St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1898-05-04


The capture of the Guido by the Ter
ror and the gunboat Machias, early las
: Wednesday morning practically marked
the end of the first week Of war. TIL
Guido was bound from Corunna t.
Havana with a cargo of provisions ant
money, thought tc be for the Spanish
troops. The Guido is a steel screw
steamer Of 3,133 tons gross and 2,S7.
net and carried a crew OF Sc. She is sale
to be the most valuable prize yet taken
The Destruction of the rlantanzas Forts.
The engagement at Matanzas Thurs
day between the war ships and the Span
ish Notifications was altogether too one
sided to cause much enthusiasm, but &C
cording to the reports, there were phase:
of the affair which will be of great inter
est to our people. The Spaniards worked
two batteries rather feebly on opposite
sides OF the harbor's entrance and the
result showed their utter worthlessness
wnen pitted against modern war ships
Their gunners were so unskilled that not
one OF our vessels was struck a single
time, although the New York, which
rises high out Of the water, steamed up
within 5000 yards and offered an excel
lent target. 1t is far.fetched inference
that no better gunners man the defenses
of Havana, yet the work in the Matan-
zas forts bears out the old assertion that
Spanish gunnery averages very low.
On the other hand, the gunnery of the
three American war ships is described as
excellent. The correspondent of the New
York Herald, who witnessed the en-.
gagement, writes:-
1t was beautiful sight to see the tar
get practice OF the New York. A big
balloon of smoke would suddenly rise
from her side. The eye, following the
direction Of the shot, would see an
instant later a great cloud of dust and
fragments of concrete and mortar fly
high in the air. Then would come the
roar Of the piece, sulen and heavy The
New York had soon reduced the range
from 1000 to 5000 yards and soon was
tossing shells into Rubal Caya al the
rate of about three minute with Won
derul precision and apparently great
destructiveness.
The best work of the day, however,
was done by the Puritan, according to
this witness, whose practice is thus
described
In the meantime the Puritan was
taking care of Point Maya. 1t was a
long shot to the battery. 1t was so
well masked that the only target was
the infrequent smoke from the battery.
But when the Puritan got the range her
shells burst every time within the forti
hcalion, and great was the explosion
thereof. High up into the air would 20
a cloud of dust-atoms Of the Spanish
fort-looking for all the world like the
explosion of magazine of brown pris.
matte powder. The New York
was just giving the signal to retire when
one defiant shot was fired from Rubal
Caya. 1t was the last shot that battery
was ever to fire. One of the big guns on
the Puritan followed back. 1t was the
best shot of the day. 1t struck the bat
terry just where the gun was, tore it's way
into the earthworks and exploded, doing
great destruction. Capt. R. ]. McHugh,
an artillery officer of the British army,
who was spectator Of the engagement,
said it was one of the best shots he had
ever seen made.
AS this confirms what has been said
regarding the good workmanship of the
American eunners, it will give the coun-
try renewed confidence in its navy. In a
naval battle with the Spanish squadron
such guunery would win the day.
Victory at Manila.
The United States Asiatic squadron
under Rear Admiral Dewey has won
decisive naval victory in the Philippines
AT O'Clock Sunday morning the Ameri-
can force appeared off Manila bay and
at once attacked the Spanish squadron
which was evidently lying under the pro-
lection of the guns of the Spanish forts
at Cavite and at the entrance to Man.
lila bay.
The Spanish reports OF the battle which
followed show that the Spanish naval
force was practically destroyed while no
serious damage to an American ship has as
yet been reported even by way Of Mad
rid. That is to say, no American ship
was sunk, or burned or seriously dis
abled There seem to have been two en-
gagements. at the end of the first Ad-
miral Dewey having landed his wounded.
In the second he continued the destruc-
ton oil Spanish war ships which char.
acterized his first attack At the end of
the lighting the American squadron is
reported to have anchored on the west
side OF Manila bay, which seems to mean
that it actually entered the bay not
withstanding the forti6cations A dis.
patch from London says that, according
to private advices from Madrid, four Of
our six lighting vessels did enter the har.
Dor and that, it true, means that AID
miral Dewey is already master of the
situation.
That the Spanish sea power in the
Philippines is practically annihiated by
this battle is proved by the fact that the
Spanish cruisers Reina Maria Christina,
Castillo and Don Juan de Austria were
completely destroyed while several other
cruisers or gunboats were sunk to keep
them from falling into Admiral Dewey's
hands. The ships named were the
strongest of the Spanish force.
From strategic point of view the
situation in the Philippines now amounts
to this: The Spanish sea power is utter
~ destroyed and the American squadron
has nothing to fear from an enemy at
sea. Only Manila remains to be cap.
tured. II this port can still hold out
which seems unlikely, Admiral Dewey
could still make some neighboring bay in
the Philippines his base of operations