Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-03-29
The Cargo d the Crook

Tue VATSv ~ s"e ~sVvA'
No ship that ever came to the shores
of America brought such cargo as
that Of the transport Crook. which ar
rived. yesterday. at New York from
Santiago. No ship that ever sailed
bore such a strange and such a price
less cargo. In the hold Of the Crook
were the remains Of almost 700 Ameri-
can soldiers who died of wounds or the
fever around Santiago. Seven hundred
of the 1900 who We're left to sleep in
alien soil when the victorious army
came North, last summer.
Only few months ago they sailed
in the crowded transports for the
southern seas, happy young fellows in
the flush of life. proud of their uni
forms, and eager for active service
under their country's flag. After the
short, terrible campaign. their COM
rades sailed home on the transports.
weakened by the hardships of camp
and field, but victorious and happy and
wildly cheered by tens of thousands at
the wharves and on the streets. But
these others did not come back to re-
ceive the grand welcome. They. whose
heard not it's glad cheers and received
no more the kisses of loved ones. Their
bones were left in the jungies and hills
of the trOpic island. They We're buried
in the trenches their valor had won,
buried in haste and with scanty hon.
ors, for the needs of the living We're
more pressing than those of the dead.
But, wherever possible, their graves
were marked and their last resting
places recorded.
But now when peace has come and
sanitary conditions have made the
work practicable, a grateful nation
shows it's greatness by bringing back
to their native soil the bodies of its
soldiers who died in it's service beyond
its borders. No other nation has ever
brought back from foreign land the
bodies of its fallen ones of the rank
and file as this country is now doing.
1t not only demonstrates the nations
gratitude, but it shows commendable
consideration for the feelings of the
relatives and friends OF the dead
heroes. Such of the bodies as are
claimed by relatives will be turned
over to them, and the others, including
the many unknown" will be buried
with military honors in the national
cemeteries at Washington. Here
at last they will sleep in
peace with the flag for which
they died forever waving over their
graves, with flowers strewn over them
by loving hands. and the memory of
their deeds cherished as priceless
legacy by posterity.
The great steamship is the first to do
duty as funeral ship in our history.
Many bodies had previously been
taken from the alien soil and brought
home since the war closed, but this
continues the work on a greater scale
than had been dreamed Of. The Crook
will make another voyage. and
bring North an equal num-
Der of bodies at once. There are
bodies, which were not brought back
and which will never be brought back,
bodies in unmarked graves or bodies
never buried and of which no traces
now remain. 1t seems sad and awful,
but it is war. 1t is the heavy sacrifice
that made possible the greatest triumph
that humanity and civilization have
won for century. Perhaps some day,
not far distant, funeral ship will sail
over the Pacific to our western shores,
bearing the sacred dust of our fallen
heroes in the Philippines.