The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-04
GUNS OVER A CENTURY OLD
BUT NOTHING THAT COULD HAVE IN
JURED AN AMERICAN SHIP.
Brass-COated Bullets Which Inflict
Poisonous WOunds-Zocapa Battery
and Tales Told by HarbOr Men.

NETS ana rdplerS Moreover IL is SurTOuHu-
ed by confused mass of barbed-wire fenc-
ing, recently erected to keep out the Amer
lean soldiers and marines. 1t is deserted
and as silent as the flight of vultures that
wing their way over it's summit. At it's base
the blue sea breaks in flashes of foam, and
the ocean breeze is cool in the shadow of its
| walls.
One searches long through Morro's pas
sages and over the roofs that even the liz
ards forsake during the monday heat for
signs of the guns that are said to have re-
piled so valiantly to the fire of the Ameri-
can fleet On the top battlement one finds
| several small mortars, made of bronze and
| cast in Spain in the early part of the seven
| teenth century. These are curiously carved.
| Snarling dragons form their fanciful ham
| dies. On the same roof are two mounted
| cannon of bronze, about fourteen feet long,
| one of them bearing on its surface and in
| termingled with carved coats of arms, fleur
| de lis and decorations whose significance
! it is hard to comprehend, the following in
| scripton:
| Mars Ultima Ratio Roguen, Louis
| Charles De Bourbon, Comte D'Eu, Due
D'Aumale. Nee Pluribus Impair IL JUN,
| 174S Jean Maritz.'
| The other cannon, bearing similar inscrip-
| LlOHS5 Is ueuICdJcQ 10 the 1OlIll6 LIE GTON-
| ence, and was cast a few years before. Both
are on flimsy wheels and probably have not
been fired for years. The old-fashioned NOR
tars show signs of having been shotted and
handled, and balls for their gaping threats
are scattered about. Search the castle over
| and you will find several more muzzle-load-
| ing guns of a by-gone age, unmounted, their
| rusty mouths pointed helplessly against the
| castles battlements. And this is Ell Morro's
| complete armament to-day
| Through the bare chambers are scattered
| some signs of the recent presence of the
| Spanish soldery-old tin cans, tattered
! clothing straw hats and forlorn contriv-
ances for cooking. The bare white walls
! of one of the rooms have been decorated
| by soldier artist of no mean talent, and
| they speak Of tedious hours. The steps that
! lead from bastion to turret are crumbling
and worn, the doors TO strange apartments
hang open and the old Spanish CASTLE alive
with the interests of dignity of past ages.
protests mutely against the invader and the
modern conqueror.
KNOCKED INTO DUST.
The southeast bastion, that formerly up
held the Spanish flag was knocked into
dust by the shot that carried down the ban
ner. There are signs of shots that have
pecked at the solid walls; a shell carried
away the drawbridge and broke through
the main entrance, but otherwise Ell MORO
bears no noticeable evidence of lombard
nent.
A few hundred yards to the east-still
on the heights the eastern battery. Be
| tween it ald the castle are some low, red
tiled houses, formerly used as quarters for
the garrison of the fort Here also stood
the lighthouse that marked the harbor en-
trance-now shattered and twisted by the
fire from the American ships, for which it
doubtless offered an excellent target. The
eastern battery is of earth, barrels of &C.
ment and sacks of dirt to protect the guns.
Here two small field pieces made in
Sevila in 1873, and the ground is plentifully
strewn with unused ammunition, scattered
in and out of the ammunition boxes as these
were hurriedly opened. Here also are five
| bronze muzzle-loading cannon bearing
dates of their casting as follows: 1885, 171S,
1879, 1888 and 1859. These, however, are
mounted modern iron carriages, and
have been used. A small house just behind
the earthworks is still full of bags of cube
powder and conical bullets. Just down the
hill, on the land side, are the recently &C.
cupied quarters of the Spanish troops.
One of these brorze cannons of the last
century was dsmounted by shot from
the fleet. The carriage was wrecked and
now lies half-buried in the torn earth, but
the gun appears to be uninjured and may
still grace some American park an object
of interest to Sunday visitors This is the
only visible signs of damage. There are
evidences of a hurried departure, that is ALL
Besides this battery, there are also two
mortars, evidently of modern make, and the
fact that similar gun is lying unnounted
at the foot of the road which leads up to
the fortifcations shows that these arms had
been recently landed. All along the road
from the dock, in the sheltered cove behind
the old fortress, up to the castle entrance,
are broken and half-flled boxes of rifle am
nunition and cartridges with brass-coated
bullets. going to show that these pro-
jectiles, which inhict poisoned wound,
were used by the Spaniards
THE ZOCAPA BATTERY.
The Zocapa battery is on the western side
of the mouth of the harbor 1t is about the
same height as the eastern battery, though
little further back from the sea line than
the fertilization just described. Here are
the two modern sixteen-centimeter rifles
which our men wanted to capture and turn
against Santiago. and which were among
the most active in replying to the American
fire. Here also are three 32-centimeter NOR
tars, similar to those at the eastern battery,
and a broad road through the woods and
up the hillside shows where these heavy
guns passed to their positions, for this
earth battery was constructed after the war
began. Barrels and earth-illed sacks pro-
tected the men at the mortars, while those
who worked the riffs were behind many
feet of hard cement in square blocks,
banked on the outside by a sloping mass
of earth and small stones The carriage
of the easternmost sixteen-centimeter rifle
was struck and very slightly damaged. Here
the hill shows some signs of fire. Shells
have plowed up the battery. On small
island inside the harbor mouth and in full
sight of MORO Castle nestles a fishing viii
lage that for weeks had been deserted. Now
its people are beginning to return to their
homes to find Them not torn by shrapne
and shell, as they had expected, but
strangely enough almost intact. This little
hamlet was protected from the shots that
SKINNED over the Zocapa battery because
it is so close to the hill where the battery
is situated 1t seems to have been entire
" out of range of other fires
Men who were around the harbor during