The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-05-20
Fighting At SAN JUAN
Graphically Re-ToId BY One
Who Looked On.
BAD SPANISH GUNNERY
Stands Out as the Strongest
Feature ofthe Fight.

Key West. May Is.-An on-looker of the
| bombardment OF the Notifications OF San
Juan de Porto Rico on May IL. ey the
| feet OF Rear Admiral Sampson. gave
the following details OF that engagement.
He said.
Tho most remarkable feature Of the
bombardment was the escape Of the feet
with so few casualties. The enemy's Are
was heavy and continuous and the eleva-
ton of their batteries gave them tre-
mendous advantage How they missed
hitting the ships, no one understands.
Their shots fell all around the ships and
their guns had capacity for twice the
range. Yet they landed only two pro-
jectiles with serious effect. The San Juan
affair strengthens the opinion that the
demolition of well placed Notifications Is
a hard task for even the strongest battle
ships.
1.-THE secondary batteries OF the ships
were not used after the line had passed
once before the forts This was chiefly
on account OF the smoke. Drifting in
front of the turrets it made the handlers
of the big guns liable to lose all sight
Of land
'"The admiral and his assistant chief
Of staff, Staunton, were on the super
structure on the lee side of the coming
tower They did not go inside the con-
ming tower, which will probably not be
l..
from both sides. so far it has proved a
rather useless institution.
ION the forecastle. in the lee Of the
forward twelve-inch turret, were Lieu
tenant March, flag secretary, and Ensign
Bennett, flag lieutenant. both Of whom,
with Stanton. accompanied the admiral
from the New York.
Bennett had signal boys with him.
His signal flags, in the canvas bags. were
made fast with a line which ran around
the turret barbette. This was to prevent
them from being shot overheard.
at took about four broadsides to wake
the Spaniards up. In the mean time
great yellowish white clouds were rising
from the hillside, marking where shells
had fallen. Then few puffs of white
and little lines Of flame came from hooks
in the bluff. The water spurted a few
hundred yards from the Iowa, and every
body was glad. because they knew the
enemy was returning the fire. Before that
the jackies had been glum. By this time
the smoke had begun to hang heavily
and the Iowa was moist and covered with
col Nov cr1o no 70 ~ xxz5yo
every few minutes. The mems faces
were grimy and their mouths were bitter
from the saltpetre. When the big guns
in the turret were fired it seemed as IL
the ship was almost drawn from the wa
ter in a straining effort to follow the pro-
jectiIes as they whizzed shoreward.
Behind, the Indiana's port side looked
like huge fort, her own smoke hiding
her starboard side.
''When the Iowa was turned to go back
to the starting point the entire line was
engaged. The New York. stately stand
Ing high out of the water and showing all
her gracefulness, but making an easy
target. slowly ran the gauntlet of two
miles.
while the enemy's IRE was at It's hot
test two tackles stood at the Iows's
cad. They worked just as calmly as If |
n New York harbor.
They can't hit US, George" sang cut |
one of the men TO another In the lee OF |
he turret- Just then a shell whizzed by !
Rig line to that thing" laughed the |
man in the chains, pointing derislvely to |
the water that spurted up fifty yards /
ahead of him.
The feature most discussed was the /
New York's wonderful pluck and her es- |
APE from being hit Shells simply rained /
around her as she lay within 800 yards /
II the forts and blazed away with her
finch rapid fire batteries.
''The Amphitrites trouble was with her
after turrets and It was caused by an
accident to the gear which supplies The
-urret power
Several slight accidents occurred on
he ships, but on the whole they were
lot as numerous as generally happens
Turing heavy target practice. The strain
IN the men was rather severe The heat
II the sun was intense by o'clock. The
work done by the engineer officers and
heir men. who for three hours were IN
Ter the battle gratings. in the intense
leat. cannot be too highly praised.
The firing Of the monitors seemed
hardly up TO the mark of the other ships.
he heavy swell causing them trouble
nd prohibiting any degree of accuracy
4 aim"