The times., 1898-05-25
ON THE WINSL0W.
Fireman O.Hevln Describes the
Fight mt Cardenas.

New York, May 24.-Just returned from
the disastrous fight AT Cardenas. VIII
lam OHearn. a water tender on the tor
pedo boat Winslow. which was so badly
injured in the action and had four Of her
crew killed. besides Ensign Bagiey Is al
his home. No. 70 State Street. Brooklyn
After brief rest he will return to the
service as his time has just expired and
he proposes TO re-enlist in the naval ser
vice. Eighteen years spent in the service.
in every quarter of the globe. has not
cooled his ardor, neither has the fate OF
his gallant comrades in the. fight in Car
denas Bay
It was with difficulty that the plucky
seaman could be induced to tell of his es-
periences on the day when the little
Winslow was riddled by the masked Span
ish batteries before cardenas. At last
he said:
We'll, / suppose I must tell you about
it, although many OF the details have been
printed already.
ION the morning of May II we We're
lying off Matanzas. At daybreak We were
ordered to go to Cardenas and get coal
off the Machias When we arrived we
found the Machias, with the Wilmington
and the Hudson, lying off the Cardenas
light the Hudson being aground. We
ordered TO go into Cardenas and see what
vessels were lying In the harbor The
Winslow was accompanied by the VIII
mington and the Hudson the Mlchias re-
manning outside. We sighted two vessels
that looked like Spanish gunboats. We
cleared for action, with sharpshooters in
the tops of the Wilmington. We soon
discovered the vessels were deserted
barks hailing from Barcelona. As we
ia
and this forced the Wilmington 10 with
draw. AS she left, an officer. the captain,
1 suppose, shouted through a megaphone
for us TO close in and see If there were
gunboats at the wharves. and, If so, draw
their fire. As we drew in a masked bat
terry on shore and the gunboats at the
dock opened fire on US. We promptly re
piled with our l-pounders. My place was
below. but the firing brought every man
on deck. John Yaryares the oiler; John
Denfee and John Meek, iiremen, were on
duty with me. and had they remained be-
low would probably have escaped. After
the firing began / returned to my duty
at the boilers. A few minutes later shot
smashed through the boat and into the
forward boiler, where it exploded, stun
ming me and throwing open the furnace
doors The fuse struck my feet. 1t was
a fearful crash, and the boiler room
When I recovered somewhat l rushed
on deck to report to Lieutenant Bernadou
He was standing near the foe sle' gun
blOOd-sOaked towel tied around his left
leg. His voice giving orders was almost
drowned by the noise of the guns l Yell
ed that a shell had gone through the for
ward boiler and he replied to get out the
hose, and again turned to the gun I
returned TO the boiler-room, while the
fight grew hotter. Going on deck again
j found that several of the crew were
missing. Five OF them were lying in a
heap on the starboard quarter near the
after coming tower. Others were lying
in agony, or dragging themselves around
wounded and covered with blood
Il saw that all the group of five men
were not dead. John Meek was able to
speak and move one hand slightly. | ask
ed if there was anything / could do for
him. He said: No, Bill. old man, I'm dy-
ing Good-by.' He died a minute later.
Ensign Bagley was lying beneath the
others, badly mangled. The colored cook
lay a little apart from the others We
supposed him dead and covered him like
the rest Nearly an hour later we found
him living. He said he was being roasted
over the boilers and asked us to move
him We moved him and gave him
drink Of water. He just said. Thank YOU
sir, and died.
just tnen we Slgnaled the Hudson To-
come TO our aid. as the Winslow had re
celved seven shot holes, besides the de-
rangement OF her boilers and machinery
and was in danger of sinking The Span
iards had our range, and poured a steady
stream of shells upon the Winslow. The
Hudson had hard time to get hold of us
the first line parting, but finally we were
towed out of range and were Joined by
the Machias. Our captain and officers
hrax md
ing. We were under orders and obevad
them. We did as we were told. and It
was not our fault that we didn't do bet
ter"