The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1902-02-07
Letter From Southern Pines.

. seven Gays OF almost uLlnlCllu PlC'
!. rain, wind, sleet and slush is the
weather record here, commencing
e one week ago yesterday and termin
. ating this forenoon with brigh
t sunshine and strong westerly winds
n which will soon dry things up.
/ Business has been bad en- ough be-
D fore but during this spell has been
literally paralyzed and the citizens
act as if they wished they were
somewhere else. Friday morning
the trains from the north had a lib
era1 coating of snow and it was free
1y prophesied that our infliction
would wind up with a snow storm,
but l guess we will escape this time.
OF course under these discouraging
circumstances there is little chance
to get up a letter so l will wind up
with an account of the last festivi-
ties enjoyed by the people, two days
before the storm set in. The occa-
sion was an excursion to the settle
ment of Pine bluff, about seven
miles southwest of this place, and
was participated in by large crowd
of excursionists, under the guidance
of Mcqueen & Elliott, the principal
promoters of the celebration. Pine
bluff, which is peopled principally
by northerners, or yankees" was
in holiday humor and welcomed the
visitors cordially. Extensive prepa-
rations had been made under the di
rection of Mr.. John T. Patrick,
chief industrial agent of the Sea-
board Air Line Railway, and one of
the pioneer promoters of North Caro-
lima sand-bi1l health resorts. In the
center of large tract of cleared
land, block house was built to rep
resent the one made famous at San
Juan; in front of it were two barbed
wire fences, and in the rear large
number of tents of various sizes and
descriptions intended primarily to
represent the Spanish camp and used
incidentally for dining tents, side
shows, etc; these, to great extent,
resembled the midway of a state
or county fair.
After the crowd, which numbered
between $50 and 800 people, had par
taken of the barbecue. which was
served by a committee of Pineb1uff
ladies', and after listening to a num-
bat cf NV
Cornet Band as we'll as to several
others by the Southern Pines Cornet
Band (colored), preparations were
begun, about $50 p. m, for the
sham battle; assembly was sounded
by order of the commanding officer
of the American army, Capt A. M
Clarke, of Southern Pines, and all
of his soldiers Immediately got ready
to enjoy another musical treat, for
they supposed it was only the in
PRODUCTION to another selection by
the band. Not discouraged by this, /.
however, Captain Clarke set to work /
at once to mass his army by the
more effective means of sending out .
his aides to give personal notice to
each enlisted soldier. They came
in punches; they were armed
and unarmed, mounted and un-
mounted, uniformed and ununi-
formed; but even at that, they were
better off than the Spaniards, who
were neither armed, mounted nor
uniformed. But that did not worry
the Spaniards a bit; they had
plenty of fire-crackers of all sizes,
some of them big as 13-pound shells,
they had sky-rockets and Roman
so they did not need guns;
they were entrenched behind the
breastworks, so they did not need
horses; and as they were all Ameri
cans at heart, they had no use for
uniforms. So all was we'll.
Well, the American army, after
sending out few skirmishing par
ties, advanced to take the Spanish
entertainments but were unable to go
in the face of fusilade of
and sky-rockets. They
retreated, advanced once more and
we're again repelled; but still undis-
and yet more determined.
they executed a flank movement with
two brigades of cavalry, carried the
outer works of the Spaniards, cut
down the barbed wire fences, and in
the face of a terrific rain of fire.
crackers, stormed the block house,
-ook all the Spaniartis prisoners,
md ran up the American flag, after
earring the red and yellow of old
Castillo. OH it was glorious! That
S, it was supposed to be; as one
spectator remarked: ''It reminds one
If real war so much-it's so differ :
int" But the great majority of
he spectators liked it better than :
eal war and a rousing cheer went
Up as the Stars and Stripes, the glo-
ious emblem we all love, took the
'lace of the flag of Spain above the
ort. Can it be that deep in the
learts of those who watched this
aughable play of war, was a realiz-
Ition of the momentous significance
# the event which the play but poor
y mirrored, or, was it but the spon-
aneous cheer that comes to the lips
# every true American as he sees
he flag of the Union flung to the
'reeze? Well no matter, they
heered anyway.