The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 28, 1898, Page 18

THE FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 1898. LAST STAND OF THE SPANIARD Of all the fierce and most glorious. Nineteen men of the Ninth Infantry utes it was give and take and no mercy asked. EST AND BLOODIEST HAND-TOHAND FIGHT IN THE UAR. % - 1A N W bloody hand-to-hand dead Spaniards. The other three were taken prisoners. 7R 57 /% S: THE DEADLY HAND-TO-HAND FIGHT IN THE BLOGKHOUSE ON SAN JUAN HILL. conflicts in the war that of the regulars against the last of the fighting Spaniards in the ‘blockhouse at dropped through a hole in the roof and tackled thirty-five Spaniards who were shooting up at them. Stabbing, bayoneting and shooting raged and when it was all over there were fourteen hale Americans left and thirty-two El Caney was the For twenty min- F all the fierce and bloody hand-to-hand conflicts in the war that of the regulars in the blockhouse at El Caney was the most glorious. Nineteen men of the Ninth Infantry dropped through a hole in the roof and tackled thirty-five Spani utes it was give and take and no mercy asked. when it was all over there were fourteen hale Americans The other three were taken prisoners. and shooting raged and Jeft and thirty-two dead Spaniards. And this flerce battle was really the On the morning of July 1 the entire light. Men moved about in the miists of ards who were shooting up at them. For twenty min- Stabbing, bayoneting end of two days and a night of fighting. American camp was awake before day- dawn busy with preparations for bat- tle, for it was known that on this day the advance on Santiago was to be made, All that day they fought in the tropic heat and when night came knew ho rest for the Spaniards kept up a fitful fire through the darkness. The next day they were at it again and by noon the Americans had silenced all batteries and captured all in and around the blockhouse. Spaniards except those in one positiom The troops hod moved to the foot of San Juan Hill Suddenly a little band of men are seen to rush forward. The blockhouse on the hill shimmers in the heavy and filled. with gases of burned powder. But they are not daunted. and scarred with battle, Up the hill they go with a wild rush. of the blockhouse a deadly fire is poured Now the top of the hill is reached. The deadly the little band is not broken. fire from within the blockhouse is kept and rushes on. doors of the blockhouse. Our boys crowd all havoc in their rahks. Dead and wounded are on all sides. and stifling. A rush is made for the door, but it is unylelding, the window and pushes his revolver inside. Screams and Rcund and round the house the men rush, trying to force he Spaniards on the inside are slowly but surely thinning execution he does an entrance, while t their ranks. Something must be tion is upon them. Suddenly a man ic seen to place a is on the roof of the blockhouse. flying in all directions. five Spaniards, but all hi killed from the outside. One man of the nineteen drops in, and falls limp and dead. But this certain end does not dau hole in the roof is made larger and then al as they can. Then begins the hand-to-hand confilct without quarter. it; not a soldler expects it. and flying debris and dust make it almost a conflict in the But there was not time to think. were crowded into a corner beneath places the Spaniards poked out their came twenty minutes of hell. soaked with blood. The end came at last—when there were no Spaniards five thirty-two men killed and three killed and nearly all the others more or less But there was no survivors were still full of fight. for the battle of El Caney was over. The regulars of the army have come for their great work from all made a careful study of the soldie Yankee as the supreme warrior. All the others follow. Others follow and In a few moment; work and volley after volley is fired upon the At this time there are nineteen Americans ding behind walls and barricades so0 they cannot ba the hole 1 It was cut, slash and shoot. the correspondents e, ing to award them the mead due D af a0 rs of the United States and Spain ranks the His observations on the tropical sunshine. The alr 1s The men are dead tired, worn From the windows and loopholes into them. Men fall on all sides, but color sergeant waves his flag up. The straight for the Faster and faster, about, while the deadly balls from the Mausers play The air is thick One man rushed up to groans tell of ths done or the little band will have to retreat. Despera~ wall and in an instant begin to send the tlles s 2 hole is made through the wood- penned-in Spaniards. on the roof; within are thirty- log against the but in an instant is riddled with bullets nt the others. The 11 the eighteen men drop in as fast Not a man askd of powder almost suffocating. Smoka dark. It was blood from the first. Our boys n the roof. From their hiding guns and shot wildly at them. Then