The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1907-01-15
IN CUBA FOR FUN.
MANY AMERICAN SOLDIERS OF
FORTUNE IN ISLAND.
Disappointment at End of Fighting In.
tense Among the Foreign Legion
New Yorker Angry at Fate.


h greatest old boy of the Foreign
Legion in Cuba, says the correspond.
ent for Harper's Weekly, is Capt. Z
b. Webster, an elderly Yankee from
Lltehfeld, Conn, the country of TO
bust onions and still more robust men.
The cap'n would rather eat than
tight, but, as it is often necessary to
eat-well, pshaw! a man has to have
the price, ven if he has to fight for it.
And fighting in Cuba just now is al.
most the best paying profession. He
who lives by it can eat t%errapin and
canyasback-if there are still such
things beyond this troubled land OF
garbanzos and papas frituras.
There is nothing of the fire eater
about Webster. On the day after Col.
AValos had driven Pine Guerra's men
out of Consolation, the cap'n and /
We're chatting when a cheerful lieu.
tenant came along and remarked
We're going after EN-"
"Dern it all! / hope not" said the
cap'n, in his slow New England drawl.
Here we've been cooped up in that
blamed hot train for t~hirty-six hours,
fighting day n night, with mighty
little to eat, and the rebels giving us
no time to eat it. I'm tired of fight
ing. What l want is a long sleep
and a few good meals. But, say, you
ought to have been there when l got
those charging rebels right on the
transverse. When the gun got going
/ tell We they tumbled down off their
horses like a pack o. cards. Here,
lieutenant, how soon do we start?"
Cap'n Webster was a coasting skip
per sailing out of Yankee ports for
many years. He is a heavy, stooI
shouldered and 'sot in his ways"
He brought a few flibuster cargoes
into Cuba during the wal of indie
~pendence, and at the age when mos
men take to golf he grew so fond o.
fighting that he has never been able
to shake off the destinations of the
game. He was United States consu
at Cardenas for a while, but as sooI
as this rebellion started he began t
help organize the Foreign Legion.
Capt. George Reno is a New Yorker
tall, slim, pale and bashful. He cam'
down here as a free lance war col
respondent ten years ago and acquired
the fighting habit. He hasn't got hi
company recruited yet, but when the,
do take the field the Azaldos had BET
ter look out.
Lieut.. Adolph Fittig was a gentl
real estate dealer in Havana until tn
war began. Then he remembered wit
joy the fine times he had during hi
military service in Germany a fey
years g Away to the winds wen
the real estate business. and the Her
Ober-Lieutenant burst into bloom i
his uniform.
Lieut.. Herbert Shockley is a smaI
and very cheerful fighting man fror
Philadelphia. When they organize
the Foreign Legion he smiled and sal
he believed he'd take a commission
When he was firing a machine gu
on the roof of the armored a and
rebel Mauser bullet went through hi
leg he smiled and said he believe
lightning never struck twice in th
same place. l wanted to p%hotograp
him as soon as he had a little leisur
after the battle. He smiled.
Better wait till I can stand u
straight" he advised. "A fellow hate
to look sickly in a picture"
The angriest soldier of fortune
ever saw is Gilbert H. Carr, who can
in great haste all the way from We'
115th street, New York, the Mornin
side Heights district, to take part
the game. Gen. Loynaz del Castil
made him a captain in the rebel force
and then this truce was declare
Wouldn't that irritate your Ca
asked me. How would you like
come all the way down here to hay
a little fun. and hen find them gi
ing out rain checks?"
1t does seem a trife rough on Car
He is a slender, fa%ir-skinned, bill
eyed youngster who belongs in Il
second company of the Twelfth Res
= ment. New York National Guard, whe
he's home. He has fought in Sou
Africa and in a few South Americs
revolutions.
TWO Meanings to Sign,