Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1896-01-31
THE HAWKINS ISL0ST
CUBAN FlLieUsTERlNe VESSEL GOES
DOWN OFF LONG ISLAND.

Ammunition Thrown Overheard.
NEW YORK. Jan. 29.-.Tose c. Herman
Gez, Cuban, who was on board the steam
ship J. W. Hawkins, an alleged flibuster,
which was wrecked off the eastern end of
Long Island last Sunday night, told the
following story of the i'll fated expedition:
1--WE left New York in the Hawkins last
Saturday night. The steamship belonged
to the Cuban revolutionary party, having
been purchased recently by them for fill
clustering work against the Spaniards.
"On board her were 1870 men of the Gu
ban revolutionary party. In addition to
this was a crew Of 16 men. The ship was
commanded by Captain Hall. G. II.
Crowell was mate.
"Calisto Garcia Iniga was in command
of the revolutionists, and his son, Carlos
Garcia, was second in command. General
Rosa was also on board.
can of the men had been enlisted
month or so before They had been tried
once or twice during the month they wait
ed. BY tried l mean that they had been
summoned on false alarms to see If they
were really in earnest and wanted to go to
fight for Cuba. of course we were not
told the exact destination of the vessel,
but we all knew that Garcia would land
us somewhere in the eastern portion of the
island and there form an army to go to
the assistance of Gomez.
'We stole out quietly in the dead of
night, and in a few minutes we were
steaming for the sound. We ran smoothly
enough that night and all the next day.
We had no trouble until O'Clock on Mon
day morning. At that time the sea was
beginning to get pretty rough, and the
engineer asked for help. He said that the
engine room had sprung leak, and that
the pumps were choked. Two men from
the revolutionary party were detailed to
assist in bailing the engine room out with
buckets.
"At last the water came into the engine
room so fast that Captain Hall told us to
tighten the ship by throwing over bags OF
coal. The coal was piled up on deck.
JettisOning the Cargo.
1--WE threw it over as fast 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 great quantity
on board There were over $50, 600 worth
of arms alone. We had two Hotchkiss
guns, 1000 remington and winchester
rifles and 900, 600 rounds of ammunition.
In addition to this there were 5000 pounds
VI uNilhiilllt anu a. lul VI raw iiithNNA AuA ANA
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. We worked all
night, and when daylight came we had
thrown all of the cargo and coal overheard.
"Still the water continued to gain on
us in the engine room, and at last it put
out the fires and we loated at the mercy
Of sea and wind. At intervals all through
the hours of darkness we burned rockets
and fired signals of distress, but it was
not until about s O'Clock in the morning
that we saw any other vessel. At that
time we sighted three schOoncrs, and they
sailed as close to us as they could with
safety. Then it 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.
"We got into our boats as fast as we
could but there was terrible sea by this
time, and the work was dangerous and
slow.
"The officers ordered us to take to the
boats, and we did so. was in the first
boat There were about 90 men besides
myself in that boat, and it was terribly
overcrowded and hard to manage in the
rough sea. In the first three boats that
got away from the ship were &C of the rev.
olutionary party and four of the crew.
The other 60 odd men came in the other
two boats.
Six Were Drowned.
"Six were drowned in trying to get into
the last two boats. l do not know the
names of all who were drowned, but one
was French chemist who was with the
expedition to make heavy explosives when
he got to Cuba. There were two of these
chemists, but only one Of them was
drowned.
"Another Of those who were drowned
was a man named Alderohe. He was a
member of the revolutionary party, as
were the other four who went down in the
sea.
1.-THE boat was on was picked up by
the schooner Leander " Beebe, Captain
W. NJ. Howes, of Boston.
We left the ship at o'clock on Mon
da% corning, and 90 minutes later we saw
her 90 down. She gave a great luroh to
one side and then settled into the sea. /
want to say that the crew of the Beebe be-
haved splendidly in rescuing us. One OF
the crew jumped into the sea and rescued
one Of our party, who had fallen in trying
er. The sailor had great difficulty in res
cuing him, as the water was so rough and
the weather so cold, but he succeeded after
a hard struggle.
"We ran out of provisions on the schoOn-
er, and when we were taken off by the tug
off Long Branch and brought up to this
city we were hungry lot of men.
81 landed at Pier 6. North river, and
reported at once to the headquarters OF
the revolutionary party in the Manhattan
building.
''At the headquarters they received our
news with long faces, for the loss was a
big one to the cause, but they said they
would Immediately make 1t up by sending
another expedition, as the men in Cuba
were expecting the arms and ammunition.
There they told me that they had re-
ceived kilograms from Woods Holl, Mass,
and from Boston, saying that the rest OF
the crew and the revolutionists were safe,
with the exception of the six that were
drowned when we left the steamship.
"There were no Americans on board the
Hawkins. They were all Cubans, who
had been enlisted in this city to fight foI
the cause of freedom for Cuba.
"We were not drilled in this city, but
were enlisted here for the cause. We only
knew that we were going to Cuba. Nc
one except the captain and our commander
knew what part of Cuba we were bound
/ for" "
The following is a partial list of those
reported to have been drowned:
Emile Jallais, aged As, a Frenchmar
and the chemist Of the expedition to com
pound high explosives.
Francisco Gaitau, aged SO, native o.
the Colombian republic, in command of {
Cuban company.
Mariana Alberioh, aged 80, a Cuban anC
member Of the Cuban revolutionary party