The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-21
DISASTER OF THE WINSLOW.
SEAMAN O'HEARN'S STORY OF THE
ENGAGEMENT.

Were 10 See What SunbOnts We're
There-BOat Would Have Bccn
! Sunk But for the Bravery of
/ the Men on the Hudson.
! Copyright, 1898. by the Associated Press:
Grom staff correspondent of the Asso-
ciated Press)
Key West, Fla, May M-For an hour
before the passenger steamer Key West
left her dock for Tampa a few days ago.
man wearing the uniform of a naval
seaman sat wearly against a great bale
of cordage looking out past the harbor and
the distant keys towards the Gulf.
He was William OHearn of Brooklyn,
and one of the survivors of the torpedo
boat Winslow, which passed through the
terrible storm of shot and she'll that pour
ed in from the Spanish batteries In the
bay of Cardenas He was going home on
a furlough for rest.
Beside him in bright tin cage was the
Winslow's parrot which made himself fa-
nous on the day of the battle by shrek
ing and chattering like a demon during
the whole engagement.
By degrees and after much questioning
! O'Hearn told the whole story of the pat
tie and no doubt his story Is the most COR
rect in detail of any given yet.
From the very beginning" he said, 7
think everS man on the boat believed that
we could not escape being sunk, and that
is what would have happened had il not
been for the bravery of The boys on the
Hudson, who worked for over an hour
under the most terrific fire to get us
out of range"
Were you ordered to go in there?" he
was asked.
''Yes, just before we were fired upon
the order was given from the Whining
ton.
"Was it signal order?"
! mo- we were near enough to the VIII
mlngton so that they shouted it to us
from the deck through the megaphone."
do you remember the words of the
command and who gave them?"
Il do not know who shouted the or
der but the. words. as I remember them,
! were, Mr.. Bagley. go In there and see
what gun boats those are We started at
once toward the Cardenas dock, and the
firing began soon after"
"What was the first you saw of the
firing?'
THE first thing I saw was a shot fired
from q window or door in the second
story of the storehouse just back of the
dock where the Spanish gun boats were
lying. / saw the flash and the smoke and
Oh,
our heads Then the firing began from
the gunboats and from the shore. | don't
think any man can forget the sound and
the effect Of shell and heavy shot the
first time he ia under fire. 1t Is something
terrible. When a shell passes close by
you, you feel something like the effect Of
lightning when 1t strikes near by. You
feel as though 1t had taken your head off.
First you hear that awful Duzzing or
whizzing-it is hard to describe, and then
something seems to strike you in the face
and head. I noticed that day when the
shells first began to fly about us that the
boys threw their hands to their heads
every time a shell went over But they
soon came so fast and so close that it was
a roaring. shrieking crashing hell. l can
describe it no other way"
Where was your posltion?'
II am the water tender" he said, "and
| my pace was DelOW, Dul eNtiybod went
on deck when the battle began. John
Varvares, the oiler, and John Meek. the
fireman. was on watch with me and had
they remained below they would proba-
bly, not have been killed. After the firing
/ went below again to attend to the boil
ers. and a few minutes later a shot came
crashing through the side of the boat and
into the boiler, where 1t exploded and de-
stroved seventy of the boiler tubes At
III l...,- a
i'm the boiler it threw both the furnace
doors open and the fuse from the shell
struck my feet. Two pieces of the shell
also came out Of the door ana 1 am taxi
ing them home with me as souvenirs Of
the war II was a terrible crash and re-
port together and the boiler room was
filed with dust and steam For several
seconds l was partially stunned and my
ears rang so l could hear nothing. l went
up on the deck to report 10 Capt. Berna-
dou"
what did you say to him?'
81 saw him near the forecastle gun limp
ing about with a towel bound about his
leg. He was shouting and the noiee Of
an the guns was like continuous thunder.
'Captain.' I shouted, the forward boiler
is disabled. A shell mas gone through her
Get out the hose, he said, and turn to
the gun again.
Il went back lntO tnc DDllCr room ana
in a few minutes l went up on the deck
again and the fighting had grown hotter
than ever Several of the men were miss
ing and / looked around. Lying al in q
/ heap on the after deck in the starboard
quarter near the after coming tower / saw
five of our men where they wited down
after the shell had struck them. In orther
places were men lying groaning or drag
| qing themselves about wounded and COW
cred with blood. The deck had blood on It
and il was strewn with fragments and
splinters. / went over where the five men
were lying la a heap and saw that they
we're not all dead. John Meek could
sneak and move one Of his hands slightly.
vent 40 to him and l put my face
down close 20 his
"Can / do anything for you. John?'
asked and he replied NO, Jack; I'm dy-
ine,. goodby, and he asked me to grasp
| bis hand. Go help there he whispered
Gazing with fixed eyes where Capt. Ber-
rnadou was sull firing the forward gun. The
next minute he was dead lie was my
| friend" And there was pause in
| O'Hearns story.
"Ensign Bagley," he continued, after a
ut,Ie. was lying at the bottom badly torn
4 4 tt,., of or B,