The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-07-07

our way. The enemy was shooting mighty close
too. The trenches were awfully hard to pick up,
although we were only about $50 yards away.
They were on a hill and had carried their dirt
away.
1.-THE battallons made slow progress on the
TANKS on account of the thick underbrush. The
enemy had an immensely strong natural position
and had they had a few machine guns and some
barbed wire they could not have been rooted out
without great loss Of life.
"a call went up for a hospital apprentice, as
Corporal Frazee had been shot In the head. He
had been working hard getting his gun pointed on
the enemy and had just succeeded.
"'You are right on them now; give them ftsP
were the last words he said.
His pointer was also shot in the head and two
others were wounded in the arm. A corporal in
the Thirteenth company was shot twice while
operating a Benet-Mercier. He refused to leave
his gun and had to be carried away, struggling to
get back into the fight.
while this was going on our other guns be-
gan to come up one at a time and we obtained
fire superiority over the enemy, who shot very
wildly from now on. This last is an after judy
ment. At the time they seemed to be Just miss
ing me. I don't know how the other men felt,
but 1 expected to be shot any minute and just
wanted to do as much damage as possible to the
enemy before cashing in. Several members Of
our platoon did cool and creditable work in chang
ing cartridge extractors and repairing jams I'M
der fire.
1--WE faced the enemy as much as possible while
repairing the guns. as we had a horror of being
shot In the back.
zone Of the sweetest sounds I ever heard was
the cheering of the infantry battalion as 1t charged
the right flank trenches Of the enemy. Gunnery
Sergeant Ralph was among the first of these. He
had a pistol fight with the rebel general in COM
mand. Ralph and some other MAJ with a rife
hit him at about the same time. Result-exit
general.
I'VE moved up to the trenches after the battle
and reformed, getting our equipment together.
Corporal Frazee died soon after being hit and
was buried within a few feet of the place where
he had fought so well. The enemy lost very
heavily, and If Santo Domingo was not an island
some of those birds would be running yet"
Maj. Gen. ]. Franklin Bell, now in command
of the eastern department, with headquarters on
Governors island, won the medal In the Philip
pines. AS colonel OF the Thirty-sixth infantry he
was proceeding along the San Antonio Porac road
to head Off a band Of insurgents who had attacked
the Ninth infantry at Guagua and Santa Rita.
Colonel Bell, mounted, was riding near the head
Of the advance party and had with him Lieut..
Col. William R. Grove, Major Straub, two mount
ed orderies and about twelve scouts on foot.
Just at dawn the party was fired upon from
what seemed a fairly large body Of insurgents
hidden In the brush. The American fire dislodged
the enemy, about seven Of them running down the
road around a bend. The scouts pursued them,
but Colonel Bell saw at once that the men, with
their heavy equipment, were being easily outdis-
tanced by the lightly clad Filipinos, and he dashed
after them on his horse.
Before Major Sttaub or the two mounted order
lies knew what he was doing, Colonel Bell was
FAR down the road In the midst of seven strug-
Cling insurgents, firing with his revolver and
slashing about with his saber.
The mounted men galloped to his assistance
and the infantry supported him as best they could
with rifle fire, although it was almost impossible
to shoot, so tangled up were the insurgents and
Colonel Bell.
The officer would have been perfectly justified
in remaining with his troops, even behind them
and merely directing the dislodging assault, and
for charging alone and driving into the jungle at
least seven Filipinos, with two officers among
them, the Medal Of Honor was awarded to him.
Two of the few medals awarded In the war
against Spain went to a second class fireman and
a coppersmith on board the battleship Iowa.
While the vessel was cruising In Cuban waters,
July 20, 1898, at about seven o'clock in the morn
ing, a manhole gasket blew out in one Of the
boilers IN fire room No. 2.
Under 120-pounds pressure, live steam roared
out into the room and boiling water swashed
around the floor.
In the adjoining compartment were Robert
Penn, second-class fireman, and p. B. Keefer, a
coppersmith. Hearing the wild roar of the es
Gaping steam they dashed to the door of fire
room No. 2.
The men who had been working there, blinded
by the escaping steam, hounder1ng In the scald-
ing water, had been 30 overcome that they could
not get out. One Of the coal passers had already
sunk to his knees and was dropping forward.
In a matter Of seconds he would have toppled
into the water and been boiled to death.
Undaunted by the terrifying roar Of the steam