Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1898-05-21
THREE HUNDRED SPANlkRDS SLAIN
Sharpshooters on the Vessels DID
Deadly Work With Their
Guns.
NEWS OF ANOTHER SLAUGHTER
CuDans deceived the Arms Taken
Oycr by the Eagle--ltcmark-
able Picket Work Ia
Progress.

Key West, Fla, May 21.-(New York
World cablegram THE loss of two
of the cruiser Marblehead's men of
Cienfuegos has been terribly avenged.
The number of Spanish dead is now
put at 800. Cuban officers say private
houses in C~ienfuegos were turned into
hospitals and morgues so great was the
number of dead and wounded.
Fifteen hundred artillery, cavalry
and infantry fred on four bOatloads of
men sent from the gunboats Nashville
and Marblehead to cut the cables.
They were on Il narrow strip of land on
each side of ~Cienfuegos bay. Into these
100 the Marblehead, Nashville and
Window poured n murderous crosstire.
The Marblchcad fred no less than 400
fivc-inch shells and 500 one and six
pound shells. The Nashville fired 500
four-inch and 800 secondary batteries.
Scores Of sharpshooters kept up the
deadly work. The ships fired shells
exclusively. The men say that where
many exploded scores of rifles which
had volleyed steadily became silenced.
Two of the cnemy's batteries were
silenced in ten minutes. One man
jumped to tile Notifications at Colo
radios point to get bearings for a COM
radc. He fell backward the next mo-
mcnt at the crack of a score of Ameri-
can sharpShooters on the Nashville,
Marblehead and Window. The Mar
blehead with two five inch guns at the
same time blew the light house of the
earth. 1t fred at 500 yards and kept
it up until the Spanish ceased firing al
together. Estimates Of fearful havoc
are confirmed by Colonel OriZ and
Lieutenant Alvarez.
All the Cubans who reached the Mar
blehead i'm the open boat had been in
the cocklcshcll thirty hours until they
signalcd the Marblehcad. They came
from "A camp fifteen miles west OF
Cicnfugos. Cubans from the city
brought the news of a Spanish slaugh-
ter. \ hundred were wounded and all
troops have since been withdrawn to
the city. The Cubans received 5000
rounds of 45-caliber ammunition which
the Eagle put ashore with the CuDans
near camp. The Cubans also reported
that the overland wires to Cienfuegos
had been cut. The cable from Bataba-
no TO Cicnfuegos was in ten and a half
fathoms and the cable from Cienfugos
to Santiago de Cuba in fifteen and a
half fathoms. Sections of the cable
were cut out and taken aboard the
Nashville and Marblehead as souvenirs.
The Marblehead has other souvenirs
in the shape Of two kinds of bullets
fred by the Spanish, II Mauser, the
other of larger caliber, which pierced
a mans cartridge belt withoutinjuring
him. tunnels of both the Nashville
and Marblehead show shots, but are
only slightly damaged. Hendriksen of
the Marblehead, though half his jaw
had been carried away, climbed unat-
tended from the cutter TO the ship.
Two ships watched C~ienfuegos, but no
attempt was made to splice the cable,
The Nashville was off San Antonio
Point Wednesday night. The Marble,
head reports remarkable picket work
by the Cincinnati. Although fourteen
miles away the Cincinnati saw the
Marblchcad change its course and
steamed at brcakneck speed toward it,