Omaha daily bee., 1898-07-05


westward hair IN hour ago and the Orc
gon was givinp it hL.r II has undoubtedly
gone down with the others and we will
have a Fourth Of July celebration in SAN
tiago tomorrow
Captain Evans. who had been in the thick
Of the engagement up to the time he took
the Vizcaya officers and crew from the
shore. said that to the best Of his knowl-
edge not one American ship had been
struck,
The torpedo boat Ericsson, which also re-
turned from the westward at about the
same time. made a similar report, saying ii
was believed no man was injured on board
the American ships, though another report
had it that one man was killed on board
the Brooklyn, which could not be verified as
this dispatch was sent.
There is no means now of telling what
the Spanish loss was, but 1t was believed
to have Been heavy, as the prisoners in
custody report their decks strewn with dead
and wounded in great numbers. and besides
there is a statement that many bodies could
be seen fastened to the pieces of wreckage
floating in the sea after the fight was over.
A large number of~the Spanish wounded
were removed to the American ships.
There can be no doubt that Admiral
Cerevra's plan to escape from Santiago was
entirely unexpected by Admiral Sampson
and the best evidence of this is the fact
that when the Spanish vessels were seen
coming ont of the harbor the flagship New
York was seven miles away. steaming to
the eastward toward Juragua, the military
base. The New York was out of the fight
altogether at first. but it Immediately put
about and followed the others.
Commodore Schley's flagship, the Brook
Ign, had its usual position at the extreme
westofn"end of the line, ten miles from the
New York and Texas. 1t is a peculiar fact
that he should have been in proper position
to direct the movements of his flying squad
ron against the. Spanish fleet, which he had
bottled up in Santiago six weeks ago.
As a matter of fact the entire fleet was
! much further off shore than usual when the
Spaniards made their appearance this morn
Ing. with the exception of the bombardment
! yesterday, which knocked down the flag on
MORO, and the supposed silencing of the
batteries which opened fire again this morn
ing as usual, the. navy had done little re-
| Gently to attract interest here.
The Spanish admiral's real plans were
plainly not anticipated. He accepted the
one chance open to him, that of running
the gauntlet Of the powerful men of war
and save himself by dashing out and going
to some other field of operations.
There seemed to be but one chance in a
hundred that he would be able to make the
move successfully, but he took that chance
and while great piles of naval architecture
ground to pieces on the rocks tell the
mournful story of his failure, there are
none who applaud his conduct more than
the American officers and seamen who sent
his ships to destruction.
AS the ships ran in toward the shore,
it soon became evident that the Spanish had
not come out TO MAKE an aggressive fight
for, they turned-to~tbe eastward as soon as
they had cleared the harbor, and started OF
their race for safety, at the same time send
ing shots at the Americans as fast as they
could.
The Brooklyn, Massachusetts, Texas, Ore.
gon and Iowa were nearer the Spanish thar
any other of the American vessels, but still
most of them were too far away to get al
effective range. They crowded on all steam
never stopping their fire for one moment.
WASHINGTON, July 4-George II. Ellis
the only man in the United States nav!
who was killed in the glorious engage
ment off Santiago yesterday, il
chief yoeman of Commodore Schley'j
flagship Brooklyn, in which oflic,
he succeeded Downing, the Spanish
spy captured by secret service officers il
Canada, and who ended his career by sui
eide in the Washington barracks Will,
awaiting trial. Ellis is a native American
born at Peru, H., In 1871. His nava
career was brief, he having en-
listed May 30, 1897, and his onl.
cruise being that which ended in hi
death. His next of kin is his wife, Sadi
Ellis, who lives at Bullshead, n. Y.