Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1898-05-25
THE STORY OF CARDENAS.
Seaman O'Hearn's Graphic Be-
cital of the Battle.
THE HUDSON'S HEROES
But for Them the WinslOw Would
Have Been Sunk by Span
iSh Shells.

left her dock for Tampa a man wearing
the uniform of a naval seaman sat
YEARLY against a great bale OF cordage,
looking out past the harbor and the dis
tant keys toward the gulf. He was Will
liam O'Hearn of Brooklyn, and one Of
the survivors of the torpedo-boat Wins
lows crew which passed through the ter
rible storm of shot and shell that poured
in from the Spanish batteries in the bay
of Cardenas. He was going home on
furlough for rest. Beside him, in a bright
tin cage, was the Winslow's parrot,
which made itself famous on the day of
the battle by shrieking and chattering
like a demon during the whole engage
ment.
BY degrees and after much questioning
O'Hearn told the whole story of the battle
and no doubt his account of the engage
ment is the most correct in detail of any
given yet.
The Wins1ow was in Dire Peril.
"E'rom the very beginning" he said,
Il think every man on the boat believed
that we could not escape being sunk, and
that is what would have happened had it
not been for the bravery of the boys on
the Hudson, who worked for an hour
under the most terrific fire to get US out
of range"
Were you ordered to go in there?" he
Yes, just before we were fired upon
the order was given from the Whining
ton"
WAS it signal order?"
NO, we were near enough to the
Wilmington so that they shouted it to us
from the deck and through the mega
phone"
DO you remember the words Of the
command and who gave them"
L don't know who shouted the order,
but the words, as | remember them,
were: Mr.. Bagley, go in there and see
what gunbOats those are We started at
once toward the Cardenas dock and the
firing began soon after
what was the first you saw of the
fringY'
How it Feels to be Under Fire.
''The first thing 1 saw was a shot fired
from a window or door in the second
story of the stOrehouse just back of the
docks where the Spanish gunboats were
lying. | saw the flash and the smoke
and the same instant a shell went Kissing
over or heads. Then the firing began
from the gunbOats and from the shore.
sound and the effect of shell and heavy
shot the first time he is under fire. 1t is
something terrible. When a shell passes
close by you, you feel it, something like
the effect of lightning when it strikes
near by. You feel as though it had taken
y
full buzzing or whizzing--it is hard to
describe-and then something seems to
strike you in the face and head. | no.
ticed that day when the shells first began
to fly about us that the boys threw their
hands to their heads every time a shell
went over. But they soon came so fast
and so close that it was a roaring, shrek
ing, crashing hell. l can describe it Ill no
other way"
"Where was your position ?"
81 am the water TENDER he said. "and
my place was below, but everybody went
Varvares, the oiler; John Donief and John
Meek, the fremen, were both on watch
with me and had they remained below
they would probably not have been killed.
A Shot Through the Boiler.
after the firing began I went below
again to attend to the boilers and q few
minutes later solid shot came crashing
through the side of the boat and into the
boiler, where it destroyed seventy of the
boiler tubes. At first it stunned the men.
When the shell burst in the boiler. it
threw both the furnace doors open and
the fuse from the shell struck my feet.
Two pieces Of the shell also came out of
the door and | am taking them home with
me as souvenirs of the war.
ut was a terrible crash and report al
together and the boiler room was filled
onds / was partially stunned and my ears
rang so [ could near nothing. went up
on the deck to report to Capt. Bernadou."
What did you say to him y
II saw him near the forecastle gun
limping about with a towel bound about
his leg. He was shouting and the noise
of all the guns was like continuous thun-
der.
"'Captain,' l shouted, the forward boil
er is disabled. A shell has gone through
her."
to the gun again.
Dead Lie in Heap on the Deck.
81 went back into the boiler room and
in few minutes | went up on deck
again, and the fighting had grown hotter
than ever. Several of the men were miss
ing, and l looked around. Lying all in
a heap on the after deck in the star
board quarter, near the after coming
tower, I saw five Of our men where they
had wilted after the shell had struck
them. In other places were men lying,
groaning Or dragging themselves about,
wounded and covered with blood. The
deck had blood on it, and it was streWn
with fragments and splinters. [ went
over where the five men were lying in
heap and saw that they were not all dead
John Meek could speak and move one
of his hands slightly. l went up to him
"'Can I do anything for you, John?
I asked. and he replied, No, Jack, I'm
dying; goodby,' and he asked me to grasp
his hand
$50 help there he whispered, gazing
with fixed eyes where Capt. Bernadou
was still firing the forward gun.
'The next minute he was dead. He
was my friend'-and there was a pause
in O'Hearn's story.
Ensign Bagley a Hero.
ensign Bagley," he continued, after a
little, "was lying at the bottom badly
torn to pieces, and the bodies of the other
three were on top of MIN. The colored
cook was lying a little apart from the
others, badly mangled and in a cramped
position. We supposed he was dead, and
covered him up the same as the others
Nearly half an hour after that we heard
him calling and making slight move
ment under the cloth. We went to him
and he said, oh boys, for Gods sake
move me. I'm lying over the boiler and
burning up. 1t was time. The deck was
very hot and his flesh had been almost
roasted. He also complained that his neck
was cramped, but did not seem to feel his
terrible wounds. We moved him into an
easier position and gave him some water