The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-05-10

| Maine in Havana harbor on the night of
February 10. There are twenty-four of
them unmarked. Above each mound Of
| glistening white limestone soil, small
American flag droops in the fierce sun
that beats necessarily down upon the ISL
and. The flags are faded and frayed.
When a breeze comes Mp from the ocean
1 they fiutter sadly for a moment and again
droop to the scorched earth. On the CEN
tire Of each mound is small glass COB
| let which still holds the discolored and
withered stems of flowers.
''They were put there by a lady from
Philadelphia, said the dreamy old sex
ton. But I don't know who she was.
She came here about ten days after the
bodies were buried and put flowers on all
the graves. I asked her who she was, but
she said NO matter
And these faded little flags and wither-
ed stems Of flowers are all that mark the
resting place of the heroes of whom the
civilized world has been talking since the
fatal night, nearly three months ago.
There is nothing else to tell the stranger
who passes through the pottersfeld where
the heroes Of the Maine are sleeping.
evidently prepared in great haste. Near
the little white mounds on all sides are
unsightly heaps of litter and rubbish In
one spot stands an old hearse, weather
beaten and CHASTITY in its very aspect Of
loneliness and decay. The sexton said It
had once been used as the city hearse, but
one day it broke down while carrying
body to the pottersfieId and there it still
stands.
Just to the north OF the resting place Of
the Names sailors is a small iron in
closure which marks the grave OF Bridget
Z. Hoffman, who died in 1854.
Il guess we will have TO call her Mother
Hoffman," said the old sexton, "for she is
the only one buried here who has got
name, and think she ought to be mother
of everybody in pottersfield''
Very close to the twenty-four mounds is
group Of thirty-six naval seamen who
died of yellow fever The sexton, how
ever was unable to tell when they were
buried there. Nothing on the little Pinch
slab at the head of each group tells the
story of the life or death ofzhe dead sea-
men. The name and the words gu. s.
Navy alone are carved upon the slabs.
But nature, even with the barren lime
rock below and the scorching sun above,
seems trying to do what the hand Of man
has failed to do in identifying the graves
of our heroes. Luxuriant trees of the
tropical species are all about the newly
made graves. On one side a massive green
cactus lifts its PUPPY foliage high in the
air. On the opposite side a row of tropi-
cal trees refreshingly green are in full
blossom and with every breeze cover the
sunburned mounds with beautiful scarlet
flowers. Near another side of the little
burial plot is row Of royal spruce pines
which throw shadow upon the graves
in the afternoon and through whose
branches the sea breeze constantly sing
when the sun has gone down
Rarely does anyone visit the place. It
is without care or attention, bye corner
of the island. where for two centuries |
Spaniards, negroes and fisherfolk have |
put their dead, and forgotten them. Per-
haps one-half the graves in the cemetery !
are those of unknown sailors, whose sleep
ing places are unmarked. Most of the in
scriptiens on tombstones are in Spanish. |
The graves of the Names victims are |
surrounded by tombstones with Spanish |
inscriptions. 1t is picture of melancholy |
The graveyard is located on a high point |
in the middle of the island. and from it |
the great stretch OF blue ocean may be
s cen on either side but half a mile dis
tant. There is no soil there. The graves
are simply carved out of the limestone |
rock. All day the sun beats down upon
the barren white rock surface until the
scanty vegetation curls ana crackIes in |
the heat. Rarely is there o sound TO |
break the melancholy silence. Some times |
one hears the weary cry OF a bird or the |
soft parrot-like voices of the Spanish |
children in their cottages near by. but I
that is all. The voices from the warships |
out to sea, the clatter Of commerce in the |
harbor and the idle bable OF the town |
never distuTbs the sleep OF our hero sail |
ors here in their roek-bound graves.
OF the twenty-four who are buried here,
only two are identified. They were a ne
gro and Japanese 1t is probable that at |
some future time they may be removed |
to another burial place. If not a suitable !,
monument will be erected to their mem
DRY.