The floor weas Jeft. Of the thirty< prisoners. Our boys lost four wounded. But the fourteen more need of fighting taken in for unstinted and enthusiastic praise of foreign papers and home them. Rupert Hughes, who Santiago campaign summing up: BIE e o e % Yankee soldier has lost none of its “The indomitable magnificance of the There at Santiago our forces ma luster to-day. of a life, invested the city their labyrinth fatal persistence that did not lack the avoid useless sacrifice to further battle. “And another A or the Plevna hcroes. glorious charge vp a long and only twenty-two O they lost fifty-seven captured what they went for. six, and if the aumber of wounded were however, of the American soldier is what Would be doubtless still greater. “The most noteworthy quality, jcularly American trait, Rochefort called a particularly an trall, diers that hold or tages of loss. beyond cavil that the world has never in the face of such high percen -~ ““The word ‘decimation’ is used for man in ten is certainly heavy. In But with us_whole armies freesboro and Chickamauga the losses 34 per cent. cent in killed and wounded. “As for single bodies of men, and won immortality, thanks to a great lyric; in the First Minnesota Volunteers charged a killed and wounded. “In the civil war 262 men whole division at away the rebel colors. plished nothing except to immortalize per cent and gained a \"K_tany What is the Balaklavan 37 a seven-minute charge at “Pwo German regiments Mars-la-Tour, and the Twenty-six! “But there were fifteen 50 per cent. The First Texas one company of the Twenty: of eighty-seven, “This hideous carnage was th fighting each other. And the history o Petersburg? Mexican and Indian, do not exceed th May 12, 1865, 'YGrant's killed and Woh}mde;dg(l)n times Napoleon's loss at Mars . paign, three times the loss inflicted “The reason Icr most_intelligent, the brav divided against itself. {ermination which does not falter qualities that make Up the word nation’s own heart the of trenches, and were busily clear} regiment has gone up merican regiment Ho8 B he Twenty-fourth Regulars led a lled, the important fact, t : i Theppercentage of loss in men killed was sev. have suffered far greater losses. in killed and At Santiago_General Shafter’s whole the Light Brigade made a foolish charge bravely Gettysburg, and, leaving While the Light important point. per cen‘tj to the 756 per cent of the Maine Heavies In Jost respectively th Russian lost 75 Union and fiv lost more _sixth North loss of more than 96 pelrt Cen‘;(t. . res? the world has no parallel to it. ‘Why, 1 our wars, French and Indian, the total casualties of al e Giant's army more_than on Wellington at Wnileliloo. e heard-of slaughter? There is just one reason; kol u:s(, the fiercest soldiery in the world’s history was 1 that straight Aot tai whgen death is busy on all sides—all those ‘Americanism’ were de a landing without the loss Spanish through the jungle back to ng them out of these with a to plead with the enemy to higher than the Balaklava For Captat £ o Al at San Juan; he started with seventy-five men. e hed the blockhouse at the top. ul oug' e he American fact, is that they enty- known the percentage of casualties ‘contempt of death.” It is true gain ground horrible slaughter, and the loss of one many armies it is belleved, to justify retreat. At Shiloh, Mur< wounded ranged from 16 to force has lost over 10 per it suffered a loss of 37 per cent 915 dead and wounded behind, brought Brigade lost 37 per cent and accom- blunder, the First Minnesota lost 82 a And as for ygeless bravery, 46 and 49 per cent at Metz and per cent at Plevna. e Confederate regiments that lost over than 82 per cent at Antietam, and in Carolina only three men escaped out of our fighting aliens, but oun Revolutionary, 1812, in the week ending Wwilderness and Spottsylvania were five his losses in all his Itallan cam- shooting, that battle-fury, that de- turned inward at the TRIEDSTQ SHOdT 7 ! | BISMARCK | - - | In 1866 Bismarck was returning to his | he the palace, where he had | been to sce the King. While passing | through the large street of Berlin Unter den Linden, and quite near the| place where Hoedel and Nobeling after- | at of Emperor | ward npted the life Willia uddenly heard a shot fired | close behind him. He turned sharply | around and saw a young man, Who, | with a smoking revolver,.was aiming | at him. He strode up to fhe man at once and seized the arm that beld the | revolver, while with the other hand he | grasped the throat of the would-be mur The latter, however, had | had time to pass his weapon into his| lett hand, and now fired three shots in | quick succession. Bismarcl felt himself hurt in the shoulder and fn ope of his | ribs, but he held his assailant fast until | some soldiers came up and took hold of him. = Then Bismarck walked home at a brisk pa and reached his own house long before anybody there could know what had