Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1898-08-05

-
80 When daylight came steam launch
full Of officers and marines came out.
from behind the cliff that hid the fleet
and harbor and advanced toward us.
All the men Oh board were looking
curiously in our direction. They did
not see us. Knowing that some one CT
rank mus ne on board, I waited until
the launch was quite close and hailed
her. My voice produced the utmost con-
sternation on board Every one sprang
up, the marines crowded to the bow,
and the launch engines were reversed.
She not only stopped, but she backed
off until nearly quarter Of mile
away, where she staid. The marines
stood ready to fire at the word of COM
mand when we clambered out from un-
der the float. There were ten of the
marines, and they would have. fired in
4 minute had they not been restrained.
II swan toward the launch, and then
she started toward me. I called out in
Spanish, is there an officer on board?'
An officer answered in the affirmative,
and then shouted in Spanish again, Il
have seven men to surrender. I contin-
ued swimming, and when reached the
side Of the launch I was seized and
pulled out Of the water. AS looked up
when they were dragging me into the
launch saw that it was Admiral Ger
vera himself who had hold of me. He
looked at me rather obviously at first,
because had been down in the engine
Of fho 7
cred with OIL and that with the SCOT
and coal dust made my appearance most
disreputable l had put On my officers
belt before sinking the Merrimac as
means Of Identification, no matter what
happened to me, and when pointed to
it in the launch the admiral under
stood and seemed satisfied The first
words he said to me when he learned
who I was were, 'Bienvecido sea usted,
which means, You are welcome My
treatment by the naval officers and that
Of my men also was courteous all the
time that was a prisoner. They heard
my story, as much Of it as l could tell,
but sought to learn nothing more
my men were rescued from the float,
and we were taken to the Shore and we
were all placed in cell in MORO Cas-
tle asked permission to send note
to Admiral Sampson and wrote it, but
when Admiral Cervera learned of it he
came to me and said that General Lii
mares would not permit me to send it,
The admiral seemed greatly worried,
but it was not until day or two later
that I learned what was on his mind
/ That same day he said he would send
boat to the fleet to get clothes for us and
that the men who went in the boat
could tell Admiral Sampson that we
were safe I learned later that General
Linares was inclined to be ugly, and
that Admiral Ce1vera wished to get
word to our feet as soon as possible that
we were safe, knowing that then Gen
eral Linares would learn that the feet
knew it, and he would not dare to harm
us.
"When we were first placed in MORO,
the solid doors to our cells were kept
closed for an hour or two, but when we
objected to that the admiral ordered
that they be thrown open. Then we
had view Of Santiago harbor, the city
and the Spanish fleet. All of the officers
Of the army and fleet called on us that
day, and their treatment of US was most
considerate and courteous General Lii
mares did not call, but sent word that
as all the others had called he thought
that visit from him was not included
in his duties. do not know what he
meant by that, but am sure that we do
not owe our safety to him.
1--WE were still in MORO Castle when
Admiral SIMPSONS fleet bombarded
Santiago. The windows in the side Of
our cell opened west across the harbor
entrance, and we could hear and see the
shells as they struck. We knew that we
would not be fired upon, as word had
gone out as to where we were so we
sat at the windows and watched the
shells. Each one sung different tune
as it went by. The smaller shells NOAH
ed or screeched as they passed, but the
10 inch shells left sound behind them
like that Of the sudden and continued
smashing of a huge pane of glass. The
cracking was sharp and metallic, some
thing like sharp thunder without the
roar, and the sound continued, but de-
creased after the shell had gone. In
many cases the shells struck projecting
points Of rock and, ricochetting;f spun
end over end across the hills. The sound
they made as they struck again and
again was like the short, sharp puffs Of
locomotive starting with a heavy
train.
1--WE were in Moro Castle four days,
and only once did feel alarmed. The
day before we were taken into the city
of Santiago saw a small boat start
from the harbor with flag Of truce up.
When asked one of the sentries what
it meant, was told that the boat had
gone out to tell our feet that my men
and had already been taken into the
city. Then feared that Moro would
be bombarded at once and believed it
to be scheme got up by General Ii
mares to end us. We were taken to the
city the next day and were safe any way
then.
"In the city we were treated with
the same consideration by the naval