The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1894-10-11
IN BLOOD AN INCH DEE.
Concluded from Wednesdays Daily.


From that on it was grim hand-to-
hand struggle. The effect of the shot
depended great deal on guess work.
Both vessels were enveloped in smoke
and maneuyering was almost out of the
question. Said the engineer:
s'The two vessels followed each other
around in circle like two pugiIists in
ring, each endeavoring to keep her bow
facing the other so as to offer the small
est target. 1t was difficult to keep
track of things from that time. Moth
ing particular happened and everything
was happening. The smoke was SO
dense that the only mark for the gum
In two hours time from the beginning
of the action, all of our guns were dis
abled, except our big guns fore and aft.
Two of our 6-inch guns were knocked
overheard and the rest thrown an
board and disabled. The upper deck
was a mass of ruins. The Jap was only
replying to us with three S-inch guns,
though her after-gun was still in work
ing order. The trouble was that she
could not bring it to bear. We kept
continually crossing her bows, and the
gun was as good as helpless, unless she
could swing her stern around to face us.
Thus things went on for some little
time. We were continually endeavor
ing to keep out of the range of her big
gun att, and at the same time bring our
forward gun to bear on her. She finally,
however, succeeded in slipping around
bit and landed one of her big shells. 1t
struck its mark. The shell burst right
under our 25-ton gun aft. The big gun
was completely uprooted, and Its screen
was thrown back into the general wreck
of the afterpart of the secondary bat
terry. The steering gear was completely
disabled and wrecked, and the after part
of the main and lower decks were ripped
down to the steel protected deck. That
was not all the damage done by this one
shell. The guns crew of fourteen men
and the servants below were killed, be-
sides no one knows how many more.
"The next instant one of the most
tragic incidents of the fight occurred.
Throughout the whole engagement the
Chinese gunners had not displayed the
slightest bit of fear. The mangled
bodies of their comrades were etrewn
about the decks and were piled about
the wreckage. Shells were exploding
all around them, but still they fought
like intelligent machines. When the
after-gun was blown up, however, the
oA sol,
ant Ii Yang himself was endeavoring to
train on the Jap's coming tower, be-
came scared and ran below. Lii Yang
realized the necessities of the situation.
One well-directed shot from the forward
gun would end the struggle. If he
could land a shell against the coming
tower of the Matsushima, the fight
would be won. He called to his men to
return to their posts. They would not
obey his orders. Then Ii Yang drew
his revolver and fired six shots. Six of
the gunners dropped dead. The other
twelve returned to the gun.
within a few seconds Ii Yang had
the gun trained on the coming tower.
The shell struck it below the armorf and
exploded. The whole thing went into
the air and there was a big splash.
What was left of the mainmast was also
carried overheard, and the remains of
the shattered bridge were blown into
the air and thrown into the water The
funnel was also wrecked by the explo-
sion. 1t had previously been riddled
with small shot and the shell knocked
it over and it fell back, leaning aft. The
Japanese admiral was in the coming
tower directing the movements of the
vessel. When it was struck by the shell
the admiral and several of his officers
were killed. That was the last shot of
the engagement. When the smoke
cleared away the Chinese flag was float
ing over the Matsushima. She had sur
rendered.
His description of the vessels after the
engagement and the awful scenes of car
mage her decks presented go a long way
to substantiate the assertion that civil
lied countries will never engage in a
combat with their modern engines of
destruction. No country could afford
che loss of life entailed. In his narrative
of the battle, he explains how the Yang
Wei moved. down on the Matsushima
when the latter struck. All firing had
ceased on both vessels and it was the in
tention of the Chinese to sink the Japan
ese flagship. Just how this was to be
done the engineer did not know. The
Yang Wei was not fitted with torpedo
tubes, nor was she built for ramming,
but the Englishman thinks the Mon
golian commander intended to board his