The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1898-08-10
Saw ceryetn,s Fleet pns,royed.

| bblU MlcnlpNn volunteers, w MS SlStcr,
Mira T.. Ncn in Rcynoldsvilc. The
letter is dated Siboney, Cuba, July 10,
1898. Capt. Wagner visited In this
place several years ago.
| DEAR SIsTER:-ln order to fulfill my
promise to write you from here, will
give you brief account of my expert
cncc since wrote you from Newport
News. We sailed from that place Sun
day afternoon, Juno 20. Mt about 200
o'clock. We had most delightful
voyage and wcro very pleasantly treat
ed by the officers Of the ship ~. s.
auxiliary cruiser "Ilarvard''l and had
everything provided for our comfort.
We arrived oil this place on Friday
morning and began 10 dchnrk. The
first thing learned was that the 33rd
Rcgt. had gone to the front that morn
ing at 800 o'clock to attack n place
called Aguadorcs. about fifteen miles
up the coast. At noon word came that
II shell struck the right Of my Company,
| killed two men and wounded three
more. hurried to the hospital just as
they brought them in and never had
anything try me more than the sight Of
those poor manglcd forms of some of
my best men. The corporal OF the
squad had his left elbow fractured and
the tears ran down his face rs he wrung
my hand and tried to express his joy at
seeing mo. Tho Company was all very
expressive in its reception, but IL was
necessarily subdued, for the first com
mand gave them was to fall in behind
the stretchers Of the two silent forms
we carried to the hillside and buried
beside the grave Of Capt. Capron. Of
| the Rough Riders, killed few days
before That night we were ordered
to the front again and after marching
all night arrived in sight Of the cuemys
| lines Mt day break. We ate hasty
breakfast Of hard tack and beef and two
Companies were ordered forward on the
firing line. My Company, by reason of
| its punishment and loss of the day be-
fore, was kept In reserve, but the bull
lets whistled uncomfortably close to us.
| AS on the day before our orders we're
not to attempt to capture tho enemy's
position, but simply to keep him en-
gagged to prevent those in front Of us
from attempting u flank movement on
those of our army operating directly in
| front Of Santiago. This we continued
until the middle Of the afternoon when
we Withdrew to n point about five miles
from the enemy, where we threw up
| entrenchments of our own.
From our position on the point we
held we had fine view Of the fleet off
Santiago Bay and Moro Castle. We
could distinctly see the ships as they
| bombarded the forts and earthworks of
the enemy. With my glass | saw the
| Spanish fleet come out of the harbor
and engage our fleet. tell you it was
magnificent sight. Such crashing of
big guns and leaping Of flames and
smoke from their sides As they poured
shot and shell into each other. The
New York was just off our position and
hurrying to get into the fight, the black
smoke rolling from all three of her fun
nels like huge black plume, while the
water she hurled from her bows as she
tore along looked like white, glistening
teeth, giving her the appearance of
monster demon of destruction, ,hungering
for its prey. II was ali over in "a short
time with the result, as you know, of
the utter destruction Of the Spanish
| fleet and the capture of It's admiral.
The pictures OF the scenery that you
see in the papers are quite correct, at
least those cuts I've seen. With cactus
and vines, and palms, and broad leafed
plants, and bushes, 1t is q terrible place
to get through, where there is no trail
cut. And such crabs, the most revolt
ing looking things you ever saw: bodies
as large as your head, great ugly claws,
and their sidelong movement and hor-
rible smell make them the most repul-
sive thing | ever saw. The other night
| woke up hearing one OF them crawling
up my trunk, right at my side. You
can imagine how l felt. The place is
full OF chameleons, little animal like
lizard, harmless and quite pretty.
They are all colors. This and mos
quitos make our lives miserable.
We are now back at Siboney, where
we landed, and are held here, doing all
kinds of fatigue duty, such as cleaning
up,'burning old filthy buildings, helping
in the hospital, unloading stores from
the ships, and guard duty.
There is some fever here, but, al
though our doctors call some of it
yellow fever, those who have lived here
for years say it is not. / am as round
as nut and feeling tip top. CARL.
A Common Danger.
If you have ever had cold which you
permitted to ''wear away" it may in