The times., 1899-05-28
Burr Mcintosh. War Correspondent.

Burr Mcintosh. War Correspondent
The Little l Saw of Cuba" is the mod
est title OF copiously illustrated book by
Burr Mcintosh. In spite Of the implied
statement on the cover, the contents of the
book indicate that Mr.. Mcintosh and his
kodak found a great many interesting
things in the course of their military ex-
perience. The pictures, several hundred
in number. are remarkably good reproduc-
tions of photographs which. notwithstand
ing the untoward circumstances under
which they were secured, give an accurate
idea of the scenes through which the
Rough Riders" passed in the beginning Of
their career. Owing to an attack OF yellow
fever, Mr.. McIntosh's career in Cuba was
comparatively short, and through careless
ness on the part of others he lost a great
number Of his pictures. But enough re-
I main to make the book extremely inter
esting, even without the text, which COM
| pares fsyorably with any OF the other ac-
counts of the Cuban war.
| Mr. Mcintosh tells rather an amusing
story Of his landing in Cuba As every
one knows, Shafter was anything but
| friendly to newspaper men. and gave Or
| ders on the arrival of the transports that
no correspondents were TO be allowed to
land till all the troops had disembarked,
and then only by special permission. This
was a wet blanket on the aspirations of
| Mr.. Mcintosh and several others who had
| desired most particularly to see the land
ing and secure pictures of it. They were
"scooped," and they did not like it. But
Mr.. Mcintosh had a plan in his head. To
scoop" General Shafter was rather q
| large undertaking, but the actor-corre-
spondent is a large man. as those who saw
his Tany' Will remember, and he deter
mined to try it. Accordingly, he gave a
bundle of clothes, his camera, and other
needful things to a faithful striker" to
be brought ashore in the first boat, and
watching his chance, slipped softly over
the side of the transport and swan ashore
He says, Enthusiastically. that the dis
tance between the boat and the shore con-
tained more CONDENSED tide" than would
be found in an average summer of sea
swimming. He also says that the issuing
Of this order regarding newspaper meI
caused some of the criticism which wa.
made upon Skaters methods of doinl
business. His story of the incident close.
with this philosophic comment:
There are many necessary evils in this world
Among others are newspaper men. From the mo
ment Of the issuing OF that order pencils hega
TO be sharpened for General Shaiter-and the
have not yet lost their point
The order was a part of Skaters gen
eral lack OF tact and wisdom, which rnust
sooner or later, have brought down criti
cism upon his head, but undoubtedly TIL
criticism was somewhat Iivelier for th
personal affront to the correspondents.
Mcintosh is of the opinion that the fgh
at Las Guasimas was a needless sacrifc
of life. Some other newspaper CORE
spondents have taken this view. His boo
Is not improved artistically by the intro
duction OF this opinion, but he gives hi
reasons for it. Most OF the correspondent
who have come out in book form since tn
close Of the war have had their story +
tell OF the mistakes that were made, an
Mr.. Mcintosh is in no way different fror
the others.
5 After all. the pictures in the book ar
t the really valuable part of it, interestin
G as the text undoubtedly is. There are pho