The Saint Paul globe., 1900-01-28
HERO YET UNSUhG
EREN BREWER, THE FIRST UNITED
STATES POSTAL AGENT IN
CUBA
GAVE LIFE TO HIS WORK

Mo7Sment to Erect Monument In
His Homer Brings Out the Story
of His Service When the Amer
lean Troops Were Landed at Sam
tlago-POstOtfice Open Before All
Soldiers Were on Shore.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27.-(Special.)-A
movement is on foot among the post
masters of the United States to build
a monument to the late Eben Brewer,
the first United States postal agent in
Cuba, who lost his life during the Span
dsh-American war, while in the employ
of the United States postofIice depart
ment.
At a recent meeting in this city of the
: National Association of Postmasters
they adopted a resolution that monu-
ment to the memory Of Eben Brewer
be erected and by the employees Of the
postal service.
The record of Mr.. Eben Brewers ca
reer as the postal agent of the United
States is graphically told in letter writ
ten by James O'Shaughnessy, Jr., to w.
G. Edens, assistant superintendent Of
free delivery in Chicago, who was the
correspondent in Cuba of one of the
leading Chicago daily newspapers. Mr..
O'Shaughnessy's letter is as follows:
''You have afforded me great pleasure
by the quick interest you have evinced
in the memory of Eben Brewer, the first
postal agent in Cuba Every other cor
respondent who went with the army to
Santiago will, L am certain, feel grateful
with me for your effort to give Brewers
name what his splendid services and
magnificent sacrifice earned. III the series
of letters reminiscent Of the Santiago
campaign that I wrote on my return
from Cuba last year, none gave me more
satisfaction than the one discussed in
which 1 sought to pay a tribute to Brew
er's heroism. In that letter I suggested
that the men of the postal service build
monument to him as their hero. When
you have told his story to your COM
panions in the service am sure they
will agree with you that the suggestion
ought to be carried out.
'As a correspondent following the
: army, had opportunity Of learning OF
Brewer and of his extraordinary task of
supplying postal facilities to an army
face of such conditions as probably new
er confronted a postmaster before, con-
ditions which can not be fully realized
except by those who were witnesses.
when the Fifth army corps was be-
ing fitted out in Tampa to go some-
where into the West Indies Eber Brew
er arrived He was big, brawny, and
broad-shouldered, with an athletic fig
Jre and massive head. 1t was easy
to estimate him to the point of knowing
he was a man of capabilities. 1t was
not far to see, either, that he was
man who would commend himself by his
frankness of countenance, his quiet, his
reserve ara his unconscious display of
= character strength in all his words and
actions, as man who might be safely
chosen for difficult and arduous labor.
Those who saw him struggling to the
end will say that such choice fell
upon him. and that he was equal to 1t.
CUBAN POSTAL SERVICE.
"Soon after his coming to the army
camp he and became friends. Every
other correspondent said Brewer was
his friend Nobody about the big camp
was more concerned about the quality of
the postal service that would be fur
nished in Cuba than the correspondents.
1t was to them what arms were to the
soldier. We often talked of Brewer and
his commission, and "sized him up and
said with grave deliberation that he
would do.
Brewer liked the correspondents. We
kneW>t that ard were hattered by 1t. His
wisdom had in a great part come from
ACQUAINTANCE with newspaper work. He
knew the things that were Of first I'M
portance to the correspondent and that
MANY things called trivial by others We're
of great concern to the men who would
write the history, hour by hour, and day
\ by day, of the campaign for people 5
\ liberty. When the day came for the
4 expedition to sail, Brewer took ship with
" the correspondents.
"Among the first to land in Cuba When
1 the shells quit rafting around Daiqulrl
II was Eben Brewer. He and l had been
\ roommates on ship board but in the ex>
r. citement attending the debarkation we
II separated The next morning l had
n letter to mail, but little idea OF how or
when or where to mail 1t, or whether
\ it would ever reach my office. AS l
walked through the village, which was
still smoking from the incendiarism that
N > accompanied it's capture, 1 saw man
mailing a board on the front porch OF a
cottage that had escaped destruction.
When I got a broader angle of view 4
saw it was a sign that read:
:...................... .............'...'.'..'.:
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