The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-11-22
A Major and a Bow.

| IN a COT alongside OF POST was another
Seventy-first boy, George J. Hanlon. of
Company D, a fever patient also Most
| impressive, TO my notion, was his story
Of what heppened that day OF July l,
| when he reached the top of San Juan
hill.
My company got mixed up" said Han
Ion, in the charge, and pushed on
! with the Thirteenth regulars When We
| reached the top some of US took shelter
in block-house and began firing from
there at the opposite hills. There wasn't
| one OF the enemy in sight, unless you
| count dead ones, so We blaZed away at
| nothing at all for while. But they had
| US dead in range, and IL was no dream
the way their bullets played around US
/ "One of the bravest things / saw IN the
war happened right here An officer came
| up-he was a major of regulars. 1 don't
| know his regiment-and he saw that We
didn't know what to aim at and were get
| ting little ratified. So, what did he do
| but quietly walk out in front Of the block
| house, where the MauserS were coming
| thickest, and proceed TO study the hills
| with his field-glasses, just as unconcern-
ed as You please. And every now and then
| he would call out to US who were inside:
| Men, fix your sights at eight hundred
yards and sweep the grass of the ridge
| of that hill Or, again: Men, / can see
Spaniards over there; try thousand-yard
| range, and see if you can't get some OF
them. Fire low I never saw such nerve
| as that officer had; he'd have stirred
courage in anybody"
Didn't he get hit?" I asked.
I'm tell you about that in minute.
but while he was out there, shaking hands
with death, you might say. 1 was wit
ness TO a little incident in the block-house
that is worth telling about. A lot of US
were in there from different regiments,
some from the Thirteenth. some from the
Sixteenth. and some colored boys from
the Twenty-fourth. We were all blazing
away through the fire-openings in the
walls.
Just beside me was big negro who
didn't seem more than half Interested in
what he was doing. l saw him pull dead
Spaniard out of the door with a. listless
movement, and then pick up his rifle as
If he thought the whole thing a bore.
Suddenly bullet came in with zip along
the under side of his gun. and took the
skin off that negro's knuckles as if
they'd been scraped with a knife. And
then you should have seen the change.
He wasn't scared, not a bit; but he was
mad enough to have charged the whole
Spanish army alone. How he did swear
not aloud, just quietly to himself-and
how he did grab his cartridges and begin
TO shoot,
Speaking OF cartridges, some OF the
boys ran short because they had thrown
away lot in their haversacks; but L had
put two beltfuls in a pair of socks and
pinned them inside my shirt with safety
pins. So l had plenty. And 1 was pep
pering away from behind a brick Chin
ney when one Of the Thirteenth lads call
ed out TO me: Come over here, Seventy
one; I've got a fine shot for YOU
II looked around and saw him standing
by a window that was barred with iron,
but had no sash to it, He was kneeling
on the fioGa just showing his head over
the sill, and looking at the Spanish line.
He was a nice-looking lad, not a day
over twenty-One, and his face was smooth
as a girls.
"'All right said I, going over to him;
where's your shot?'
There said he. pointing to one Of the
hills; nobody's fired at that one yet, but
I'm sure the dagos are there. Set your
sights at six hundred yards and We'll try
it together
so I fixed my sights and we both fired
out the window with our rifles resting
on the ledge. As l drew back l saw
there was something queer with the boy
and noticed a splash of red on the lobe
of his ear, just like a coral bead.
Did they wing you?' 1 asked. and even
as I spoke he staggered against the wall
L
in the face. There was a hole in the
other side, just at the cheekbone. that
l could have put my finger in. He had
been shot clean through the head.
Poor chap? 1 said, and lifted him over
behind the chimney, where L had been.
He didn't speak. / left him there and
went to the door, thinking that II might
see a Red Cross nurse somewhere about
And sure enough, there was one bend
ing over a man stretched on the ground
1t was the major who had been giving US
the ranges.
a. Is he hurt bad?' I asked.
1.-THE Red Cross man had the majors
shirt open, looking at his wound He's
shot through the heart he said.
. Can you come in here a minute when
you get through with him? There's a
Thirteenth boy just been hit
" 'IIit where2'
" In the head
Hold him by the jowls.' he said. rn-
I'll I come So I held him by the iowls.
and then he spoke for the first time and
what he said was this: Say, Seventy
one, Idone my duty. didn't 10
Il told him he did.
g I had my face toward 'em when they
got me, didn't ~
" Sure YOU did,
''Wel,' he went on, quite cheerful like.
I may get through this. and II 1 do I'll
have another crack a [ 'ena. But IL don't
why, I amt got no kick comm for
therell be others TO stay here with me-
That was the last I saw of him. for
the Red Cross man came in then and I
went back TO my firing. He was a game
boy. though, wasn't he2"-CleveIand Mof-
fetts Camp Stories in Lesiie's Weekly.