happened. The Countess had 80I friends with her when her hus- | band entered the drawing room. - He | # greeted all in a friendly manner and begged to be excused for a few min- | utes, as he had some urgent business to attend to. He then walked into the | next room where his desk stood and wrote to inform the King of the oc- currence. Having attended to this duty i he returned to the drawing room and made one of his little standing jokes, “Well, are we to have no dinner to- | day? You always keep me waiting.” He sat down and partook heartily of the dishes set before him, and it was | only when the dinner was over that he | waiked up to the Coyntess, kissed her | on the forehead shed her in the old German way egnete Mahlzeit” (may your meal be blessed), and then added, “You see I am quite well.” She | looked up at him. “Well,” he contin- ued, “you must not be anxious, my child; somebody has fired at me, but it is nothing, as you see.” In 1850, when the tide of political pas- sion”still ran high, after the storm of the preceding years, he went one day into a Rathskeller In Berlin to take & | glass of Grunthaler beer; a man near him, feeling himself supported by the presence of his friends, began to abuse a member of the royal family. Bis- marck looked at him and said quletly, “If you have not left this room before I have finished my beer I'll break this | glass over your head,” which he pro- ceeded to do, according to his promise, calmly paying for the broken glass af- | ment which will have the approval and < (4] o ACKSONVILLE, Fla., Aug. 24—In the Florida ('am.ps and cities the | war is no longer discussed. The question of supreme importance now | concerns the plans for the reconstruction of Cuba. *“What will be the political future of e island?” “How cxtensive is the military occu- pation to be?” and inquiries of similar import are the first to be put by every man who has returned from Cuba since the signing of the protocol. There is probabl, no other man in the country who can speak with so much authority or so interestingly on the subject as Major General Fitzhugh Lee. Since tLe probability of his appointment as Military Governor of Cuba during the period of American occupation became a well defined certainty, Geéneral Lee has maintained a dignified silence, refusing to t: 'k for publi- _cation. Before he was summoned to Washington, however, while still in command of the Seventh Army Corps in Jacksonville, he talked freely with the Sunday Call's correspondent in regard to the subject of Cuba’s political future, as he was then able to do in an unofficial capacity. From the tone of these utterances there is no doubt that General Lee understands and is in complete accord with.the views of the administration with regard to the :‘r,eagnent of the Cuban situation. Following is what General Lee sald at e time: HE rules and regulations pre- | intention to interfere in any way, scribing the course to be fol- shape or form with the government of | Tonad o the iElend ot LONDE) the island, which it is perfectly willing to leave to the people themselves, pro- vided the guarantees as before stated are satisfactory. ‘Whether Cuba will ultimately become a republie, or later be merged into an American colony, and later still possi- bly into an American State, is a ques- tion for the future and for the people of the island to determine. By proving | to the Spanish soldiers and residents who elect to remain there and to Span- ish merchants and property holders and others that a safe and suitable government will be assured them, and that their rights will be respected in every particular as strictly as the rights of all other classes of citizens, it is to be hoved that their assistance may be obtained, with that of the con- servative Cubans and Americans, in forming a government which will be sufficlent for all purposes.and which will remain as formed until those in- terested under forms of law shall pro- ceed to change it. The solution of the problem of estab- lishing a fair and stable government in now that the war is over, will be decided upon by the Govern- meént of the United States, but only so far as to embrace a provisional control upon the part of the United States, pending the formation of a govern- consent of a majority ot the voters of the island, as decreed and set forth by their representatives assembled in leg- islatlve conference. Without, of course, being able to foreshadow the policy of the Govern- ment of the United States, it may be said that during the transition state from Spanish to “home” rule, this Gov- ernment will insist upon peace and or- der everywhere, upon full security to human life, and upon a strict mainte- nance of property rights of all classes and nationalities. In order to effect that purpose it will be necessary to have an armed occupation by the Unit- GENERAC FIGZHUGH E 2led | GOOOOOOCO6CO00C00000.000000L000000N00000000000000000000000 terward and