The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-14

Copyright. 1898, by the Associated Press)
ON BOARD THE FLAGSHIP IOWA, off
San Juan de Puerto Rico, May II (via st.
Thomas. Danish West Indies May 13.)-The
forts of San Juan de Puerto Rico were bonn
barded by part of Rear Admiral SIMPSONS
leved to be heavy. The American loss is
two men killed and seven men injured.
After three hours firing the admiral with
drew the fleet and, heading for Key West,
he said: II am satisfied with the mornings
work. 1 could have taken San Juan, but L
have no force to hold it. L only wanted to
administer punishment This has been done.
L came for the Spanish fleet, and not for
San Juan
The men killed were:
FRANK WIDEMARK, seaman, of the
New York.
GUNNER'S NATE. of the Amphitrite
The latter died from effects of the ex-
treme heat. OF the injured men, three were
on board the Iowa and four on board the
New York. The names of those slightly in
jured on the Iowa are:
SEAMAN MITCHELL
PRIVATE MARINE MERKLE.
APPRENTICE HILL.
The injured on the New York are:
SAMUEL FELTMAN, seaman, seriously.
MICHAEL MURPHY, seaman.
Two other enlisted men, slightly injured.
All the above named were injured by the
bursting of shell on the New York. This
is complete list of the killed and wounded.
The American ships were uninjured
The engagement began at 5:15 a. M and
ended at S:15 a. m.
The enemys batteries were not silenced
The town in the rear of the Notifications
probably suffered.
NINE SHIPS TOOK PART.
The ships taking part in the action were
the Iowa, Indiana, New York, Terror, Am
phitirite, Detroit, Montgomery, Wampatuck
and Porter
The enemy's firing was heavy, but wild
and the Iowa and New York were proba-
bly, the only ships hit. They went right
up under the guns in column, delivering
broadsides and then returned. The line
passed thrice in front of the forts. pouring
tons of steel on shore. 1t is impossible to
judge the amount of damage done to the
buildings and forts. They appeared to be
riddled with shot, but the Spaniards were
olxv rba of
got out Of order temporarily during the en-
gagement, but she banged away with her
forward guns.
After the first passage before the forts
the Detroit and the Montgomery retired,
their guns being too small to do much
damage. The Porter and Wampatuck also
stayed out of range.
The smoke hung over everything, spelling
the aim of the gunners and making it i'm
possible to tell where our shots struck The
officers and men of all the ships behaved
with GOODNESS ard bravery. The shots flew
thick and fast over all our ships
The men of the Iowa who were hurt dur
ing the action were injured by splinters
thrown by an eight-inch shell, which came
through boat into the superstructure and
scattered fragments in all directions The
shots course finally ended on an iron
plate an inch thick. Merkle (MurteD was
struck in the arm and may lose it. All
were hurt by splinters and a fire was started
in the boat but was quickly extinguished
Morro battery, on the eastward arm of
the harbor was the principal point of at
tack.
SAMPSON AND EVANS IN PERIL
Rear Admiral Sampson and Captain
Evans were on the lower bridge of the Iowa
and had narrow escape from flying spIin-
ters, which injured three men. The Iowa
was hit eight times, but the shells made no
impression on her armor
The weather was fine, but the heavy
swolls made accurate aim difficult The
broadsides from the Iowa and Indiana rum
bled in the hills ashore for five minutes
after they were delivered. Clouds of dust
showed where the shells struck. but the
smoke hung over everything The shells
screeching overhead and dropping around
showed that the Spaniards still stuck to
their guns
At O'Clock in the morning all hands were