Bisbee daily review., 1903-04-01
THE MORNING GUN
IOriginal.l

Singular tbet l should be an officer; that I should be marching in the place tf a second lieutenant in the rear of the company; that l should be in Santiago de Cuba. 1 have no remembrance of having been graduated. Yesterday We were marching to and from the mess hall. Yesterday got befogged in that problem of analytical geometry. Be sides. how did 1 get here? l don't re- member coming-no railway ride. nc troopship, DO debarkation.
 ''l say. you. there, Bob Truman, how did we of the second class get into this war;
 Graduated year ahead"
 "But what did we come onT'
 lightning express to Tampa, then over the water in a balloon"
 Singular"
 There was a rattling ahead with drawing 1uy attention from what had happened to what vas happening. One captain faced about and gave an order 10 march from column into line. We struggled through tangled bushes, a Mauser bullet splitting here and there like raindrops peIting the leaves. But twilight was coming and then il was dark The firing ahead ceased.
 IL seemed l was worn out; that had been with tbe-army from the first and had been over every inch of the road from the coast to our present position before Santiago.
 "Will they yield tomorrow. do you think:" asked . pale faced boy, stag gering up 10 me. and let us get out of this dreadful countryE'
 Don't kBow. I'm suffocating with the heat"
 Then it Was dawn. The full moor was in the sky far to the west. large and round and pale. When first looked at 1t, l thought it great white bird ] wondered if it were not 2 bird. No that's the moon. sure enough. No II isn't, it's big bombshell. IL is sailing right for me. As il comes 1t Is turning black. That shows it's shell surely. It comes on and on, passing directly over our heads and goes down slowly 10 the rear without bursting.
 There is that Gatling gun again. Th-r-r-r-r-r-r-r from left to right. then th-r-r-r-r-r-r-r from right to left Now stiffness. now a distant grown, an oath, sn order. anything, everything-every- thing that is horrible.
 Hear that frightfuI shriek, Some wo- man leaving the starving city. She i must be Spanish. and some brutal Cuban
 That's fainter. more plaintive. 0 heavens. it's a baby's cry. What an awful thing is war that even babe must 20 down under 1t! moan-the mothers doubtIess-then stillness-s | stiffness more awful than the sounds. ! We are marching through these in | fernal tangies again, but suddenly emerge on an eminence. There is San 1 tiago below and there are the Spanisl flag and the outlying works. There i' death in those reGoubts on those long | lines of low earth. There are driving
 storms of bullets and bursting rockets I of shells, and the muZZles of the Cat I ling guns pour a destroying 1ooC from tine nozzle of a hose. We've go
 .o go down there aud take them. Yes
 take them if we are torn into sliveTs
 Why don't they shoot? I'd rather hea
 an occasional shot. see puf of smeS'
 than see that silence. Yes. see it. I cal
 almost hear it.
 | All is lively enough now. There ST |. volleys near, Yolleys far: caDnon boom
 ing. men shouting. horses neighing Gatling guns th-r-r-r-r-ing. all ming'e' in one gigantic roar.
 Wire fence nippers herer ! Bring up those gunsr Turn about. there. my man. or IT run you through The enemy is in tb other directioh~
 Water WaterT
 "Oh, God! I'm hitv I put my canteen to the lips of tb ] -r,au who called for water and cast , g!.ilce at the man who vas hit wEe f the captain ordered me to stop thos
 who were trying to go back
 Next 1 was lying on my back. clutcf ing a wound in my left side. Tn blood was pouring out like water. ei CRban girl was bending over me holf l ing my canteen to my lips. What
 peaceful face! What a contrast wit , the frightful thing called war! Oi i. that those eyes could look into min
 foreveri Oh, that that tress Of hal
 that has come down and is blown D a breath of air across my cheek mlgi ; thus lightly touch it during lifetime Again I am pushing on toward thos
 earthworks. They are pouring fori