The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1898-05-20
,SANJUAN BDMBARDMENl.
Interesting Details of Admiral
SIMPSONS Attack on the Cap
ital of Porto Rico.
The Town Said tn Have Suffered Great,
from tho Fire of Our Fleet Two Amer
leans Killed and Seven Injured Mar
row Escape OF Admiral Sampson and
"fighting Hob Evans"

row Escape OF Admiral sampson and
"fighting Hob Evans"
On BOARD THE FLAGSHIP Iowa. orr
BAN JUAN DE PORTO Rico. MAY ~. via
st. Thomas. Danish West Indies. Nav
1.-THE forts of San Juan dc Porto
Rico were bombarded by part OF Rear
Admiral SIMPSONS fleet yesterday
morning. The enemy's loss is bc-
lieved to be heavy. The American
loss is two men killed and seven men
injured
After three hours firing the admiral
withdrew the fleet and headed for Key
West. He said:
Il am satisfied with the mornings
work. | could have taken san Juan
but l have no force to hold it. onir
wanted TO administer punishment
This has been done. i came for H..
Spanish fleet. and not for San Juan.
The men killed were:
Seaman Frank WidemarL. Of the
New York.
Gunnersmatc -, of the Amnhi-
trite. The latter died from The sA-
treme heat
OF the injured men three were "a
board the Iowa and four on board Tie
New York
The names of those slightly injured
on the Iowa are:
Seaman Mitchell.
Private Marine Merkle.
Apprentice Hill
The injured on the New York are:
Seaman samuel feltman, seriously
Seaman Michael Murphy.
Two other enlisted men were slight
ly injured
All the above-namcd were iniuira
by the bursting of shell on the New
York.
This is complete list OF the killed
and wounded The American ships
were uninjured.
The engagement began at 5.i5 a. IA.
and ended at SIS a. H. The enemys
batteries were not silenced The town
in the rear of the Notifications proba-
bly, suffered.
The ships taking part in the action
were the Iowa. Indiana, New York.
Terror, Amphitrite. Detroit. Montgom-
cry, Wampatuck and Porter The ene-
my's firing was heavy but wild, and
the Iowa and New York were probably
the only ships hit. They went right
up under the guns in column. deliver
ing broadsides and then returned
The line passed thrice in front OF the
forts, pouring tons of steel on shore.
1t is impossible to Judge the amount
of damage done TO the bdildings and
forts. They appeared to be riddled
with shot; but the Spaniards were
plucky.
The after turrct of the Amphitriie
got out of order temporarily during
the engagement. but she banged away
with her forward guns. After the
first passage before the forts the De-
troit and Montgomery retired. their
guns being to small to do much dam
age.
The Porter and Wampatuck also
stayed out of range The smoke hung
over everything. spelling the aim "
the gunners and making it impossible
to tell where our shots struck The
officers and men of all the ships be-
havcd with GOODNESS and bravcry. The
shots few thick and fast over all our
ships. The men of the Iowa who were
hurt during the action were injured hy
splinters thrown by an s-inch shell
which came through boat into the
superstructurc and scattered fragments
in all directions. The shots course
was finally ended on an iron plate an
inch thick. Mcrkle Murtel was
struck in the arm and may lose it. All
were hurt by splintcrs. and a ire was
started in the boat, but was quickly
extinguished.
MORO battery, on the eastward arm
of the harbor. was the principal point
of attack. Rear Admiral Sampson and
Capt. Evans were on the lower bridge
Of the Iowa and had narrow escape
from flying splinters, which injured
three men. The Iowa was hit eight
times. but the shells made no impress
sion on her armor.
The weather was fine. but the heavy
swells made accurate aim difficult