Omaha daily bee., 1898-06-10
OREGON GETS CORRECT RANGE
second Shot Drops u Thirteen-Incb
Shelf I'm the Terror and
All Is Over.

T
Copyright, 1898, by Press Publishing Coz
f SANTIAGO. June 7.-(New York
World Cablegram-Special Telegram. Jon
Board the Dispatch Boat Three Friends,
Via jamaica, June 81 swift
Spanish war ship, probably the torpedo boat
destroyer Terror, was blown into fragments
by a thirteen-inch shell from the Oregon at
IL 80 o'clock last night. II was trying TO
sneak into Santiago harbor. The most for
midable ships of SIMPSONS squadron were
firing at 1t for many minutes before the
lucky shot from the Oregon hi. y. so thor
oughly was the work of destruction done
that no trace Of the boat was found that
could be identified. 1t was shattered and
sunk at night in the black shadow of the
coast range. Even the man whose well di-
rected shot was so effective coIld make II
out only as a dark vessel going very fast.
1t darted in and out Of the range of vision
as the searchlight alternately found and lost
1t. Then came the fatal shot, and 1t van
ished utterly. The moon was shining
radiantly when the Spaniard was discovered.
II the war ship had hoped to creep within
striking distance of Simpsons fleet under
cover of night the attempt was ill-timed.
Two hours earlier there might have been
some chance of success, for heavy banks of
clouds hid the moon at the time. The block
'e'ho - IL NhS AS6uioi b bihNloh
stretched along from a point a mile west
of MORO, where Schley lay in the Brooklyn,
to a point one mile east of the harbor
mouth. where the New Orleans kept the
right of line with the Marblehead and the
New York near by. Swiftly down the coast
from the westward came the Spanish tor
pedo boat destroyer.
Its course lay within the belt Of shadow
close to the coast line. Its officers and crew
could make out every one of the big Amer
lean ships lying in wait for it, their signal
lights winking in the moonlight. The big
auxiliary cruiser St. Louis swept seward
in wide circles, guarding the rear. The tor
pedo boat Porter was well out to sea, car
rying a message to a collier. The cable
ship lay outside the fleet. Between the
collier and the New York lay the Three
Friends, the only dispatch boat that hap
pened to witness this most tragic and pic
turesque incidenl.
The SpGniards swept on in the dark
shadows of the mountains, preferring TO run
the desperate risk of running on the rocks
along the shore rather than to venture out
in the light, where it would be seen in
stantly. An officer of the New Orleans,
sweeping the sea with his night glass, saw
a black object moving eastward rapidly. A
moment later the cruisers searchlight was
cropping for the moving object and its sig
nal lights were flashing the news to the
flagship. The New York rapidly steamed
shoreward, signaling as it went and flashing
its searchlights. Suddenly the searchlight
of the New Orleans because steady, and in its
path of white light, almost invisible against
the inky belt of mountain shadow, 1 saw
through my night glasses a moving object.
! Flashes of fire belched from the side of the
cruiser. Wreaths of white smoke curled up
in the moonlight, as it turned loose its Sec
ondary battery. The booming oil the guns
reached across the water. The New York
sighted the chase and brought it's bow guns
to bear as it held on its course toward a
point far ahead Of the strange vessel to in
tercept 1t. Longer flashes from the New
| Orleans told us that heavier guns were being
tried. Great geysers gushed UP in the path
of its searchlight near the vessel, where
the shots struck. A signal rocket burst
above the New York, and another burned in
answer to the westward. The Brooklyn and
the Oregon raced down from their stations,
there to Join in the chase. But still I'M
harmed, the torpedo boat destroyer sped on.
The firing slackened when the searchlights
of the Americans lost the Spaniards COM
pletely. The New York boldly ran to the
shadows edge and waited. On the Three
| Friends we wondered If the sheaking de-
stroyer could dodge searchlight and shells
long enough to get within torpedo distance
of the flagship. If it could do that II might
sink the New Orleans and join Cervera's
other war ships in Santiago harbor, This
was a desperate chance, but 1t was the
| Spanish commanders only one and he had
to take 1t. He held his course. The slack
ened fire became furious again. Once more
the broadside OF the New Orleans was
aHame. At brief intervals came the roar of
tho pitna frnnn tho naUChin n G IN triad ito