The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-10-31
neither the time nor inclination TO an
swer Richard Harding Davis.

neither the time nor inclination TO an
swer Richard Harding Davis.
I notice. however. Mr. Davis said T
had 20 disembark 1900 men and sup
plies from 81 transports Now. why
does not ne tell all the truth?
had 1900 men 20 disembark, instead Of
12,OUO- had 1900 horses and mules to
get ashore, together with several light
| batteries and their equipment / had
TO embark 5000 Cubans. transport them
forty miles, and disembark them. to
say nothing Of putting ashore supplies
and wagons A.little difference of 5000
men and couple of thousand horses
and mules seems to be nothing to Rich
ara Harding Davis.
Mr.. Davis seems to think. too. that
the landing place 1 selected was i'll
! chosen His idea was 10 land the army
at a point between Sib0ney and MORO
castle.
! ANY commanding general who
would land his troops at the place Mr..
Davis suggested (AguadOres) ought 10
! be courtmartialed and shot for incOm-
potency. In the first place. it is not I
| good beach on which TO land The
/ ground was denSely covered with a
| vine or plant more deadly than the
poisonous ivy. Through this the SOL
diers would have been compelled TO cut
| their way The point was strongly de-
Tended, and there was no water be-
tween Aguadores and Santiago. The
ground was imoracucable. if not i'm
passable.
L selected the landing place after
consultation with General Garcia. He
advised il. and several men familiar
with the coast gave me all the Informal
ton l needed concerning the spot. Had
L landed where Mr.. Davis suggested
and invested Santiago, the Spanish
would have had road over which they
could have retreated from the city IL
they so desired. My army went in over
the hills, and cut off the Spanish re-
treat
My headquarters were in such posi-
ton that / had a good view of the bac-
tleheld. l could see all over the coun-
try. | knew what was going on; my
staff officers and scouts had reported
10 me as TO the character of the cOun-
try in 'front.' OF me. 1 knew all about
it; my information was correct
When the troops sailed away from
Tampa great many correspondents
wanted to accompany the army. 1 is
sued orders that they have passage On
a boat called the OliveIte Colonel
Miley of my staff, however, allowed six
or seven CORRESPONDENTS TO go TO Cuba
on the boat with my staff and mysslf
Mr.. Davis was one Of the favored men.
state rooms on the main deck were as
signed them, and the consequence was
a number of officers of my old regi-
ment, the First infantry, had to go Ae-
low, and were uncomfortable during
the trip. As soon as steam was I'D On
the boat, however, Mr.. Davis and his
friends. l am told, complained of the
heat, and on the road to Santiago they
were dissatisfied.
The night before we landed at Bal
quiri, as L was sitting on the quarter
n efaLr ~ h
back to me and said that he and three
or four of his newspaper friends want
ed to go ashore in advance of the
troops 1 promptly told him that the
troops would go ashore first, and the
correspondents afterwards This had
been announced in the order for de-
barkation.
This did not seem to suit him, and I
soon discovered that he wanted to get .
on the beach before the correspondents
on board of the Olivette were allowed
to land. So asked Mr.. Davis what
was the haste. He said that the work
of some of the gentlemen for whom he
asked the. special privilege was of q
higher order than the ordinary, and
that they ought to have some extraOr-
binary advantages on that account
That is the reason why he wanted to
get ashore as early as possible
Then I saw what Mr. Davis wanted,
and 1 understood it. So 1 said TO him,
that all newspaper people were alike in
my eyes on that expedition. 1t did not
make any difference to me what they
whether it be a paper
printed in POdunk or New York. They
were all alike to me, and was deter
mined that no special privileges should
be granted on that occasion in favor
of one man as against another. So
turned TO Mr.. Davis and said:
" You want to get this information
to help sell your papers, don't yOu2'
He said, Yes and 1 said. it's a
business matter with you You are all
for money. Every correspond
ent down here gets his pay. doesn't hep
Mr.. Davis said: Yes, they do and
said: Some men in newspaper work
get more money than Others Mr..
Davis replied that was true.
Well L said, you are all alike in
my eyes. It's just like any other bust
ness; just like selling potatoes or any
thing else for the matter of that. You
Will all go to the shore together, and
that will be after the troops shall have
landed
He persisted. saying to me from
time to time that the work he and some
Of his friends expected to do was of a.
much higher order than that to be
lone by the men that were on the
L CApCGI the dDOuL
the potatoes and Podunk and New
York made Mr.. Davis angry, and he
turned on his heel and walked away"
That is every word General W. R.
Shafter would say on the topic; he
would not go into any detail other than
above given. He made the interview
carefully. and the Tribune prints it eX-
lctly as he wants it to go to the people
de declares under no circumstances
will he have anything further TO say
regarding Richard Harding Davis. 1t
s quite likely. however. that some Of
General Skaters close friends will
take a falI' out of the noted magazine
writer some time in the near future.
General Shafter will have nothing to do
With the matter.
There was one point, however. in Mr..
Davis article which General Skaters
friends bitterly resent 1t is the follow
ng extract from the article in queS-
ion:
Il do not think his General Shafters)
lot coming to the front was due TO per- =
onal timidity, although in their anger
md evaporation at his absence his off,
ers accused him of allowing his per-
onal safety to stand in the way of his
luty; in other words, they called him
/ coward. and so little regard had they
or him that 1 have heard a colonel
his orders in the presence
# other generals
The members of General Skaters
taft who were with him through the
santiago campaign say that Richard
Harding Davis lied when he wrote that.
they call attention to the fact that
General Shafter served with great
ravery throughout the war OF the re-
faI