walking leisurely away. ed States troops as a sort of constabu- lary, or, in other words, as a guarantee to the people who are now on the isl- and and to those who may hereafter come that law and order and peace will be insisted upon in all portions of Cuba. ; In taking this action the United States can scarcely be accused of an Cuba does not present any insurmount- able difficulties. It is almost certain that the interests of the people from the United States and other countries who are in Cuba now or who settle there in the future will become too great to be exposed to revolutionary riots, even should there be found an element disposed to them. The Span- jards and the foreign-born inhabitants of the island will undoubtedly realize | that it is to their advantage to work in harmony with the conservative and law abiding portion of the natives for l}]l]e strict observance of the rights of all. 1t is difficult to say how many Ameri- can troops will be required for the oc- cupation of Cuba during the period pending the organization of a stable and efficient local government. The number should be sufficient to inspire confidence in the complete preservation of order, so that capital and enterprise will not be afraid to invade the island and do their nart in the work of its restoration to peaceful prosperity. The change will no doubt be gradual, the United States troops taking the place of the Spanish soldiery as fast as the latter are withdrawn from the various garrisons. As the mission of the Amer- icans is to preserve order and ng to wage war, it will scarcely be necedsary to move them into Cuba in numbers | equal to those of the retiring Span- jards. It may seem wise, however, to the Government of the United States to take advantage of this opportunity to give some of the volunteer soldiers who did not have the opportunity to partici- pate in the active hostilities a chance to secure a somewhat more thorough military training than they have thus far obtained. This consideration may lead to the employment of a larger body of men than would otherwise be used, and to the taking of some of the newer volunteer regiments for this service. It is not conceivable that the native inhabitants of Cuba will recelve the troops of the United States in any un- friendly or hostile spirit. They must realize that it is to the arms of thé United States that they owe their speedy deliverance from Spanish rule, that the mission of the United States in the island is not one of conquest, but of friendly concern for the establish- ment of order, and that it is to their advantage as well as to that of the other residents of the island to make the task as light as possible. \ An encouraging factor in the problem of Cuba’s political future is presented by the attitude of the provisional gov- ernment, as explained by their repre- sentatives in this country. and by the emissary who has just come from their headquarters in Cuba. From this it appears that those who now ' control the administration of civit affairs in the island L) willing and anxlous to | OOOOOO0000OOOOOO000OOOOO000‘00000000000000000\*00000OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO0000 E ON QUBA'S POCIGICAL FUTURE. 00000000000000000000000" 0000000000 E t to the fullest ‘extent of their power in bringing about the estabiish- ment of a suitable and satisfactory government. It seems to be no part of their plan to seize the reins of govern- ment or even to hold the authority that has already been intrusted to them, as was attempted in the case of some of the South American countries on the achievement of their independ- ence. On the contrary, the terms under which the present civil administration exists and which it has declared its in- fention of respecting provide for the calling of an assembly répresenting as nearly as possible all classes in Cuba, and to turn over to this assembly their present authority and leave to it the | task of constructing a new govern- | ment. % This procedure, if carried out, will be the first step taken by the Cubans un- der the protection of the United States toward their own government as a free | people. 1Its conduct will be, in a meas- ure, a test of the ability of the Cuban people to control and direct their own affairs. To the American ~who has watched the successful operation of our own constitution it will doubtless be an encouraging indication that the political leaders of the Cuban people seem disposed to accept its principles and general outline for their own gov- ernment. The greatest need -of Cuba at the present, time is peace; peace in which to bind up and heal the wounds inflict ed by a severe and devastating war; peace in which to develop her rich re- sources and to gain a start on the high road to prosperity; peace guaranteed | by every safeguard which her own peo- ple and the people who have finally achieved her independence can pro- vide. FIRED A SALUTE FOR: JOE PIPER