The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-19

two, is usually the first 80 be undertaken
1t is distant only half hours ride by
SLOW coach, half the way over pavements
which Gen Wood turned into asphalt last
year, and the remainder along passable
country road, hedged with neglected I'M
dergrowth. There are a few unaNractive
houses along the way, but the fields have
been given over to riot
About one mile out of town the coacn
draws up at the roadside, and the drivec
points to a tree a few rods away. the frs,
object of respectable growth encountered
in the ride. Ii is a fine specimen of tha
ceiba, or silk cotton wood whose gnar ed
roots spurn the ground and whose
branches spread a grateful shade, roomy
enough TO shelter a full regimental compa-
ny. In this shade the preliminaries were
arranged for the evacuation of Santiago
by the Spanish Army. Two barbed-wire
fences, as wicked looking as could eve
have been stretched across a Spanish
trocha, keep visitors at a respectful dis
lance. The Initials cut in the tree of
enough Americans to stock an army tell
| why this protection was needed.
After a ride of few minutes beyond,
| the coach again halts, and one may climb
| a stone fence into the battlefield. The hil
| probably looked much higher in July 1892
| than II does now, although there is enous h
| of 1t to-day for all practical purposes, with
| the sun blazing overhead Grass and W. ed I
| have grown in the trenches and hea e
| wars scars, but enough remain 10 show
| where the Americans shifted the embauk-
| ments when they had driven the Spaniards
| out The mounds are nearly all toward
| the town, instead of toward the valley, as
| first tossed up. Trenches that oppo7e1
| the main American force could never have
| been deep enough to conceal standing
men. Near the block house, however. of
which only few scattered bricks remain,
| the trenches are the real article Nature
has b9p11D n heal thaDo NOW IA,
| as gaunt and bare as on the day they were
| dug. Close TO the trenches are marks Of
| graves, where American soldiers fell
They are empty, the bodies having been
sent home.
A plumb line from the crest of the Hill to
| the level of the valley would probably OF
drop much more than fifty feet but this
descent on the surface covers a slope of
good half mile over a length some what
greater. In the valley lies the San Juan
river limpid lazy brook that an athlete
at this season might leap If he missed
his footing at the deepest place, he could
hardly get wet above the knees. From the
crest also one may see the roads from FL
Caney at the south and the roads and
trails among the foothills across the val
ley eastward, whence came the troops
from Siboney and Daiquiri, who made San
Juan historic ground There is a farm
house across the river. but elsewhere in
every direction the country is a dl cary
waste of tangled grass and underground.
Although the hill does not seem formida-
Bile, one is impressed that Yankee force
intreuched there could not have been dis
lodged. 1t easily commands approaches
for at least a square mile in front The
Spaniards had nothing 10 dread from the
rear. Even lay observer must see that
persistent pluck was needed to drive them
back.
From the town to MORO the drive is
al
seems to be all uphill whichever way 1t
is travelled. MORO, in fact, has a much
higher elevation than the town The road
skirts a precipice much of the way. 1t
| seems perilously narrow when two teams
meet. One finds at the fort the usual
! Spanish equipment of dark dungeons and
Anticipated cannon A guard house room
is interesting because of some crayon
| decorations, including various portraits
cartoons, and a reproduction of a home
newspaper which a Spanish soldier left
there The work is strikingiy good, It
| must have taken time enough TO prove
that the man who did ii was M-behaved as
a soldier however admirable as an artist
| This room confined the Merrimac's crew
| Lieut.. Hobson at that time occupied a
| large cell on the same landing Later his
captors original landing by flight of a
dozen steps or more. A lightning rod sur
mounted this room, and from ii Spanish
| flag was sold to have been foated, to
draw American fire there. Whether that
| is so or not, when active firing began on
! MORO Hobson was taken to town and ex-
| changed few days later under the ceiba
surrender tree on the road to San Juan
| Hill. One may climb or descend endless
starways in the castle, as in all Morros
going in one direction almost to the wa
| ter's edge and in the other so high that
small craft below look tiny and large
| vessels foreshortened Only prisoners
/
| in spacious, airy barracks outside, where
the breeze is cool and there is no chance
for lurking disease.
The palace in town. where the formal
| surrender occurred, Is not pretentionS It's
| blue paints peels too readily for good
| looks, and compared with some of the
| palaces elsewhere II seems cramped and
| dingy. On the walls are some pictures
of royalty and other examples of indiffcr-
ent painting, The Spanish occupants
stripped the frames from the pictures, and
they hang without frames, looking bet
| ter, perhaps, than If they had them. The
reception room contains a large number
of chairs made of Cuban mahogany. They
| are nicely finished and well put together,
and commend themselves as one of the
articles wholly native that visitors may
| sincerely admire.
For those who wish to see relics of the
struggle for Cuba Libre there is a public
! museum where the aim seems to have
been to leave nothing to the Imagination.
| If a Cuban of any account was shot in
the body museum would collect the bullet
| portions of the vital parts through which
| IL sped, clothing worn by he victim from
| babyhood until death, his photograph and
| those of his wife and children, and any
| available details of family history. That
| is about what the Antonio Maceo collec-
| tion contains. II includes an undershirt
and other clothing taken from his body
year after death his boots. spurs sad
| die machete, sombrero, engagement ring,
notebook, and much similar truck. The no
| ton seems to be that since this was Ma
| ceo's home the people must be interested
I'm preserving his memory by turning a
section of glass cases into Maceo junk
| shops.
Since the bullet holes I'm the arsenal and
J barracks, which decorated head high the
walls of rooms in which political prison.
ers stood to be shot, have been plugged
up and whitewashed over. one bound 20
| complete The round of historic reminders
| has vet the ceraa ef.v befora him A C-,,ka Z,