The Wahpeton times., 1889-08-15

ThS Experiences of ! United states
x 49, <. war Shin. f. ''i'.--

II y /. Vi q
''It was good fun at Samoa while II
lasted, and it looked once or twice as
II we were going to have great fun. "
said Michael Sullivan, until lately a
seaman on board of tho United States
ship Adams, recently in Samoan
waters, who Is now in this city on his
way to Europe on leave.
when the Adams came down there
she lay inside the outer reef, opposite
Apia, with three anchors. out, two
ahead and one astern. lit good hold
Ing ground, but it's IN open roadstead.
for there Is no harbor, and when it
came on to blow we had to up anchor
and run onto Pango Pango, where the
governent has q coaling station. When
the German fleet came in-the Bis
marck. the Olga the Adler and others
the first thing they did was to collect
some money owed them. How much,
don't know. Then some OF the ships
sailed away, leaving the Olga and the
Adler there. There was fellow call
ed Braudies, who made all the trouble.
He stirred Tamasese up to rebel
against Malietoa. The Germans furn.
tshed Tamasese with arms and am.
munition.
'Well, there was fight down at the
Point, and Malietoa's men drove Tam.
assess men into the sea and drove
their boats of. Then Tamasese went
to the Olga, and afterward to German
Point. The captains Of the English
and American men.of-war declared the
whole coast to be neutral ground, and
warned the Germans. Why. those
Germans were as good as pie so long
as the English and American ships
were close by. But they captured
Malietoa and carried him away, and
what they have done with him don't
know. Then Mataafa took command
OF the government party. He had lots
of ammunition.
I'VE were all aboard one morning
about o'clock, when the order came
to get up anchor. We didn't know
what was up, but Capt Leary ordered
man to the masthead, and says:
Keep an eye on that there bloody
Dutchman. and let me know what he
does That is. he didn't say it that
way, but he meant that. So then we
thought there was going to be fight.
sure. and when the order came to
clear ship for action we made up our
minds we'd make that Dutchman sick.
We had steam capstan, so we could
get up anchor quick. and the German
had to heave by hand. Nothing hap
pened until daylight, when the Adler
started for Salvapati. and we went af-
ter her. The English ship came after
us.
~''Salvapati is the big natural fort
where they had fight afterward.
When we got there, there was big
American flag at one end, and big
English flag at the other. The Alder
lowered a boat and her captain went
ashore. Then we lowered one and
Capt Leary went ashore. too. followed
by the captain of the English ship.
The Adler did not dare do anything,
because the Adams could steam all
around her. and at short range our
guns were just as good as hers. Capt.
l>eary kept us close to her all the time,
and we were ready to give her a broad
side If he said the word. She was al
ways trying to get away from us, so,
that her long distance guns would come
into play. Well, the three captains
stayed on shore for some time and
then came back again. What they did
there I do not know, but, as the Samoan
paper said. the Germans went there
to take Salvapati, and why didn't they
take it? Naturally, because they
didn't dare to.
Then we steamed back again to the
old anchorage. The American Consul
sent out word that the Germans were
destroying the bridge over the river.
This bridge was built by the Ameri-
cans and English. It's about eight
fathoms long. Sure enough, the Ger
mans had ripped up about half of it in
the night So, Captain Leary went
ashore with some marines, and he says
to the German Consul: Don't YOU
destroy that bridge, or I'll blow your
house to pieces.' The German Consul
said he didn't destroy any bridge, and
he was quite humble like. You see
Capt. Leary just bluffed him for all he
was worth. Oh, I tell you he's lad
dibuck. There's no Dutchman getting
away with him. The Germans didn't
like his not saluting their flag when
the boats passed, SO when he went on
board of their ships the captains were
always ashore. They didn't get ahead
OF him though. When the Germans
came to the Adams Capt Leary was
ashore. See? He was ashore in his
cabin. smoking q fine cigar and seeing
the Germans pull back as wise as they
came. He's a fine fellow. that Capt.
Leary, and wish there was more like
him.
'All this time the fighting was going
on between the natives. We kept the
Germans from taking a hand openly.
and that was about all We could do.
We never had a fight, for Capt. Leary
wouldn't let us. Al last wa emma auau