Omaha daily bee., 1899-05-28

who fell in its service Is unprecedented.
And It is a source of wonder to the Cuban
natives. These latter have seen great trans
ports loaded with the dead sail away from
their island many times since the first OF
the year, and they marvel at nation which
Is willing and eager to spend time and money
in moving those whose usefulness is past
And they Will marvel still more at the
spirit which prompts the American soldiers
on Memorial day to deck with flowers and
flags mounds of EARTH and weep at the men,
ory of comrades gone to the last call.
In the vicinity OF Havana and other large
cities the day win be carefully observed.
The great grave in which the boys of the
Maine lie side by side and those smaller
ones filled since that eventful week in March,
1898, will come in for the due share, but in
| no part of the island will the day be one
| of such tender ceremony and Importance as
in the vicinity OF Santiago
| Back of that city the battlefield stretches
| for miles. 1t extends coastwise in the direc-
ton of Daiquiri, and away to the mountains
on the Ell Caney road. 1t was fought over
| inch by inch, sprinked as with a summer
shower by the blood of the combatants, and
| then sown with the graves of those who fell.
Little caro- was possible under the circum-
| stances, and when men dropped they were
buried. Some were enshrouded in the can
vas OF their shelter tents, but the majority
had as their covering only their uniforms
and the clods of mother earth.
| Where the Dead Lie.
There was no orderly arrangement, no
rows and aisles and plots and sections, but
merely the conveniences of vicinity and the
haphazard use CT the Spanish and American
trenches On the Santiago battlefield, after
the cessation of hostilities, the density OF
It, I'D
of the mortality at that particular point. AT
the foot and on the slope of San Juan hill
they were sown as thickly as tenants in the
Gods acre OF a populous city.
By permission of the American govern
ment disinterring has been carried on in a
more or less desultory fashion since last
September. Despite the fact that disturb
ance OF graves in semtropical countries IKE
Cuba Is strictly forbidden within hVe years
from date of burial, friends and undertaKers
aocked to the Santiago battlefield, armed
with permits from the War department at
Washington and removed a number oi
bodies.
1t was only through the strenuous effortf
of General Leonard Wood that yellow feVel
victims were left undisturbed In one case
an undertaken from a Maine town insisted
on disinterrng an officer who had died oi
yellow fever and he yielded only to force
The haSty method or Durlal lollu"cu uui
ing the excitement after the siege naturally
led to wrong Identification In many cases
When convenient bottle containing paper
bearing the name, regiment and company OF
the deceased was buried with him Ruit
boards upon which were painted similar IN
formation, were planted at the heads OF lhe
mounds but despite these precautions the
identity of the soldier otter remained pro0le'
matical.
When a delegation of Spanish ohelals
revisited Santiago for the purpose ol re-
moving the remars OF the brave defender
of El Caney, General Vara del Rey, they
experienced great difficulty in finding the
grave. They were led by Cuban guide lo
a mound in the vicinity Of the blockhouse
but on opening the grave disclosed to vie"
the bones OF ar army mule. 1t was a desplc
able slur and insult cast upon the memory
of a gallant warrior by natives, whose sense
of refinement is notably absent.
In strong contrast TO this is the pathetic
sympathy felt by the living soldiers arounc
Santiago for their comrades in the trenches
There are very few graves on the battlefield
tuat have not been the object OF tendel
care. Decoration day has lasted many Ions
months in that part of Cuba.
A BIT of Individual Decoration.
This sympathy has been manifested IL
strange ways and in unexpected quarters
Last October a negro teamster was dis
charged from the service in Santiago AS in
J corrigible. lie was a native OF South Caro-
lima and was peculiarly vicious speeimeI