The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-05-22
SAN JUAN WOULD HAVE SURRENDERED
Two Hours More Bombardment Would Have Made the Dens
Put Out the White Flag - Guns Disabled and
Part Of the Castle Shot Away.

New York. May 2L-Captain Lloyd,
Of h steamer Arkadia. which has just
arrived here from San Juan de Porto
Rico. say that he and the ships stew
ard were the only ones who went
lahore during the steamers three
hours stay at the bombarded port
From what / learned, 20 men were
killed by the American guns" said
Captain Lloyd. "Of these, six were
mown down at the guns and the others
were laid out by bursting shells in the
defenses. No one was hurt In the
) town About 60 were injured. all in the
forts. The agent Of the line. a natur-
alised American citizen, took me
around the town. A shell from the
main fleet had struck the fourth story
Of the Hotel Inglaterra, knocked off
the whole roof, and drove the guests,
men and women, into the streets in
their night clothes at Sis a. m.
Flying over the forts a good many
shells had fallen into the fiat lands.
striking houses. some of which are now
propped up to keep them from tumb-
ling. I saw q storehouse that had been
riddled by an American shell. which
had punctured the roof, bored its way
through the lumber stored in the
building, penetrating the Office and
emerging through a rear door. had
knocked q hole in the hull of a Spanish
merchant steamer. the Manuel
"A Spanish customs house inspector
told me that his father. a soldier. had
been killed while asleep in his bed by
one Of the first shots. Below the forti-
f1cations lie many shells, some of them
still unexploded. The Spaniards are
picking them up and saving them for
mementos.
IF a man can speak only so much
English as yes or mo- his life is now
in peril In San Juan Secretary Bett
of the English consulate told me that
there Is q discussion among the con-
sular officers at San Juan as to wheth-
er the bombardment will stand the test
OF International law, as no notice was
given"
Among the passengers Of the Arkadia
were A. V. Drake. for three years sec
Rotary to the United States consul at
Mayuguas; an Englishman n Nico-
lai Megwinoff, a native of Russia, and
an American citizen. Mr.. Drake was
the last American-born man to leave
the island. He said:
THE agent from whom we learned
Of the bombardment we'd outside the
city, but, awakened by the heavy cam
nonading. he got up and watched the
engagement from a safe distance. One
vessel, which, he said he believed was
the Iowa, left the fleet, accompanied
by a small boat, and steamed fairG~
under Morro's guns. She stationed the
small boat and, moving slowly around
II, let fly her shells at the fortress. A
volley OF musketry was showered on
her. The fleet was enveloped in such
a bank of smoke that the guns of Nor
no must have been absolutely helpless.
.-A1lE shA II IN Ein ~
vessel Joined the fleet again.
Another daring warship was be-
lieved TO be the monitor Terror. She,
too, came within easy range of the
shore guns, and every shot from her
seemed to a V taken effect. When
the seas were breaking over her decks
the gunners on MORO. unused to her
type, found her a difficult target. From
reports there were IL vessels in the
fleet, and the most serious damage was
the ~dismounting of one gun and the
killing of one of the gunners. Conflict
ing stories of the number killed In San
Juan were current. IL was reported
soon after the fleet a retired that go
had met death. but later reports put
the number at six These six. II was
said, were the men at the guns.
Several shells struck the town, but
] have not been able to learn that any
persons were killed by them. Another
shell went through a large warehouse
on the dock, shattering q timber pile
and lodging in the side of the plates OF
the Spanish mail teamer anu 1t
nearly sank her.
1T seems strange to me that the
American fleet did not continue the
bombardment until all the fortihca-
tions were demolished. The pilot who
boarded US OF Sandy o said that
the feet had gone to San Juan to en-
gage the Spanish feet, and his state
ment goes to explain several incidents
of the attack. A quantity of small shot
was fired in the harbor at first TO draw
out, as I now understand. any Spanish
warships that might have been there.
Although there were in San Juan at
the time the cruisers lsabel ii. and AL
phonso XII. and the gunboat Concho.
not one Of them took any part in the
engagement and the American vessels
retired.
After ~ was all over the Alphonso
MI. put to sea to give chase to the
American liner Paris. as was learned
afterward. She returned in three hour
alone. We saw the same liner, IL miles
away, OF Fatardo, on Friday morning
She was to the southeast.
There was much surprise In San
Juan when the American fleet retired.
II the warships Ia continued their at
tack two hours longer the town would
have surrendered. The authorities
both naval and military. were unable
TO learn how much damage had re-