Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-03-06
The Fsenxied Inhabitants Thought They
 Were to be Butchered. {

Were to be Butchered. <
 The scenes and actions in Caney after the battle are in a measure ex- piained by the impression that, fol- lowing the taking of the town, the in- vading force would loot, commit mur- der and rapine. Immediately after oc- eupation of the hill upon which the fort is situated by our forces, the fren- zied inhabitants began rushing up the hill to make peace with the Yietors. l went down into the town with sergeant and eight men, with instrue- tions from Capt. Allen of the calvary to turn out all the Spanish Soldiers I could find and break up their arms and send the soldiers up to the fort. !
 General orders had been issued for bidding anyone except this small guard to enter the town, as there was thought to be q great amount of fever, and ai- so because 1t was still occupied by the defeated Spanish under armS.As we went down the trail across the river we met a procession such as l never expect to see again. Hysterieal won- en, paralyzed with the fright of the whole long day; children of all sizes screaming with terror and clutehing their mothers' skirts for protection from men who had killed their fathers or brothers, as far as they knew with out cause. Some little ones, with eyes wide open Tn mute wonderment of 1t all; men of all classes; soldiers who walked indefinately with no excuse, while others declared they were forced into the Spanish ranks.
 One poor frightened woman of about fifty years was carrying another, evil dentlY her mother-a woman who must have been eighty or more. She was in her nightclothes, having just been taken helpless from her bed. The younger woman was carrying, or real ly dragging her, by holding her on her back, having the arms over her shoul- ders. The older woman was much tall- CT and her bare feet dragged upon the jagged rocks in the path while she moaned and cried incoherently. These people were not of the poorest class, but evidently well to do. stopped a couple of Spanish soldiers aud had the women carried to their houses, and assured them that no harm would come to them.
 One young woman rushed frantically up to me, as came Into the town, and thrust jewel box into my hands, and as she did so she lifted the lid and showed me that the contents was really valuable, begging all the while that spare her life. When closed f11e box and handed 1t bacls Co her, saying that did not want it, She look ed at me In an inquiring way te see if she could make it out. She did not understand that sort of soldering, and she fully expected to purchase her safety. If all would have been jm- mensely funny had it not been so exs tremely piuful. One woman came up very rnysteriously. and after looking about her most carefully, produced 0 murderous looking sheath knife from
 under the folds of her skirts, telling me that 1t belonged to Spanish sol- dier who had concealed himself in her
 house, to which she led us.
 I started up a side street, over some
 trenches filled with Spanish dead, when a beautiful woman came rush. ing down moaning, and now and then muttering a frenzied prayer as she clasped a little crucif1x. Her long black hair was falling loosely about her shoulders and she presented pitt fui picture of despair. l tried to com fort her thinking that like the rest. she was merely hySterical, but little by little l made out her story, and 1t was sad indeed. Her husband, a Spanish soldier, had been killed while 1 defending her honor from q drunken officer. and she begged me to go with
 her, and so followed. 1 found 8 | pretty room, but in great disorder,
 showing terrible struggle, the table
 overturned and tue clothes pulled off the bed; on the fioer. clutching corner of blanket, was the dead body of a Spanish soldier, who, from the dirt and
 grlme, had been ia the trenches dur ing the day. At his head was a single
 candle burning, placed there by his devoted wife, and on his breast lay a crucifix. The moment we entered the room the woman dropped at the side of
 the body, moaning and praying. It was pitiful.-James r. J. Archibald
 in Leslie's Weekly.
 1 1fAA TfNITe