The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-12-16

age under most trying and exceptional
circumstances.
Il tender TO you brave gentlemen.
most cordial welcome to the hearts
and ZONES of the people OF Winning
ton, and in their DenaIf express inc
hope that your stay IN u midst may
b. as agreeable to you as Ii certainly
will be to them
For you, Lieutenant Blue-and just
five minutes ago / learned that your
father was my class mate-aithougn
your home is now outside her borders,
North Carolina nurses the love which
a mother always feels for the son who
does brave deeds; and for you, Lieu
Anderson, the city of Whining
ton opens wide her arms and says:
Welcome home. my gallant son! All
l have is thine"
The welcome OF Colonel waddell re-
ceived a storm of applause, as il the
audience desired to emphasize and en-
dorse every word Of 1t, and when the
band had again rendered a selection,
Mayor Waddell arose and
that It gave him very great pleasure TO
introduce our gallant townsman, Lieu
tenant Anderson.
Lieutenant Anderson was received
with a great demonstration n he had
to stand for several minutes until the
applause ceased. On the front Of the
stage were the trophies which he had
brought to the Naval Battalion, and
advancing to them. he acknowledged
the flattering ovation which had greet
ed him. He aid he had never been so
touched in all his life as he has been
at the kindness and hospitality Of the
people of his hOme-a city which he
loved as he loves no other place. ZAP
plause.) He stated hat when the war
with Spain broke out, he heartily SYM
pathized with the cause of the strug-
Cling Cubans and considered the action
Of our country in a most patriotic and
noble cause. He then went or to say
that while serving on the United
States cruiser Marblehead, on the Gu
ban coast, he had occasion to witness
the heroism of u gallant marines, to
whom he paid a high tribute for brav-
cry and devotion to duty. He related
his experience in calling for volunteers
to do dangerous duty and declared hat
the boys came very near mObbing him
to get to go i'm the boats to cut the
cables. They got downright mad when
they were not taken and accused him
of favOritism, SO eager were they 10
serve their country. He related one
instance of a sailor Offering a comrade
81, 900 if he would give him his place in
an expedition, but though the man was
in only moderate circumstances he re-
lIc OlIGI. tAppIduSC-J
Lieutenant Anderson said when he
was on the Cuban coast, he gathered
the following trophies, which he pre-
scented by permission of the secretary
of the navy:
A contact mine which her secured
while dredging the channel at Caima-
nera to clear it of mines, so as to af-
ford security to the Marblehead in her
operations. The propeller of the Mar
H10hnoI C%r,,11 <hsr VIM hn{ orfr
to the fact that it was covered with
~barnacles, TT did not explode. With a
boats crew he dredged for it two
nights and secured it. During this ex-
petition Lieutenant Anderson went
with his BOAT within fifty yards of the
Spanish fort.
The next trophy was a 5-barre1
45-ca1ibre Nordenfeldt r%apid-fire gun
and carriage, which he took from the
wreck of the Spanish cruiser viscaya.
He visited the wreck in a boat and
took off the gun which had been
mounted in the armored top of the Wis.,
caya. The mast was shot ava and
when it fell one of the wheels of the
gun carriage was broken. Since the
gun had been recovered it has been
fired.
The next trophy was a machete "a
kind of sword) which Lieutenant An
derson picked up at the site where
Camp McCalla, at the head of Guam
tanamo bay, was afterwards establish
ed. A Spaniard dropped it. Lieutenant
Anderson jokingly said "he vas in a
hurry"
Another trophy was a 5-inch shell
and case which Lieutenant Anderson
secured from the wreck of the Spanish
cruiser Maria Teresa: also a c~utlass,
and a 6-pounder shell and a 1%-pounder
from the same vessel.
Al interesting lot of souvenirs were
fragments of shell. One of these Lieu
tenant Anderson picked up in the tur-
ret of the Spanish cruiser Oquendo. 1t
was a piece OF 6-inch shell fired into
the enemy's turret by the cruiser
Texas. Every man, a dozen or more.
in the turret, were killed. The piece
of shel was badly mixed up with the
bodies of the Spaniards and it no
doubt killed it's man or more.
The trophies embraced a Mauser rifle
captured on the Sandoval. The cap
tain of the Spaniard had knocked out
the breech block to prevent the Amer
leans from using it.
A most valuable trophy was a Sec
ton Of the cable which Lieutenant
Anderson cut at Cienfuegos, where he
and his men were under fire three
u and twenty minutes with the
Spaniards only $50 yards away.
There were also several other SOU
venirs Of interest, all of which Lieu
tenant Anderson begged u naval
militia to accept as an evidence of his
interest in his state and the noble
qualities of our American marines.
Lieutenant Anderson closed amid the
most fattering applause.
After music by the band, Commander
Morton, in behalf of the North Caro-
lima naval militia, accepted lac tro-
phies. He reminded Lieutenant An
derson that though the North Caro-
lima reserves did not get into service,
it was not their fault. Out of ffty-five
of h Wilmington division, fifty-two
volunteered, and forty-nine of them
passed the physical examination and
were accepted. They wanted to be
where Anderson and Winslow were.
Commander Morton assured Lieuten-
ant Anderson Of the appreciation of
North Carolinians Of his conspicuous
bravery and gallant actions in the war,
and declared that Wilmington and the
whole state were proud of him and
Lieutenant Blue.
Commander Morton made a fitting