The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1898-05-20
SAN JUAN BATTLE.
lean Loss, Two Killed, seven wound-
ed-firinT Lasted Three I:ours

On Board THE FLAG SHIP Iowa OFF
San juan DE PoRTo Rico, May - (via
ST. Thomas, Danish West Indies, May
1S)-The forts of San Juan de Porto
Rico were bombardcd by part OF RI |
Adm. SIMPSONS feet Friday morn
ing. The enemy's loss is believed to
be heavy. The American loss is two
men killed and seven men injured.
After three hours firing the admiral \
withdrew the feet and heading for |
Key West he said:
II am satisfied with the mornings |
work. could have taken San Juan;
but have no force to hold it. only
wanted to administer punishment.
This has been done. l came for the
spanish feet and not for Sab juan"
The men killed were; Seamen Frank
widemark, Of the New York. Gum
ner's mate, OF The AnrhitPtse; the lat-
ltsr died froo sAeets o. sxtfemeshank
OF the injured men, three were on
board tile Iowa and four ON board the
New York. The names of those slight
" injured on the Iowa are: Seaman
Mitchell; Private Marine Merkle and
Apprentice Hill The injured on the
New York are: Seaman Samuel Felt
man, seriously; Seaman Michael
Murphy and two other enlisted men,
slightly injured All the above named
were in jured by the bursting of shell
on the New York. This is q complete
list of the killed and wounded.
The American ships were -unin jured.
The engagement began at 5:i5 a m.
and ended at Sis n m
The enemy's batteries were not ST.
fenced. The town In the rear Of the
Notifications probably suffered
The ships taking part in the action
were the Iowa, Indiana, New York,
Terror, Amphitrite, Detroit, Mont
gomery, Wampatuck and Porter. The
enemy's firing was heavy but wild, and
the Iowa and New York were proba-
bly, the only vessels hit. They went
right up under tine guns in column de.
livering 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
plucky. The after turret of the Am
| phitrite got out of order temporarily
| during the engagement, 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 IL impossi-
BILE to tell where our shots struck
The officers and men Of all the ships
behaved with GOODNESS and bravery.
The shots few thick and fast over all
our ships
MORO battery on the eastward arm
of the harbor, was the principal poin'
of attack. Rr. Adm sampson ant
/. Of the Iowa and hsd 81 ) marrow arrow sscsi
: from flying splinters, which injurc
! three men.
The Iowa was hit eight times bu
: the shells made no impression on he
armor. The weather was fine blu
; the ieavy swells made accurate ain
difficult. The broadsides from thu
Iowa and Indiana rumbled In the hill
, ashore for five minutes after they wer'
! delivered. Clouds of dust SHOWED
, where the shells struck; but the smoke
hung over everywhere. The shells
screeching overhead and dropping
around showed that the Spaniard'
still stuck to their guns
Thrice the column passed from the
entrance of the harbor TO the extreme
eastward battery.
Utter indifference was shown for the
enemy's fire. The wounded were
quickly attended, the blood was wash.
ed away and everything proceeded
like target practice. At 7:45 a. IN
Adm. Sampson signaled: 'Ceass
, firing Retire" was sounded
on the Iowa and she headed from the
shore. The Terror was the last shiI
in the line and failing to see the sag
nal. banged away alone for abou. ~
, an hour, the concert of shore guns
roaring at her and the water tiyinG
! high around her from the explode'
! shells. But she possessed charme'
. life and reluctantly retired at Sis.