The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-01-29
THE STORY IN DETAIL.
1t Is Told by One Who Was Aboard
of the Vessel.


NEW YORK. Jan. 2S.-Jose c. Her
randez Cuban who was on board the
steamship J. w. Hawkins, am alleged fill
ibusterer which was wrecked off the west
ern end Of Long Island last Sunday
night told the following story to a re-
porter for the Associated Press this af-
ternoon:
I'VE left New York in the Hawkins
last Saturday night. The steamship be-
longed to the Cuban revolutionary party,
having been purchased recently by them
for filibustering work against the Span
iards.
ON board there were 12O men of the
Cuban revolutionary party. In addition
to this was a crew of sixteen mes. Fhe
snip was commanded by Captain Hall.
G. Fl. Crowell was mate.
I'VE left New York at midnight last
Saturday from the foot of One Hundred
and Thirty-Eighth street, East river. We
put out quietly in the dead of night and
in few minutes were steaming for the
sound. We ran smoothly enough and all
the next day. We had no trouble until
o'clock Monday morning. At that time
the sea was beginning to get pretty
rough, and the engineer asked for help.
he sad that the engine room had sprung
leak and that the pumps were choked
up. Two men from the revolutionary
party were detailed to assist in bailing
the engine room out with buckets.
KEPT GAINING.
Later more men were detailed for the
same purpose, but the water kept gain
ing on them. We could not get the water
out of the engine room as fast as it
came IN and the sea was getting rougher
all the time. AT last the water came into
the engine room so fast that CAPTAIN
Hall told us to tighten the ship by throw
ing over bags of coal. The coal was piled
uDon deck. We threw it over a. sfast as
we could. but it did not seem to do any
good.
Then we began to throw over the
cases of arms and ammunition. We had
a great quantity on board. There were
over S60.OOO worth of arms alone. We had
two Hotchkiss guns, some Remington
and Winchester rifles and one million
rounds of ammunition. In addition to this
there We're 5000 pounds of dynamite and
lot of raw material for making heavy
explosives. All these things we threw into
the sea, which by this time was boiling
around us and sending great waves over
the decks eW worked all night and
when daylight came We had thrown all
of the cargo and coal overheard Still
engine room, and at last it put out the
fires.
THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT.
cat intervals. all through the hours
of darkness we burned rockets and fired
signals of distress. But it was not until
about o'clock in the morning we saw
another vessel. AT that time we sighted
to us as they could with safety Then
1t was that we were ordered to take to
the boats. There were six small boats on
the steamship, but only five of them
were available. The sixth was so covered
with wreckage which had been thrown
over it by US in the efforts to get at the
arms and coal that we could not launch
her in time.
I'VE got into our boats as fast as we
could. but there was a terrible sea by
this time and the work was dangerous
and slow
"Calisto Garcia Inigia was in command
of the revolutionists and his son Carlos
Garcia was second in command. General
Rose was also on board. These officers
ordered us to take to the boats and we
did so. 1 was in the first boat, and it was
greatly overcroWded and hard to manage
in the rough sea.
FRENCH CHENIISTP
1.-The other sixty odd men came in the
other two boats. Six were drowned in
trying to get into the last two boats. l
do not know the names of those drowned,
but one was a French chemist who was
with the expedition to make heavy ex-
Were two of these chemists, but only one
of them was lost. Another of those who
Were drowned was a man named AlVer-
icho. He was a member of the revolu-
tionary party, as were the other four who
went down. The boat l was in was
picked up by the schooner Leander v
Beebe, Captain Howes of Boston. She
picked up the first three boats to leave
the steamship and the other two were
picked up by the schooners Helen H.
Benedict of Boston. and Alicia B. Crosby,
of Portland, Maine.
I'VE left the snip at o'clock on Mon
day morning and twenty minutes later
we saw her go down. She gave a great
lurch to one side and then settled into
the sea.
The schooner Leander V. Beebe sailed
for this port, but L was taken off her at
Long Branch by the tug Fred B. Dalzen
and brought direct to this city. 1 landed
at Pier s, North River, at 1:4O, and re-
ported at once to the headquarters of the
revolutionary party in the Manhattan
bunding. There they told me that they
had received kilograms from Woodruff
Mass, and from Boston, saying the rest
of the crew and the revolutionists were
all safe with the exception of the six that
were drowned when we left the steam
ship.
NO AMERICANS.
There were no Americans on board the
Hawkins. They were all Cubans who had
been enlisted in this city to fight for the