Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1899-04-13
ORDEAL OF A SOLDER LAD,
A Sensational and Mysterious Occurrence
on san Juan Hin.

A Sensational and Mysterious Occurrence
on san Juan Hin.
Telling of volunteer and regular of
iicers recalls a sensational and mys-
FERROUS occurrence on San Juan Hill.
On the night of July 2, when the
Spaniards made a dash at the Ameri-
can lines, the available trenches were
packed full of men. An excitable
volunteer major, startled out of his
sleep, ordered the men in support over
the brow of the hill into the trenches.
They grabbed their guns and ran over
the crest of the hill, only to find the
intrenchments filled to the limit with
their own men. They had to lie down
just back of the trenches without
cover. The men in the trenches were
blazing away for all that was in them.
The new men sent up back of them
were so many that they could not lie
side by side, but some had to lie one
behind another. 1t was a dark night.
Orders we're drowned in the golleys
of musketry, and to many of the vol
unteers the bugle and whistle calls
were foreign language. 1t neces-
salily rested with the individual men
in the ranks back of the trenches to
display their cool judgment by refrain
ing from firing.
An excitable lad of not more than
seventeen or eighteen in the rear rank
of those back of the trenches loaded
and fired. At that moment comrade
just in front Of him who had lifted
L.; IL 10 10 al
vancing Spaniards fatteEed out on his
face-stone dead. The Spaniards
were soon glad to gallop back to their
intrenchments. Then the support
was ordered back under the brow of
the hill again and brought its dead
with it.
The man who had been killed just
in front of the excitable lad had hole
in him that you could shove wagon
pole through. 1t looked mighty like
Spring field bullet from the rear A
man beside the lad had seen him fire
and the dead man drop. The lad him
self admitted that he had fired. The
captain of the company, his men say,
is a good officer. but excitable. In
this case he was Mortified and showed |
a disposition to be hasty and little
vindictive. He assembled his com
pany, and in the course of a five
minute talk had the accused lad |
on the hillside in abject
Mysteries. The captain talked of
and court-martial and firing
squad in the morning. The occur
renee had quite evidently been too
much for his nerves.
Meanwhile an enlisted man had
been sent for a surgeon. When one
came he happened to be regular.
He listened to the evidence, and it
didn't appear to excite him or shake
his nerve. The lad was writhing and
crying out in kind Of hysteria at his
feet. He looked down at him, poked
him with the toe of his boot, and said,
Oh Oh up!
Then he stepped over few PAGES
to where the dead man was stretched
out and examined him by the star
light He took quite time, and the
F HeP4bi W Who , lad gathered about, awaited
t al sn9' T To elopments with tense in
w. oi4 TO- ord,,n the lad writhing around
or otar .nI " Az it probably seemed an
came lack ASt th58R gs9gq ai83wn at fhe
lad indifferently. Then he looked the
commander square in the eye
and said;
''Shot with a Mauser bullet from
the front! Send this yelping whelp to
your field hospital for an opiate.
Then he poked the lad with the toe
of his boot, said shut up!' again,
and marched off.