Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1898-05-20

Is not as VIII rs tITc
e Spaniarde.
burned the Town.

the Spaniard-.
burned the Town.
In the old part of the town OF san Juan
,d;n;n;uo the tortifeations whole blocks
,,,ra blazing. The swelling sea made 1t
diiiicnlt for the Americans to confihe
their fire to the batteries. Many OF the
.holl, flew over and burst among the an
cicnt bindings from which the population
had Fed at dawn. SO fierce was the
American fire that had the intention been
70 lombard the residence portion OF San
.Iuon the damage could hardly have been
greater.
The lighthouses were demolished soon
after the firing began. Later on the
houses in Ballaj square IN st. Chrlsto-
pher street, in san Jose street and III San
Sebastian street were in flames. The st.
Catharine institute. an ancient palace, the
orphan ASYLUM the old churches, were
burned or almost demolished.
The American officers through their
glasses, could see the Spanlards at work
in many places where the Notifications
had been broken down. The Spaniards
seemed drunk with fury. They loaded and
fired like madmen. without aiming, with
out any appearance of discipline or d.
rection At times their crazed condition
led them to many absurd acts, such as
waving swords. shaking fists and dis
charging pistol, at the American line,
which was barely within reach of their
guns of longest range.
cease Firing"
Toward s o'clock the heat became alb
,olutely unbearable on the American
ships. 1t became evident that the Span
ish forts could not be sienced short Of
another hours work. Men on the Amer
lean ships We're dropping on all sides, not
from Spanish shots, but from the accur-
ate and terrific bombardment under the
tropical sun.
After consultation Admiral Sampson
signaled Cease firing" and turned away
westward. The other ships followed, all
except the monitor Terror. She did not
or would not see the signal of the ad-
mral She remained in her position in
range of all the unsilenced guns of the
Spaniards. For half an hour she kept
roaring away at the forts and embank-
ments with an almost incessant fire from
her l0inch guns.
The Spanards concentrated their fire
on her. But her audacity seemed to i'll
furiate them beyond even attempts at
craftsmanship. Many of the shells
struck the sea mile and half from her.
Only few came anywhere in her neigh
bOrhOod. Still fewer struck her low-lying
deck and these glanced away as harm
lessly as Il pea shooters slug from the
shell of IA turtle. The Terrors guns are
noisy, but their roars were drowned in
the tempet>tuous booming OF the Spanish
batteries. Before she steamed reluctantly
away She had the satisfaction of noting
that she had made many deep wound in
the Spanish line and silenced several guns
that might have made trouble later on.
Few Minutes for Refres Inn ents.
The fleet steamed to the westward
about 20 miles and then stopped to re-
move the CRIME of battle and to rest and
refresh the weary but happy sailors.
The Spaniards evidently got the idea
that the departure was retreat and that
the Americans had been driven off. So
they sent out dispatches about a great
Spanish victory just as they did at Ma
MIA when Dewey steamed away to rest
and get breakfast.
While the fleet was at anchor 20 miles
from San Juan a German steamer, the
Bolivia. came by She was on her wav
10 st. Thomas. Admiral Sampson de-
cided that it would be best to find ont
more about her and sent the Montgomery
IN pursuit. She was presently overhauled
ana While she steamed along Lieutenant
Field went aboard, examined her papers
and looked over the passengers to make
sure that she was not going to call at
san Juan on her way.
As the Montgomery started back and
mad gone nearly to San Juan, she spied
the spanish cruiser Isabella Ill. an old
"arship, crawling out If San .Juan bar.
Dor and crawling along in-shore. evident
~ gong to see what had become of the
American fleet and whether it was really
hEihS, as the Spaniards wished to think
on was only preparing anew the complete
ruin of San Juan.
"hen the Isabella saw the Montgomery
s"e put about hastily and went back
home