Evening star., 1896-01-29


The j. W. Hawkins.
to do so, and we had never failed to respond.
I'VE could Lot take 10 mon on the Hawk
ins. however. for she could carry only 126
men with her crew, so over fifty men had
to be left behind, and sad they seemed TO
be over it.
Among the men We took along were two
French chemists who were to instruct the
revolutiOnlstS in the uses of explosives and
the methods of mixing them. and sanitary
corps of eight physicians, all Cubans, grad
yates of medical colleges in this city. They
carried large supply of instruments and
medicines. Our principal leaders were Gen.
CaliXtc Garcia and his son, Gen. Carlos
Garcia; Col. Rosa and Lieuts. Alfredo Aran-
go and Bernado Soto.
1.-The Hawkins had left the foot of East
13Sth street before We gathered there. Our
meeting place was picketed SO as to prevent
intrusion, for the Garcias were our leaders,
and we knew that the Spanish spies were
hot after them. We krew that we would
find the Hawkins waiting for US up the
sound. and we knew that we were to go in
her straight out around Long Island and
then head direct for Cuba. We were not told,
however, at what point in Cuba we were to
attempt to make landing.
Soon after dark the steamer which was
to take us up to the Hawkins came along
side the wharf. We were about to go aboard
when we found that two men, mulattoes
had deserted and given our plans away to
the police. They were seen talking to the
policemen. The man who was sent to bring
the two back was Gen. Carlos Garcia him
self. He was chased by the policemen, but
got away from them and rejoined U.S.
The start.
"Then off We started. That was about
s o'clock on Saturday night. A great many
of our Cuban friends in this city were down
at the dock to see US off, among them Mr..
Truji1lo, the editor of Ell Porvenir, and Mr.
Smith, who had negotiated fer the purchase
Of the Hawkins.
Going up the East river we were all or
dered to keep perfectly still Tarpaulins
We're spread over the men so that they
would not be seen, should the police boat,
which we understood was looking for US,
happen along. We ran alongside the Hawk
ins about 80 o'clock on Sunday morning
and were transferred to her. Then the tug
left Capt. Hall, who was in charge of
the Hawkins, told us he thought we would
have fine weather for several days. AS the
steamer was heavily loaded, this was well
deck, as the hold was small. Large bags of
coal were also piled on the deck.
Sprung a Leak.
"All went well through Sunday, and we
rounded Montauk Point and headed for the
south. We struck a nasty sea there and the
Hawkins behaved very badly. At 8 o'clock
on Sunday night word came from the en-
gine room that the seams mad opened under
the strain, that the pumps were clogged and
that if We would keep the boat afioat we
must get to work with buckets. There was
0 excitement among the men, for they had
almost expected such announcement
seeing how the steamer was working. Buck
ct lines were formed and we set to work
bailing out with all our will
'The sea kept getting rougher all the
time The water came in the engine room
faster than we could get it out. Gen. Gar
cia went to Capt. Hall and asked him If he
did not think 1t possible to save the steam
er and her. to us. immensely valuable cargo
Capt. Hall said it was not possible. Gen.
Garcia told him that we did not want to
abandon her until the very last moment,
and we kept at work.
"At last the water in the engine room got
SO high that it put the fires out, and then
we made headway under single sail At 8
o'clock on Monday morning 1t was decided
to throw our cargo overheard.
'"Then We began to throw over the cases
Of arms and ammunition. We had q great
quantity on board. There were over O.OOO
worth of arms alone. We had two Hotch-
kiss guns, 200 Remington and Winches-
ter rifles and 1,0O0,OO0 rounds of ammuni-
ton. In addition to this there were 5000
pounds of dynamite and a lot Of raw ma
terial 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. We
worked all night, and when daylight came
we ndQ thrown all Oh 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.
''At intervals all through the hours of
darkness we burned rockets and fired sig
nails of distress. But it was not until about
o'clock in the morning that we saw any
other vessel At that time we sighted
three schooners, and they sailed as close
to us as they could with safety. Then it
was that We were ordered to take to the
boats. Thefe were six small boats on the
steamship, but only five of them were avail
able. The sixth was so covered with wreck
age. which had been thrown over 1t 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
were about 80 degrees 5S minutes latitude.
and y degrees 33 minutes longitude west
Taking to the Boats,
"Calisto Garcia Inaga was in command
of the revolutionists, and his son, Carlos
Garcia, was second in command Gen.
Rosa was also on board. These officers or
dered us to take to the boats, and we did
so. I was in the first boat There were
about twenty men beside myself in that
boat, and it was greatly overcrowded and
hard to manage in the rough sea.
1.-THE other sixty odd men came in the
other two boats. Six were drowned in try
ing to get into the last two boats. do not
know the names of all who were drowned
but one was a French chemist, who Nas
With the expedition to make heavy expIo-
sives when we got to Cuba. There were
two of these chemists, but only one of them
vas lost. Another of those VINO were
drowned was man named Alveriche He
was member of the revolutionary party,