The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1899-12-01
Sampson KiIIed the Mule,

There's lots of nonsense yet afioat
Bout the battle of July,
When ont of Santiago sail'd
A fleet our ships to try.
There was fast and furious fight.
But at the end twas found,
The YaDkS had won victory
While the Dons were hard aground.
And then arose the question,
To whom's the credit due?
Some gave it all to Sampson
But their numbers very lew.
For when Cervera put TO sea
To sink the Yankee fleet,
He found our Sampson ten miles off,
But Schley, he chanc'd to meet.
To ram the Brooklyn was his plan
And had he done that feat,
He might have said away to Spain
TO Queen Christmas seat.
And told of how he cut his way
Straight thro' the Yankee ships;
Alas ! there are twiXt cup and lip
Some very awkard slips.
Sampson had gone far to the East
To talk siege matters DER
With Shafter, the lat soIdier-man,
Who led the fight ashore.
So when Cervera sailed forth
To conquer or to die,
He found our feet commanded
By our gallant Winfield Schley.
The Spaniard meant in earnest
TO fight and then to run,
But he miss'd his calculation
And his goose was quickly done.
For his fleet soon found the bottom,
While Schley's ships said on top,
And every Time his cannon roar'd
By shoals the Spaniards dropped.
Until at last their naught remained,
Except few sad score.
All taken by the Yankees,
AS prisoners of war.
But when the fight was over,
sampson, the bold, return'd,
His heart was fill d with envy,
His soul with rancor burned.
And he olaim'd it as his vict'ry-
just because he wasn't there,
A course which honest people
Do not consider fair.
But he had to grab at something,
He'd been boosted up SO high;
Been made paper ADMIRAL,
Ger Dewey and DER Schley.
Yet had never done a valiant thing,
Made failures as rule,
Except that at MatanZas
He kill'd Spanish mule.
Next he grabb'd the dry-land victory
Which the soldier-laddies won,
And the row they've rais'd ABOUT it
Is making lots of fun.
For those who love not Sampson
But his friends it makes quite sad,
To start another squabble
They swear u just too bad.
For they want him made Vice-AdmraI
And their hopes began to simmer;
with Miles and shafter after him
They've gene down to a glimmer.
So it need not seem surprising
That Scnley's vict'ry he should grab,
And at the noble victor
Should aim q bastard stab.
While the horse-marine department
Which had.shov'd him tow'rd the skies,
Says all that can he thought of
In some huge official lies.
For Johnnie Longs determined
To raise Sampson over Schley,
Ard to Elorify his favorite
There's naught he will not try.
Now Dewey is our Admiral
His honors none contest,
And next in naval rank must be
Inc man who's next done best.
And who this man is none can doubt
Who've scanned the records DER,
It's he who fought at closest range,
Not at ten miles or more.
Schley will be made Vice Admiral
When next our Congress meets,
In spite OF Long and Crowninshield
And all the other cheats,
For the nation calls for justice
Twill meier brook its omission,
With Schey so promptly ON the spot
But tother-delay' in Transmission.
'Tis Schley we want to honor,
Sampson has had enough,
His greedy claims of victories
Are only games OF bluff.
But old Uncle Sam remembers
(for your Uncle iS no fool
Twas Schley who sunk Cervera's ships
While Sampson killd the mule.
E. d. SwEENY.
Joppa, Nd.