The Brinkley argus., 1898-07-21

uOne TOT us, III dliOWiuy uS " achieve so great a victory, and l want to ask you all, or at least every man who has no scruples, to uncover his head with me and silently offer a word of thanks to God for His goodness toward us all.
 s'This is what Capt. Phillip said to his officers and men immediate ly after the great battle off Satia- go de Cuba on Sunday July 3d.
 "It was beautiful afternoon. Gods heavens never looked so clear, and the stars and stripes never seemed so pure as they did when we lay along side of the Christobal Colon, after she had been beached and had surrender ed to us.
 "We had been engage in fierce fight to the death, when these words come to the lips of the same man who had few moments before given the various orders for attack, and I wish to show to the people of my country what of man Captain Phillip, of the battleship Texas, is.
 q have had the honor of being the chaplain of the Texas since October 19, 1896, so I have been with Captain Phillip ever since he took charge last October.
 "During our first conversation he said Chaplain, I am a firm believer in prayer, and I think it is duty we owe to God to have prayers on board ship every even ing So when Lieutenant Com mander Harber came to us as executive officer the captain spoke to me about having prayers, and l told him I should be very glad, indeed, to conduct them every evening at quarters, and that GUS tom has been observed ever since.
 aThe men would be marched aft. and offered an earnest peti- ton for each one, our loved ones, our country, our president and always closed with an earnest prayer for peace.
 "Captain Phillip always spoke about the late war, and reminded us that the side that opened fire first on the Sabbath would loose every time; so l was very glad last Sabbath when 1 saw the Maria Teresa fire the first shot.
 "Often during the weary days on the blockade. the captain would say something about prayer and his unfinching faith in God. | One evening soon after our second bombardment, we were walking up and down the quarter deck together-and, by the way, 1t was after Spanish had killed him, but I guess they found him a very much alive corpse on Sunday morning during the fight He mentioned how his wife had felt about him, reading tho account of his alleged death as sine did in the papers, but le sad I wrote to Mrs Phillip about ib and said: T am just as safe here as l would be walking up Broad way with you, because God is with us and He is listening to our prayer.
 "On another occasion he was called on board the flagship, to- gelher with the commanding off cer of the fleet, for a council of war, and went on board at half past 3 that Sunday morning. The decision was reached to Lombard the forts at ? o'clock that after noon, when Captain Phillip spoke up and said:
 '" Admiral, this is Sunday. l do not think we should fight to- day. We may be sorry if we do' Whereupon the admiral apolo- gized for even calling them to- gether at all that day, but admit ted he had been so pressed he had entirely lost track of the days, so the battle was deferred until the next morning with the result of no damage to us.
 "As a captain he has been most kind to me, never absent from di- vine service unless detained on account of duty, as he was always