Daily Kennebec journal., 1898-07-08
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| He ana all VI HIS men were cOiiipiSeSt1
overcome by the reception accorded
them and tears rolled down their
cheeks as the soldiers crowded around
them.
AS Hobson and his party approached
Capt. Crimes battery. the men cried
out on every side to have salute fired
/ in their honor. Hobson protested
against this Immediately and shouted
to the artillerymcn who had also
caught the infection, not to fire their
guns. Some of the most enthusiastic
men appealed to Col. John Jacob AS
tor and the latter entered into the spirit
of the occasion and told the men they
need not obey Hobsons orders as he
officers of the battery prevented the
men from firing the guns. as the Span
| iards might have mistaken the reports
for the opening of an attack.
Assistant Naval Constructor Hobson
finally reached Gen. Wheeler's head
quarters where the veteran cavalry
man and other officers gave him a
warm welcome.
BY this time Capt. Chadwick of the
New York, and the naval escort from
the flagship, had reached Hobson ana
his men; and they We're the first per-
sons with whom the rescued prisoners
had any previous acquaintance whom
they had met since they entered san
tiago harbor on their perlous mission.
Capt. Chadwick and all the others took
each man by the hand and extended
the heartiest greetings.
The escort had brought a change Of
| Hobson and his men and the latter
| were given a short respite while they
changed their apparel. Hobson was
also given horse to ride over the trail
to Jurugua and his men were placed IN
an army ambulance.
Before leaving for the seacoast Hob
son was taken TO Cen Skaters head
quarters and warmly greeted by the
commanding general.
The correspondent of The Associa ted
Press asked Hobson for an interview
and statement as to his experiences on
the memorable night when he took the
| collier Merrimac into Santiago harbor.
He declined to say anything with re-
gard to the Merrimac on the ground
that he intended IL submit a complete
ject and that it would be outside the
line of his duty TO say anything about
thel sinking of the Merrimac. until after
he had made such report or at least
had had an opportunity to consult the
Admiral.
He could not be induced to say any
thing on this subject, 6ut with regard
to his experiences as a prisoner of wa:
in Santiago. he said: I.-
During the first four days we Were
prisoners of war, we We're confined in
Moro Castle, and | can assure you
those We're extremely uncomfortable
and disaSreeable days. The Spaniards
did not exactly ill-treat US. but it
took them some time to recover from
the shock caused by what most of them
/ considered our Yankee impudence in
| trying to block their harbor.
LAS a rule the officers and men who
came into contact with us were gruit
in speech and sullen in manner. Their
were many threatening glances in our
direction. For Admiral Cervera | have
nothing but the highest admiration and
! personal regard.
His act of informing Admiral Samp-
son of our safety, / regard as that Of
a kind hearted, generous man and Chi
various officer l expressed to him my
| sincere thanks and the thanks of my
men for taking this means of relieving
the anxiety of our shipmates and our
friends at home. He repeatedly spoke
| to me of the admiration of what he
| called one of the most daring acts in
naval history, though l am sure we
were not entitled to the commentator
we received, for there We're hundreds
of other men on our ships who would
have been glad to undertake to do the
same thing.
| While we were in MORO Castle We
were naval prisoners; but, at the end
of four days. we were transferred to
the jurisdiction of the army and We're
removed to the Reina Mercedes hos
| pital on the outskirts of Santiago,
where we remained until today. We
knew but little of what was going on
in the city, though of course we could
always tell when our fleet was bonn
harding the shore batteries, and we
could easily distinguish the terrific ex-
plosions caused by the Vesuvius throw
ing dynamite shells.
Several times at night we were also
fully aware that the land batteries
were fighting outside the city. Last