Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1898-08-20
s3lisfellanepus 8eading.
ON THE FIELD AT SANTIAGO.
How 1t Feels to Face a Rapid-Firing Guns
Death Spray.

"The thing about that fight that
paralyzed me-" said lieutenant, now
in a hospital in this city recovering
from a wound received at Santiago,
"was that we couldn't get at the fel-
lows we were fighting against. Why,
do you know, never saw live Span
iards in my two days of fighting. The
next time I get in a shindy l hope it
will be hand to hand affair with bay
onets. Any fellow can do that sort of
thing if he has red blood in his veins !;
but its different to be target for bull
lets coming from the Lord knows
where. There's something mysterious
and frightful about it, and it gets on
mans nerve. It's wonder to me
that any fellows could stand up to it
as our men did, and I'd have had some
sympathy for a man who funked.
"I'll never forget the few minutes
before 1 got this hole in my side. We
were going forward under scattering
fire from the front, and all at once,
off at the right, rapid-fring gun
opened on us. There was no. smoke,
so we couldn't locate the battery ex-
actly, but we could see tile bullets
playing over the long grass like spray
from hose. They didn't have the
range at first, and the shower of bull
lets went swinging back and forth,
clipping off the tops of the grass and
coming nearer us with every sweep.
You can't imagine the sensations it
gave us to watch that death spray,
driven by some invisible, relentless
force, creeping on and on, reaching out
and feeling for US. There was some
thing unnatural about it, and we
watched as though we were fascinated
by it. 1 didn't feel as if men had
anything to do with it. 1t was an i'm
personal, deadly enemy that couldn't
fight and couldn't escape. There
wasn't living enemy within sight.
"At last, with one big sweep the
shower reached US. Men all around
me dropped, and then felt sting in
nv side, and down I went. Some
body ripped out an oath, and I was
glad to hear it. 1t sounded so mag
ni6cently human. believe we were
all thankful when that gun found us.
1t relieved the tension-but it ended
my fighting"
tIt's all very we'll for him to talk
about being nervous" commented a
wounded corporal in a neigboring cot,
"but he gave a mighty poor imitation
of q nervous man down there. A man
with record like his can afford to
own up to having felt creepy"
"It's queer how men can laugh when
they're expecting any minute to be
shot into eternity" said a wounded
regular: "but some way or other
funny things seem even funnier than
they are when ones nerves are keyed
up to G. Now, our men simply dou-
bled up with laughter over the Massa-
chusetts chaplain that day at San
tiago.
IT tell you he's dandy. He's. a
tremendous big man-splendid mark
for sharpshooters-but he was right
up in the thick of things, jollying the
boys along, helping those that were
down and handing his canteen around
as coolly as though he had been pass
ing ice water in his own parlor.
"I don't know whether the Span
iards paid special attention to him, but
the bullets went tipping around him
like hail, and tore through his clothes
any number of times. The funny
thing about it was that they all seemed
to hit him somewhere below the belt,
and, by Jove, those fellows shot his
trousers clear off of him. 1t was
shocking, and it worried the old gen.
tleman. He didn't want to stop for
repairs, but he felt he ought to set an
example to the men, and at last he
says: 'Bedad, boys, it isn't decent,
and made for the rear. The fellows
adored him, but they fairly howled at
the figure he cut, and he appreciated
the joke as much as any of us.
"He went back and got pair of
pajamas and then he looked about as
funny as he did before. He had been
wearing a regulation black clerical
coat, but, when he got into the Cuban
brush, he whacked the tails off in
ragged sort of way and 1 tell you the
effect of that coat above those giddy
paiamas was immense. A grin fol-
lowed him everywhere he went-and
he went everywhere brave chaplain
was needed. He doesn't know the
meaning of the word fear, and he's so
jolly he'd cheer up stiff. Somebody
called to him as he went Topping along
the rear, looking for water:
"'Praying that our men will win,
Father?'
"I'm not praying today, my boy.
I'm packing water says the chaplain,
and off he Topped to the front"
"Luek was against me, for got
knocked out at the start" The pri-
vate looked vicious as he thought how
he missed the cream of the fight.
"Two of the men carried me out of
the lines and put me down on the
ground; and 1 couldn't do anything
but lie there and curse my luck and
envy the fellows who were going on
up the hill without punctures. ltwas
1