PINNING yarns invites competi- tion around the soldiers’ camp- fire. Here 1s a good story told by a lietitenant who had seen ser- vice among the marines in his early life. 4 “When I joined the navy I was as- signed to duty on an old bark-rigged ship attached to ‘the North' Atlantic squadron. Her guns were muzzle-load- 00000000000008 0000 ers and smooth-bores, but she had a fine assortment of old salts in her crew, and my brightest recollections of that service are of the stories told by some of these old fellows, to which we kids used to listen in open-mouthed won- der. We didn’t always believe the tales of course but we were too discreet to say so. One man did laugh disdain- fully at one old salt’s yarn and he was in sick bay for 2 week afterward. “Old Harry Sharp, chief bos'n’s mate, who had been with Hull on the Constitution, told me one story of a little event that took place at Naga- saki, Japan, ~hen we weren't as friendly with the British as we are now. “The ship in wlich Sharp was serv- ing in 1870 was assigned to service in Asiatic waters. She was commanded by Captain Joseph Piper, who had as much love for a Britisher as Satan has for holy water. One afternoon the ship was swinging at anchor with 30 fathoms of chain out when the- 1pokout reported a British man-of-war coming into the harbor flying the admiral’s pennant. That meant a salute. Gun crews were piped and the salute was fired, the Britisher replying gun for gun. Twenty-one guns were fired, and then, to the surprise of everybody, Captain Piper turned to his quarter gunner and said, ‘Fire six more guns.’ Astonishment was depicted on every line of the gunner's face, but an order was gospel to him, and bang! bang! in quick succession went six more guns. When the Englishman had reached her anchorage and while the admiral®was on the American with his flag lieutenant the younger officer said to Captain Piper: ‘Pardon me, cap- tain, but we have been two weeks com: ing ‘from the South Sea Islands, and has there been any change in the in- ternational code of salutes in that time?" “Well,” sald Piper, ‘I fired 21 guns for the queen of England, five for the TUnited States and one for Joe Piper, by LIQUID AIR FOR BLASTING HE most interesting application of liquid air which has hitherto been tried on a commercial scala is to make an explosive by mix« ing it with carbon. So said Pro< fessor Ewing in a paper just read be- fore the London Society of Arts. When liquid air, enriched by the evaporation of a large part of its nitrogen, is mixed with powdered charcoal, it forms an explosive comparcble in powder to dy- namite, and which, like dynamite, can be made to go off violently by using a detonator. To make the explosive the liquid, con= | taining about 40 or 50 per cent of oxy- | gen, is poured on fragments of wood charcoal, two to four cubic millimeters in size. These are kept from scattering - under the ebullition of the liquid by mixing them into & sort of sponge with about one-third of their weight of cot- ton wool. The liquid which remains is, of course, richer in oxygen than that which is originally applied, and when the mixture is allowed to stand long, all the liquid evaporates and the ex- plosive power disappears. It must, therefore, be mixed at or near the place where it is to be used. But the cotton wadding, impregnated with coarse charcoal powder, can take up more than enough of the liquid to supply oxygen for its complete combustion, and when put quickly into thick in- sulating cases of paper, it retains its full explosive power for five or ten minutes. After an interval, which ranges from fifteen to thirty minutes, according to the size of the cartridge, all explosive power is lost. Experiments were made with this ex- plosive on the parade ground at Mu- nich, and a practical test on a large scale has gone on for some months in a coal mine at Pensburg, not far from Munich, and are claimed to have given very satisfactory results. The chief advantage of the explosive is its cheapness, the cost being simply that of the power used in liquefying the air. Even the fact that after a short time the mixture ceases to be eapable of exploding may be urged as # recom- mendation in one respect, for if a de- tonator hangs fire there iy no danger of the charge going off accidentally some time .after the explosion is due; nor is there any dapger of iis being purloined or used for criminal purposes. It is questionable, however, if such an unstable explosive can ever be found either comvenient or economical, except, perhaps, in large quarries where a large amount of blasting is to | be done at one place. God.” & “The Englishmen left the ship, and later the matter was investigated through the United States Minister at Tokio, and every mother's son of the American crew swore by all that was good and holy that only 21 guns had been fired. But the upshot of it all was that Piper was relieved from the command and sent home.” |-