The record-union., 1898-05-15
AMERICANS
DISPLAY
BRAVERY.
Cut the Telegraph Cable
at CienfuegOs
Amid a Perfect Hail Of Bu|-
lets From Spanish Guns.
One of Their Number Killed and
Several Seriously Wounded.
Spanish Loss Known to Be Heavy, Our
Warships Firing Hundreds Of Shot
and Shell Into Their
Midst.

KEY WEST (F1a.), May 14.-Amid a
perfect storm of shot from Spanish
rifles and batteries the American forces
cut the cable at Cienfuegos Wednesday
morning. Four determined boat crews
under command of Lieutenant Winslow
and Ensign Magruder from the cruiser
Marblehead and the gunboat Nashville
ing previously been shelled. The work
of the volunteers was, perilous The
cruiser Marblehead and the gunboat
Nashville and the auxiliary cruiser
Window drew up thousand yards
from shore with thier guns manned
ready for desperate duty
One cable had already been cut, and
the work was in progress on the other
when the Spaniards, in rifle pits and a
battery in an old lighthouse standing
out in the bay, opened fire. The war
ships poured in a thunderous volley,
their guns belching forth massive shells
into the swarms of the enemy. The
crews of the boats calmly proceeded
with their desperate work, notwith-
standing the fact that a number had
fallen, and finished it, returning to the
ships through binding smoke, and a
heavy fire. One man in a Marblehead
boat was killed and six were seriously
wounded. One of whom, Robert Volz.
is now at Key West, and is expected
to die before morning, bullet hav-
ing passed through the base of his
brain. Harry Hendricksson, who also
may. die, was shot through4the abdo-
men.
More than thousand infantrymen
on shore kept up a continuous fire, and
the bullets from the machine guns
struck the warships hundred times,
but did no great damage.
Commander Maynard of the gunboat
Nashville was slightly wounded by a
rifle bullet that, before striking him,
passed through the arm of an Ensign,
whose name is not known
Lieutenant Winslow was shot in the
hand, making three officers wounded
in ALL
After all the Spaniards had been
driven from the rifle pits, many of them
upon which the fire of the ships had
been centered. 4-inch shell from the
Window tore the structure to pieces,
killing many and burying other in the
r1S "a icb ic tn
have been heavy, the warships firing
hundreds of shots and shells into their
midst
DETAILS OF THE BATTLE.
KEY WEST, May 14.-(Copyright,
1898, by the Associated Press. 1.-The
United States cruiser Marbiehead, the
gunboat Nashville and the auxiliary
cruiser Window steamed up to the har-
Dor of Cienfuegos early Wednesday
morning, with orders to cut the cable
connecting Havana with Santiago de
Cuba This task was accomplished
but only after a terrific fight between
Spanish troops who lined the shore and
lay concealed behind improvised breast
works. A seaman named Regan of the
Marblehead was killed outright in one
men were severely wounded. In addi-
ton a large number on board the ship
received minor wounds. Captain Ma
guire of the Window believes that sew
eral of the six badly wounded men who
were brought to Key West this morning
cannot recover Following is the list
of the killed and badly wounded:
Killed: Herman Regan. seaman Of
the Marblehead
Badly wounded: John Davis. New
York; John j. Doran. Fall River,
Mass; Ernest Suntzeanickle, Herman
Hochneister, Harry Hendrickson, all of
the Marblehead; Robert Boltz, Caster
County, N. c., of the Nashville
Soon after the arrival of the warships
off Cienfuegos four boats were launched
and proceeded in shore for the pur-
pose of graphing for the cable to cut
it. The warships lay to about LOCO
yards or more off the harbor. 1t was
observed that the Spanish troops had
assembled ashore, but it was not known
that heavy guns had been placed in a
masked battery, and that the old light
house far out on a neck of land, had
been transformed into a formidable for
tification.
The small boats proceeded cautious
ly. and for more than an hour worked