Shiner gazette. [volume] (Shiner, Tex.) 1893-current, 1899-01-18
BEFORE THE FIGHT.
THE PRECIOUS PLUG OF TO-
BACCO AT SAN JUAN.
Put Courage Into the Men-"Under Its
Stimulus They Became PERKY and
Sassy" Says One of Their omcers-
Enjoying Chew to the Last.

1T has struck me right along that
the newspapers have been making a
terrific hullabaloo over the way things
were run down in Cuba, Porto Rico
and in the American camps, with very
little reliable information upon which
to base their charges" said an officer
of the Twenty-fourth infantry Zone of
the negro regiments), who was struck
by three Mauser bullets-badly wound
ed by one of them-and a piece of shell
in the fight at San Juan, according to
the Washington Star. 81 didn't see
much to complain about under the cir
cumstances down in Cuba, and had a
pretty fair chance to see what was
going on. The only genuine criticism,
in fact, that l have to make refers to
the scarcity of tobacco among the
troops down there. Tobacco was at
premium during the greater portion of
our stay in Cuba, and the soldiers who
were deprived of it would very willing
ly have paid for it at the price of its
weight in gold. | don't think it would
be possible to overestimate the value
of tobacco to troops undergoing hard
campaign. 1t is bread and meat and
drink to soldier enduring the hard
ships of war. 1t is at once a stimulant
and tonic, and its value in allaylng
hunger is we'll known to experienced
commanders. Queer as 1T may seem,
chewing tobacco also allays thirst. l
know this because I've tried it. An
other point with reference to the chew
ing of tobacco by soldiers in cam
paign is that all of the oldtimers
swallow the juice of the weed. They
allow that it is apt to make fellows
not used to handling 1t in that way
bit sick at first, but they say that the
stimulating effect of the plant is lost
If the juice is eXpectorated. / never
had better illustration of the value Of
tobacco to men who had long been
hankering for it than on the day of the
San Juan fight. The black soldiers Of
my outfit of the Twenty-fourth lad
been entirely tobaccoless almost from
the time we landed in Cuba and it was
the hardest kind of deprivation upon
men who had been used for years to
consuming the weed in all its forms.
The men missed tobacco, particularly
!, after meals. After they got outside of
their coffee they would get together
and talk longingiy Of tobacco, and I
could just see their teeth leaking for
it, but there wasn't a quarter of an
ounce to be had. / don't hesitate to
say that the men Of my company
weren't quite the same without tobac-
III,
that they'd rather be without grub
than to go tobaccoless. On the morn
ing of the San Juan scrap came into
the proud possession of one-pouKd
plug of chewing tobacco. I'm not 60
ing to incriminate myself by stating
how l happened to get the plug, but
got 1t all the same. A short time be-
fore 1t came our turn to go into ac-
ton, produced the plug and handed
it to the big, black-top sergeant of my
company. You ought to have seen his
eyes stick out when he caught sight
of the plug. Just pass it down the
line,' I told him, and let each OF the
boys take a nibble off it, The sergeant
took a bite off the plug himself, and
then handed it to the first duty SER
geant.
THE whole company was on to- the
presence of the plug of tobacco in the
outfit by this time and they set up a
cheer. They just forgot about the i'm
pending fight, they were so tickled over
the sight of the tobacco. The plug
went down the line every man taking
off bite, and then it started up the
line and toward me again. 1t certain
ly did dwindle in size, that plug of to-
bacco. By the time 1t got into the
hands of the top sergeant it was just
the size of one good chew, which the
men had. by careful calculation, saved
for me, the loot'nant.' Did l take 1t
Well, guess yes, and swallowed every
bit of Juice, like the rest of the men
And 1 can tell you it tasted good. ThC
men threw their shoulders back undel
the stimulus of the tobacco and be-
came perky and sassy and eighty al
through-and l suppose YOU remember
what the Twenty-fourth did in the Sar
Juan fight? l had the chew in my
mouth, ENJOYING it hugely, when thu
last of the three Mausers that plugged
me got me in the hips paralyzing mt
from the waist down for a couple o.
months afterward and. rs I didn't be-
There is good deal of cold comic!
alIbolIt some extra cover.