much OF story, as he was pretty well
dazed. but if I would write for him he
would dictate the best he could. I sat
down among the wounded and CreeIman
told me his story of the fight I think it
IS a good one Here it is:
CreeIman's story.
The extraordinary thing in this fight
of all the fights / have ever seen, is the
enormous amount Of ammunition fired.
There was a continuous roar Of musketry
from o'clock this morning until this
afternoon. Chanee's brigade began the
fight by moving along to the extreme
right Of Ludlow. down in the low coun-
try to the left Of FL Caney. Gen. Chaffee's
brigade consisted OF the Seventeenth