The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-06-13
by the Associated Press.

AFTER the Departure of the Fleet
stubborn Resistance offered.
| Copyright ny the Associated Press
OFF SANTIAGO DE CUBA, June 6
(via Kingston, Jamaica, June D.-The
| Spanish water batteries defending San
| tiago de Cuba were badly wrecked to-
day by the American fleet, in q bonn
bardment lasting from shortly after
/ O'Clock until some time after 10
! O'Clock this. morning. Orders for the
ATTACK We're issued ON Sunday night
All the men We're warned to retire ear
~, and preparations were made for
breakfast at $50 a.. M
| mat the fire from the Spanish forts
| would De severe was generally conced-
| ed, but snatches of song and the
| struhmlng Of guitars and mandolins
from the ships gave anything but an
impression Of deadly warfare.
early on the morrow the officers
gathered on the quarterdecks and dis
cussed the situation and the possible
effect Of the shots It was agreed that
/ the earthWorks would be hard to de-
| sttoy ana that great deal Of ammu-
hlt1on would be wasted, especially as
| the forts were situated on high ground
On the contrary, the fact that the
SHIPS were not to move and were to
STAND IN at 5000 yards made them a
gCod target, and it was Judged that
| the drop of the shots from the forts
would te disastrous in case pf hits.
The distance fought at made the sec
ondary batteries of rapid-fire guns use
less, and they were silent
LINE OF BATTLE.
TIE line Of battle planned was the
same as in the movement of SATURDAY.
AFTERNOON. The big battieships Texas.
Massachusetts, Oregon and Iowa NOV
ed In on line on slight angle. the
/ vixen close in shore and the Brook
lyn next to the Texas, in the most
dangerous place on the line because
coin she and the Texas faced I'D the
harpor, which rounds northeast. On
t6e other angle, to the west, were the
New York, New Orleans and Yankee.
Ihese raced the new earthworks bat
terry opposite MORO castle, while the
Brooklyn, Marblehead and Vixen fac
cd the Estrella battery, Moro castle,
the Catalina battery and two earth
WORKS batteries on the eastern bank
ard couple of new shore batteries.
Ihe morning opened with heavy
showers and no breeze. Not a favor
able outlook, because the dense smoke
from the big guns would hang Over
the ships like pail and disarrange
the aim of the gunners, while the
shore batteries, having smokeless DOW
DER. would be able to fire 1t the
patches Of smoke with little incon-
Vsnience.
Toward $50 the sky lightened and
good breeze came along. AT 6:32 the or
der TO move into line was gwen. and as
the columns formed a beautiful and
Inspiring sight was witnessed Form
ing IN two columns at a dist of
SIX miles, the ships moved towards the
entrance of the harbor, the Brooklyn
leading one column and the New York
the other. Slowly they moved up until
within four miles Of the forts. Then
they turned. the Brooklyn to the west.
followed by the Martlahead, Texas and
massachusetts,. and the New York led
to the east, followed by the New Or.
leans. Yankee. Iowa and Oregon
When the ships had all turned into
this new formation. they moved in bat
tie line to within 5000 yards of the bat
teries to the positions originally detail
eel. The Vixen and Suwanee went ON
the left flank to look out fer rifenfen
or rife pits. and the Dolphin and the
torpedo boat Porter did similar dtttv
on the right flank
FIGHTING BEGINS.
The forts remained silent, but at pre-
cisely TAI a twelve-inch gun on the
Iowa shattered the silence and from
one end Of the line to the other there
was an instant response to the firing.
Through clouds of smoke the twelve
inch shells CT the Iowa could be seen
striking on the base of the Estrella
battery. Some of the batteries on the
hills opened at once. but their coed aim
or last week seemed destroyed by the
shower of shells from the fleet, for the
Spanish return shots flew far from the
mark.
The great difficulty seemed, so far as
the American ships were concerned. to
be the dense clouds of smoke which OBJ
sccred the gunners and range finders
ain. but even with that great diff
Guilty the firing was splendid. The
tairteen-ineh shells from the Massa-
chusetts and Oregon struck into the
hills near the batteries and threw
up mountains Of earth, even when they
fell triffe short. The neral effect Of
the terrible power must have been
SOod, for Battery after battery was de-
serted by the Spanish.
The Texas. with two twelve-fnch
guns, and the Iowa, with her four big
guns. raked the entire hillside, while the
Brooklyn and New York poured in a
heavy fire from their destructive eight
and ive-ineh guns. The Brooklyn head
ed in further with her squadron of
fighters when the smoke became too
dense, and then, obtaining a new range,
the ships poured in deadly rain Of
eight and five-fnch shells.
UNDER A HOT FIRE:
In the meantime the shells from a
little Spanish fort on the water front
two miles off Moro castle opened on
the Suwanee, under the command of
Lieutenant Commander Delehanty and
| the Vixen, in Command Of Lieut.. Sharp,
and they moved in, and with hot
fire from their small guns soon silenced
them.
The great earthworks on the hill near
the flying squadron's end Of the line
then began putting shells in so close
to the Brooklyn and Massachusetts,
that it was determined to silence them,
if possible. It was a difficult job, be-
cause the earthwork was 1870 feet
above the water line, and it required
great elevation of the guns. At 8:22,
after three-quarters of an hour of fir
! ing, Commodore Schley ordered cease
firing" and the ships on the west
moved further in until they had a good
1,S00-qard range. Eight minutes later
the command to open fire was given,
and the guns began to crash away
Following the whistle of the eight
inch shell from the Brooklyn's after
turret in charge of Lieut. Rush, there
was a burst Of fire from block house