Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-06-06


Mail During the spanish-American
War-Monument For His Grave.
| The recently developed postofice
scandals in Cuba show how rapidly
rank weeds may thrive and for a time
throttle we'll sown plants in that trop-
zeal country, says John r. Rathom
| in the Chicago Times-Herald. 1t is re-
! freshing to turn for little while from
| the unsavory details of the plucking Of
| the weeds back two brief years TO the
| days of misery, sickness and death,
when the good seed Of the American
| postoffice service in Cuba was planted
! planted by a brave and honest gen
| tleman who gave up his life that it
| should be sown deep and we'll
One night in the end of June, 1898, q
| few days after the American army Of
invasion had landed in Cuba, the south
ern part of the island was visited by q
terrific rain and thunder storm. The
! base of supplies had then been changed
from BaiquiTi to Siboney, II miles
west. The narrow mountainous trail
! that led from one place TO the other
was rough and precipitous under the
best conditions. Soaked in torrents
of rain that tore great holes all through
it, it became a quagmire feet deep in
mud, full of treacherous water pools
and Jumps of solid rock.
The 10000 American soldiers scat
tered all the way along the country
from Siboney to the plain at the foot
OF San Juan hill, expecting as their
right a paternalism that no other sol
IL H..
cumstances would have dreamed of,
began to ask for mail They talked
about the probability of getting letters
and newspapers as if they were living
on boulevard of big American city.
There was. however, some excuse for
their seeming presumption. Before
the army had been landed 24 hours
thousands of them had seen and anX-
iously taken the measure of big good
natured civilian who had come down
with the newspaper correspondents on
the steamer Olivette. He was Eben
Brewer, the special commissioner of
the United States government accom-
panying the troops in the interests of
the postoffice department
Almost before the first scanty meal
had been eaten ashore he began his
work. To the newspaper men lie was
brief and to the point. Tell every
soldier you see that If lie wants to
write a word home to his folks in the
United States before we march on TO
Santiago III guarantee the letter
reaches its address, The men were
amazed when they heard the welcome
news. The transport service had fail
ed, and every one knew that commits
sarlat officers of 20 summers or there
about had seen that five inch artil-
lery had been bundled into the holds
of some of the ships on top of tobacco,
hard tack and bacon. There was con-
fusion everywhere. But here was one
man. alone and unaided, who had burst
the bonds of red tape and who talked
OF communicating q navy dispatch
boat and sending 1t back home loaded
with goodby letters as if he were a
dozen admirals rolled into one. They |
began to like Brewer.
He kept his word, and they liked |
him better. Thousands of letters were |
placed in his care on that first day of |
landing. and by sheer hammering,
cajoling and bull headed |
pluck he did get a dispatch boat TO act |
culed the idea-the United States ships
had more weighty business on hand |
than carrying soldiers scrawls to their |
sweethearts. Finally, however, Admi- |
raj Sampson threw up his hands and |
gave his consent. The first boat that |
went back to the United States took /
Brewers mail with 1t.
But that was not all. He had ascer- |
tanned that some delayed transports /
were on their way down to the island, /
and he knew that many sacks of let /
ters and papers were aboard for the /
troops. Before the dispatch boat was |
hull down on its way north with let
ters home he came 10 the correspond /
ents again. I'm going back to Baiqui-
r." he said. III have a money order |
office there in a week, and in three |
days you will be able to buy all the |
stamps you want. The mail that is |
coming down I'll get out to the front
one way or another. Tell the men that
f letters come they'll get them some
how"
So Brewer went back to BaiQuiri, and
he news spread like wildfre at the
front that mail was coming. Thou
sands of men had left Tampa without
hearing from home, so uncertain had
Deen the date of sailing. Many were
II mental anguish over some half COM
,leted correspondence-an impending
leath or, more heartbreaking still, an
impending birth-and n hundred other
,acred family matters that were all |
relied in doubt and tears back in the
States"
In an enemy's country. with battles
o fight and graves TO dig, men read
me another quickly. The soldiers knew
he condition of the trails, knew that
very palm tree on the road TO the
ront might hold Spanish sharpshoot-
II and that a mule was almost worth
is weight in silver. But they thought
hnr LnaU Rrewnr and they Looked for. |