Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-07-09

| VINO VIII be recommended for promotion
oiampered up the side of the Vizcaya anG
saved three men from burning to death.
The smaller magazines of the vizcaya
Were exploding with magnificent cloud ef
! iec's. Ihe boats were coming alongside
IT In a asteady string. and willing hands were
! helping the lacerated Spanish officers ant
| sailors on the 1owa's quarterback. All the
] Spaniards were absolutely without clothes
Some had their legs torn off by fragments
| OF shells. Others were mutilated in every
| conceivable way
| The bottoms of the boats held two o,
| three inches of blood. In many cases dead
men Were lying in the blood Five poor
chaps died on the way to the ship. They
| were afterward buried with military hon
ors from the Iowa. Some examples OF
teroism- or more properly, devotion to
| discipline and duty. could never be sur
passed. One man on the lost Vizcaya had
| his left arm shot of just below the shouI-
! der
The fragments were hanging by a
| small piece of skin. But he climbed unas-
sisted over the side and saluted as if on q
visit of ceremony. Immediately after him
| came a strong hearted sailor whose left leg
rad been shot off above the knee He was
hoisted on board the Iowa with a tackle
but never a whimper came from him.
Gradually the mangled bodies and naked
Well men accumulated until il would have
been almost difficult to recognize the Iowa
as a United States battleship.
Blood was all over her usually white
quarterback: and 272 naked men were be-
ing supplied with water and food by those
who few minutes before had been using
rapid-fire battery on them Finally came
the boats with Captain Eulate. commander
OF the Nizcaya, for whom 4 chair was low
cred over the side, he was evidently
wounded. The captains guard of marines
Were drawn up on the quarterback to salute
him. and l stood waiting to welcome him.
AS the chair was placed on the deck. the
marines presented arms. CAPTAIN Eulate
slowly raised himself in the chair. sa,uted
me with grave dignity, unbuckled his sword
and belt. and. holding the hilt of the sword
before him. kissed it reverently. with tears
IN MS eyes, and then surrendered il TO
me.
'Of course declined to receive his sword
and. as the crew of the Iowa saw this they
cheered like wild men, AS l started to
take captain Eulate into the cabin to let
Inc doctors examine his wounds the maga-
zines on board the Vizcaya exploded with
tremendous burst of flame. Captain Eu-
late. extending his hands, said: .Atios,
Fizcaya! There goes my beautiful ship,
captain, and SO we passed on 10 the
cabin. where the doctors dressed his three
wounds
In the meantime, thirty officers of the
Fizcaya had been picked up. besides e1e
OF her crew. Our wardroom and steerage
omcers gave up their staterooms and fur
nished food. clothing and tobacco to those
naked officers from the Vizcaya. The pay
master issued uniforms to the naked sail
ors: and each was given all the corned
beef, coffee and hardtack he could eat. The
war had assumed another ASPECT
As L knew the crews of the first two
shlps wrecked had not been visited by
any of our vessels. 1 ran down to them 1
found the Gloucester, with Admiral Ger
vera and number of his officers aboard
and also number of wounded, some in a
trightfully mangled condition. Many pris-
oners had been killed on shore by the fire
or the Cuhans. The Harvard came off and
requested Captain Cotton to go in and take
on the crews of the 1nfanta Maria Teresa
AMI Almirante Oquendo, and by midnight
the Harvard had 9I6 prisoners aboard. a
great number of them wounded.
For courage and dash there is no par
allel in history to this action of the Spanish
admiral. He came. as he knew, to abso-
iute destruction. There was one single hope
-that was that the Cristobal Colon would
steam faster than the Brooklyn The spec
tacle OF two torpedo boat destroyers, paper
shells at best, deliberately steaming out in
broad daylight in the face of the fire of a
battieshfp can be described in one way:
1t was Spanish and it was ordered by
Blanco The same must be said of the en-
tire movement
In contrast to this Spanish fashion was
the cool. deliberate, Yankee work. The
American squadron was without sentiment.
apparently. The ships went at their Span
ish opponents and literally tore them to
pieces. But the moment the Spanish flag
came down. II must have been evident that
the sentiment was among the Americans,
not among the Spaniards
Il took Admiral Cervera aboard the Iowa
from the Gloucester, which had rescued
MIN from the dead, and received him with
full admirafs guard. The crew of the
Iowa crowded aft and over the turrets,
half naked and black with powder, as
Cervera stepped over the side bareheaded.
Over his undershirt lie wore thin suit
of flannel. borrowed from Lieutenant Com
mander Wainwright, of the Gloucester The
crew cheered vociferously. Cervera is ev-
cry inch an admiral. even If he had not
any hat. He submitted to the fortunes
of war with n grace that proclaimed him a
Captain Evans is intensely proud of his
ship and her men. The Iowa fired 81 l2-
inch. IS S-inch. 210 finch. 1.O5O 6-pound and
120 1-pound shots
The officers of the Eizcaya said they SIM
ply could not hold their crews at the guns
on account of the rapid fire poured upon /,
them. The decks We're flooded with water |
from the fire hose and blood from the |
made this dark red. Fragments |
6iaS in iz OLE rl,s
Every instant the crack of exploding shells !
told of new havoc. One of the tweive-inch |
shells from the Iowa exploded n torpedo |
in the Nizcaya's bow. blowing twenty y-one |
men against the deck above and dropping !
them. dead and mansled, into the fire which |
at once started below.
The torpedo boat Ericsson was sent by |
The flagship TO the help of the Iowa in the |
rescue of the ViZcaya's crew. Her men
saw terrible sight.
The flames leaping out from the huge
shot holes in the Fizcaya's side licked up
he decks. sizzling the flesh of the wound
I'd who Were lying there shrieking for
lelp. Between the frequent explosions there
anne awful cries and groans from the men
,fnned in below. This carnage was chiefly |
iue to the rapdity of the Americans fire.
Corporal Smith. of the Iowa fired 135
limed shots in fifty minutes from IA four
nch gun. Two shells struck within ten
Get of Smith and started small fire. but |
he corporal went on pumping shots into
he enemy. only stopping to say. They've |
lot 1t in for this gun. sir
From two six-pounders. 40 shots were
ired in fifty minutes. Up in the tops. the
marines banged away with one-pounters.
90 excited TO step back TO duck shells
vhizzins over them. One gunner of sec
'ndary battery under a twelve-inch gun