Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-07-14

you were an American to SEQ such
gameness.
There was never q better thing in
vented than those First Aid to the
Wounded packets. Nearly every man
had one Of them in his pocket, and they
saved lot of suffering, as the man next
in line to you could bandage you up inn
mediately as soon as you were wound
ed. I am a Protestant, but / want to
tell you that those Catholic Sisters in
the hospital at Key West are angels
from heaven. They showed no pref
erence in their work, but simply made
everybody comfortable. They are
working night and day. too. The Red
Cross. also Is doing an inestimable
amount of good
Pardon me-" interrupted a bystand-
er, ''but wish you would tell me what
missing means. have relative in
the regular army, and his name appears
among the missing
I'D hate to have any friend Of NINE
reported missing" replied Lieut. Trull,
sadly You see, the underground
there is so dense that believe the ma
jority of the missing men were men
who were wounted, and who were
never found in the underground where
they fell The grass gets matted and
tangled UP, sometimes reaching a
height Of twelve feet. You can't force
your way through it. You can only
cut path with machete. The roads
are but trails, and you can see how cas-
lily a wounded man could be lost. Or
course. some of the missing might have
turned up at the rear and been attached
to other companies, or some might
have been captured, but I think the
chances are much against either event
am afraid that ell the missing VIII
eventually be counted among the DEAD.
1.-The climate there" continued Lieut..
Trull to the reporter, is delightful
It's terribly hot at midday, and many
of us threw away our blouses and all
extra clothing and equipment. l Lad
my shoulder straps sewed on to my blue
shirt. We received no canvas uni
forms so we felt the midday heat more.
If we had to force our way through Jun
giles during the heat it was awful work.
But If we could keep under shelter I'M
til about o'clock it was simply de-
lightful. 1t was so cool at night that
those who had thrown their blankets
away missed them. AS for malaria or
yellow fever, our men showed no
signs OF either up to the time | left.
There were plenty of funny things
to laugh at in camp. We didn't mind
the rain much, and it CHANGED that for
six days n succ5s n, just ast the bugles
were sounding the first sergeants call
at o'clock in the afternoon, the rain
began to fall. We finally dubbed tn
first sergeants call the rain cal
Then it was laughable to see the 'men
take their baths. Each man woul9 I'M
dress and wrap all his clothes up IN
his poncho. Then everybody would
stand out in the company streets NJ the
rain. stark naked. AS they were con-
tlnually playing pranks on each other,
our baths were always the subject of
hilarious merriment. Each man cooked
his own meal at his own fire. We
had plenty to eat, but Quartermaster
Ord was known to be the best quarter
master in Cuba. He was killed, poor
fellow, on Saturday. One Of our favor
tie dishes was fried bareback. The
bacon given us was mostly fat, and we
saved the grease. Then we soaked
bareback in water, and when it was
soft we fried it in the bacon grease.
1t was quite palatable, but / hardly
think it will ever figure on a Delmonico
bill of fare.
"The officers weapons were abso-
lutely useless to them in a fight" con-
tinued Lieut.. Trull, taking another
tack, land the officers simply served
as marks for the Spanish sharpshoot-
ers. This is proved by the heavy loss.
The officers killed and wounded in the
fighting, according to the official re-
ports were as / to 20 enlisted men.
The proportion of officers to enlisted
men is but 1 to so, so you can see the
officers suffered more severely than the
men did. Many Of us threw away our
regular side arms and got machetes.
81 did not see Saturdays fighting, but
| understand that the slaughter of
Spaniards was something awful. They
tried to recapture the entertainments
we had stormed the day before, but our
men let loose at them with Calling
guns, and they simply dropped like
wheat before a scythe,. Those Calling
guns sing prettier than anything | have
ever heard in my life.
"The volunteers among the Spanish
use heavy brass-tipped bullet Of
about .43 calibre. These bullets cause
blood poisoning. and they also lacerate
terribly. 1t was lucky for me that