Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-07-19
He LANDED WITH DEWEY
Frank Lazier On the Cruiser Baltimore
Writes Of Hin Experiences.
The Awful Sights Showing the Havoc
by Our Shells-The Flight Of
thea Spaniards.

Special Dispatch to The Evening Star.
MoRGANTOWN, W. Va. July 19.-Frank
Lazier Of Morgantown, who is on the
cruiser Baltimore at Manila. writes to rela-
tives here of his experiences in going
ashore two days after. the famous battle
of May 1. He says:
I'VE met few struggling natives here
and there, who were carrying off all the
valuables they could find, and we soon ran
them out AS soon as we landed we could
quickly detect an awful stencil coming
from the yard further up. We fell in and
marched up through a beautiful park In
'front.' OF the commandments building, pass
ing many large buildings, all thrown open
and deserted. We could see very plainly
tnat the insurgents had looted everything.
Next, we passed the officers hospital,
ana the sights in these I will never for
get AS we stepped under the archway
nothing but blood could be SEEN The GRIM
son was everywhere. Inside the first ward
were three dead Spaniards, one lying with
ms iace ooWn on the floor In pool Of
blood and the other two were lying on
bunks. Owing to-the extremely hot wealth
er their bodies were in an awful state Of
decay. Alongside the cots were all kinds
OF instruments and medicines lying in per-
feet order, abandoned by the surgeons in
their haste to get away
we round In that one hospital nine
dead bodies. These we buried in the after
noe Ia me rear of the hospital. Some Of
the searching party found more bodies in
diHerent parts of the yard. and all were
pur!eu oeIore sunset that day.
,A1ter the sentries had been stationed in
oinerent parts of the yard the rest of us
were permitted to take look around We
went INTO all the large buildings and picked
up many curios On the second floor of
the commandments building one of our
e-inch smells had exploded, doing terrible
oaase. went through room after room
anu everything had been turned upside
aown. Costly furniture and ali else he
iUnelns 10 wealthy mans house were in
olsoroer, but the most of it had not receiy-
81 sefa'ch. Large libraries full of all
~, ~ costly books and charts had never
peen touched and were now omen FOR nc
to help ourselves 0pe Aoi 10
IN the open courts of all the private
am1in fas,s were beautiful beds of flowers
anu fountains fnlafd with crystal seq
shels' shaded by large leafy palms The
iiooIihg was made Of white marble. studded
mere ana there with bronze and marble
a.ues, making 1t paradise to live in
"a sea smells were filed with flowers
all or which are now diving for the 49,.
of water 'Ae AoA TIE want
All Of these beautiful houses conrts ,,a
parks, winch had once been their homes
are now lonesome and deserted Thav
even left their horses in their stables an5
COWS IN the fields, all Of which we now
nave and are taking care Of Their cats
ana dogs made friends with US and we
na , regular menagerie around the
GUARD mouse now, consisting of cats, dogs.
monkeys goats, deer, water buffalo snd
many other animals.
Many OF the small buildings were full
OF an Kinds OF ammunition. ready for i'm
mediate use. Some of the SMELLS we're
lying In piles outside of the houses. orr
WORKING party has DESTROYED all ammuni
aiosl lying around loose and all the small
arms arms we gave to the insurgents. They
nave htted themselves out with all the
guns they could find and thousands OF
rounds of ammunition
IN the plaza of the navy yard every
thlhg SHOWS comfort and pleasure. Here
we found a large band stand built of
granite large enough for fifty musicians
and a magnificent bronze statue of some
ancient doE,9 surmounted by rustic seats
ana promenade of solid blocks of marble
through the plaza can be seen all kinds
OF trees bearing tropical fruits, such az
mangoes, papes, bread fruit, lines
oranges, bananas and other varieties, some
OF which | had never seen before. We
have all the fruit at our disposal Soma
of the boys caught monkeys around the
ground and have them aboard the ships
for pets.
Tons and tons of all kinds of ammunf-
ton, found in the arsenal have haan
thrown in the bay, rendering it useless. In
all their workshops nearly everything had
been undisturbed, tools and machinery re-
naming as the workmen had left them in
their flight. One place a carpenter left
his saw sticking in a piece of board. and
even left his coat and vest in his mad haste
to get away.
"A high wall mounted with large old
fashioned smooth-bore guns surrounds the
entire navy yard. Beneath these walls are
dark, foul-smelling dungeons, where many
poor miserable natives, chained to the
damp, Shiny floors and sides have met a
horrible death. Here is the Black Hole.
where hundreds of insurgents have been
tortured to death.
In the marine barracks everything is in
such disorder as to be hard to describe
several hundred chests of ammunition had
been turned upside down and looted
They had early breakfast that morning
and did not take time to clear away their
table Everything was left behind In the
clothing room we found all kinds oP mil
forms and everything that belongs to a
soldier. In front of the south gate we have
our headquarters. This gate Is the nrinci
pal one to the yard facing the town of
Cavite. On top of the wall on either s;5a
OF the gate is a large coat-of-a arms of Snajn
with miniature cannon and stack of halls
spears, machetes and other Weanons ~
decorate the entrance.
Outside, in front of the gate ara a,u.vs
assembled a crowd of natives and ono or
two companies Of insurgents. under tho
leadership of a fne-looking man very in
tellfgent. who can speak English fluentIv
had a talk with him. He is folIowine
the instructions of our admiral and is now
under our command. He says every dav
adds more men to the ranks of the insur.
gents. He gave US all handful Of fsne
cigars and said when the time comes fo
move on the Spanish army he will have
his men in the 'front.'