The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-02

Williams Medicine Co., Schenectady, NY.
fun of mines and torpedoes, and he had
to get rid of them in some way. He Sc
aected the Patapsco to do the work She
was ordered to enter the harbor searching
for the hidden enemies and to pick them
up or destroy them when she found them.
, AS executive officer Lieut.. Sampson had
to stand in the most exposed position of
the ship, the bridge, and he was there
when the boat steamed in. She was hard
ly in the harbor when she was in range
of the rife bullets of the Confederate
sharpshooters, and they opened fire On
her. IL was a whitening fire. and the lien
on the Patapsco fell before it. Standing
exposed, the target for a thousand rifles
and with men dropping around you every
moment, is a nerve test good many men
would not stand, Lieut.. Sampson did.
The fire got hotter and hotter. Sampson
ordered the sailor-men and marines on
deck to go below, where they could es-
cape it, and he held his place a lone tar
get for the bullets that flew about him like
! hail in an autumn storm. Suddenly the
firing ceased without any apparent rea-
son. The sharpshooters could be seen on
shore holding their rifles, but not firing.
A moment or two elapsed. The little IRON
clad moved slowly through the water en-
her mission. The sudden stopping of the
fire, perhaps, gave the men on the boat
warning that worse was in store for
them, but it was too late to retreat, if
I such a thought entered the mind of any
/ man. Foot by foot the boat moved on
There was an almost dead silence. then a
mighty roar, and the boat shot up IN the
| air surrounded by great spouts of wafer
| She fell in pieces Sheets of flame shot out
from her hull, there was another and an
J -
sank slowly in the water. Lieut. Sampson
had been blown a hundred feet in the air,
and fell in the water yards away from the
/ disappearing hull of his boat. Twenty-Five
of her crew were with him safe, the 9TH
ers, more than seventy in number had
| met their death as the Maine men met
their death in Havana harbor. Penned in
side the ship, there was no escape for
| them. Lieut. Sampson was rescued with
the others who were not killed by the eX-
/ plosion, and in a day he was ready for
another experience as daredevil as the enc
that he had just gone through.
! In 1856 while on the Colorado, Capt.
/ Sampson received his commission as lieu
| tenant commander. From 1868 to 1871 he
! was at the Naval Academy, and in 1872
and the following year was in Europe and
/ elsewhere on the Congress. His first COM
| rnand was the Alert to which he was as
!
/ commander in 1874 From 1876 TO 1878 he
was again at he Naval Academy and serv-
ed for four years.
! Since the formation of the new navy
! Can't. Sampson has commanded two mod
ern ships, the cruiser San Francisco and
1 the battleship Iowa, the most formidable
vessel of the service. He was the Iowa s
first skipper. 1t was in the fields of ex-
ecutive work and naval science that Capt,
! Sampson made his mark. Ordnance mat
| tiers have been his study for. many years,
and his thorough knowledge of modern ar
NOR and armament and the use and COM
parative value of explosives has come from
hard study and constant effort. Torpedo
work was his especial study about the
! time of the Inauguration of the Naval War
! College at Newport, where ne delivered
| lectures on the subject. AS inspector of
ordnance at the Washington navy yard for
/ three years, he was able to assist in the
/ installment of the present magnificent gun
/ factory and to continue his acquaintance
! with big marine rifles: From 1898 to 1887
he was chief of the bureau of naval ord
nance. 1t was Capt, Sampson who, with
| Lieut.. Joseph Strauss devised and per-
fected the superposed or double-deck tur-
/ rets which are to receive their first trial
! on the new battleships Kearsage and
Kentucky launched at Newport News on
\ Thursday.
In handling big guns Capt. Sampson is
/ in his element. Last September, while
! the writer was on the Iowa, off the Vir-
/ ginia capes, during target practice he no
4 ticed that Capt Sampson appeared to be
! the only person on board who thoroughly
| enjoyed the performance, which is not rel
! ished by most naval people, and to the
! peaceable laymen, with this demonstrated
/ ears, is something that does not happen
more than once in his experience If he can
| help it,
! In civilian dress there Is nothing about
! Capt. Sampson TO suggest the naval Officer
! lie is slight, little round-shouldered and
has deepset, serious-lookiug eyes that pro-
claim the student rather than the fighting
man.. He does not get ruffied easily, and
! seldom has more to say than is absolutely
| necessary. Despite the belief among those
who have met him casually, he is very APP
! proachable and kindly in his speech. To his
! fellow officers he is known as a man of
| action, deep thinker, but quick to get at
| the bottom of things, and, above all, an
officer and a gentleman. That he will give
good account of himself in any hostile
action that may engage the ships under his
command. the President and the Secre-
tary of the Navy are confident.
Capt Sampson has been married twice,
He has two Sons ana four daughters Lieut.
Roy c. Smith and Ensign r. II. Jackson
Of the navy are the husbands of the two
eldest daughters. 1t was Ensign Jackson
who while a cadet serving at Apia, led the
Jackies TO the tops during the terrible