Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-07-14
LIEUT., HOBSON TALKS.
But Refuses to Say anything About Sink .
ing the aierrimac--iic aud His Men
Wept in Their joy.

Wept in Their joy.
! Copyright, 1898. tho Associated Press1
on JrrUgua, July 6, evening, by Asso-
clatcd Ircss despatch boat Wanda. via
Port Antonio and Kingston, July I, I $50 a.
m.-li the young officer whose home is IN
A'anama, has any race prejudice he ccr-
tuinly forgot al. about it as he passed
through thc lines ot soldiers on his way
TO Gen. Nhccltr's headquarters. lie saw
II was the Lnliorm OF the United States
army and he cared not for tho color of
/ Us wcdrcrs, grasping the hands OF the
chon-hucd troopers OF the Ninth and
lcn;h cavalry ana expressing his thanks
for their patriotic welcome with rs much
hvartidcss as he displayed towards men OF
his own race. lie and all of his men were
completely overcome by the reception ac-
corded tn I'M, and tears rolled down their
checks as the soldiers crowded around
them.
A. Hobson and his party approached
Capt Grimes battery, the men cried out
on every side to have a salute fired N
their honor Hobson protested against
this Immediately and shouted to the ar
tiilery men who had also caught the in
lection, not to fire their guns Some of
the most enthusiastic of the men appeal
cd To Col. John jacob Aston, and the lat
ter entered into the spirit of the occasion
ana told the men they need not obey
iiobson's orders, as he was oniy a lieu
tenant. But the officers of the battery
prevented the men from firing the guns
a. the Spaniards might have mistaken the
reports for the opening of an attack.
liobson finally reached Gen. Whoeler's
headquarters, where the veteran cavalry
man and other officers gave him Il warm
welcome. by this time Capt. Chadwick of
the New York and the naval escort from
men, and they were the first persons with
whom the rescued prisoners had any pre-
Vious acquaintance whom they had met
since they entered Santiago harbor on
their perllous mission. Capt. Chadwick
and all the others took each man by the
hand and extended the heartlest greeting.
/ The escort had brought change of
clothing including new uniforms for Hob
son and his mon, and the latter were
given a short respite while they changed
their apparel. HObson was also given a
horse to ride over the trail to Jurugua
and his men were placed in an army am
Dulance.
/ Before leaving for tho sea coast Hob
son was taken to Gen. Skaters head
quarters and warmly greeted by the COM
manding general.
The correspondent of the Associated
Press asked Hobson for an Interview and
statement as to his experience - the
memorable night when he took the collier
Merrlmac into Santiago harbor. He de-
c!ned to say anything with regard to the
Merrimac on the ground that he intended
first to submit complete report to Ad-
miral Sampson on the subject.
He could not be induced to say any
thing. With regard to his experience as
prisoner in Santiago however he said
. during the first four days we were
prisoners of war we were confined in Nor
70 Castle and can assure you those were
extremely uncomfortable and disagreeable
days. The Spanlards did not exactly Ill
treat us, but it took them some time to
recover from the shock caused by what
mos; of them considered our Yankee i'm
pudence IN trying to block their harbor.
/ AS II rule the officers and men who
came into contact with us were gruff in
speech and sullen in manner. There were
many threatening chances shot in our di-
rect!on For Admiral Cervera have moth
ing but the highest admiration and per-
sonal regard.
His act in Informing Admiral Samp-
son of our safety ! regard as that of
Kind hearted, generous man and chival-
rous otlcer, | expressed to him my sin
core thanks and the thanks of my men
for taxing this means of relieving the
anxiety of our shipmates and our friends
at nome. lie repeatedly spoke to me of
his admiration of what he called one of
the most daring acts in naval history,
though l am sure we We're not entitled
to the commentator We received for
there were hundreds OF other men on our
ships who would have been CAD to I'M
dertake 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 1uris-
dlction of the army and were removed TO
the Relna Mercedes hospital on the out
skirts of Santiago, where we remained
until to-day. We knew but little of what
was going on in the city though of course
we could always tell when our fleet was
bombardng the shore batteries and we
could easily distinguish the terrific eX-
plosions caused by the Vesuvus throw
ing dynamite shells. Several times at
night we were also fully aware that the
! land batteries were fighting outside the
city. Last Friday and Saturday 1t would
be difficult to explain how anxious we
were for news of the success of our side
during the engagements. The little in
formation the Spaniards would give us
could not be relied upon.
zone thing that l found out in the hos
pital was that n large number of Spanish
officers were wounded In last Fridays
fight, for many were brought to the hos
pital to be treated. Numbers of badly
aimed bullets came into the hospital win
dows on Friday. but do not believe that
any one was injured by them.
"Our quarters there were very clean and
comfortable and the food was fairly good
In fact, l have no reason to complain of
our treatment as prisoners of war. The
prejudice which the Spaniards showed
| against us during the first few days soon
wore away. We conducted ourselves prop
erly and simply forced them to treat us
well.
1--WE knew nothing about the destruction
Of Admiral Cervera's fleet until told by
our own people to-day. OF course our
confinement became very irksome and
cannot tell you how great was the relief
We felt to be free again. cannot ex-
press my gratitude to our soldiers who
gave us such welcome when we came
into the lines.
IAN of us are In excellent health and
glad to go back to our posts again and
see the war through to the end