The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-06-17
IN FRAGMENTS.
Forts About Santiago Harbor
Riddled With Shot.
500, 900 Pounds of PrOjectiles
Fired by Sampson.
NO AMERICANS HURT.
Though the Spaniards Replied
For a Short Time.
Loss of the Enemy is Thought
to Have Been Heavy.
NO AMERICANS HURT

Copyright, 1898, by Associated Press.)
On board the Associated Press Dis
patch Boat Dauntless, off Santiago de
Cuba, Thursday, June 16, via Kingston,
Jamaica, June 17.-Rear Admiral Samp-
sons fleet bombarded the batteries at
Santiago de Cuba for the third time at
daylight this morning. For hours the
ships pounded the batteries at the
right and left Of the entrance only
sparing Ell Moro, where Lieutenant
Hobson and his companions of the
Merrimac are in prison. The western
batteries, against which the main as
sault was directed, were badly wreck
ed. One was utterly destroyed. In
others many guns were dismounted.
At first the SpaniardS replied pas
StOnately and wildly, but impotently.
Not a ship was struck, nor a man in
jured on the American side.
1t is believed that the enemy's loss of
life was heavy. As a preliminary to
the haTnmer1ng given the batteries, the
dynamite cruiser VesuviuS last night at
midnight, was given another chance.
Three ESQ pound charges of gun cotton
were sent over the fortificatlOns at the
entrance. The design was to drop them
in the bay, around the angle, back of
the eminence on which Ell MORO is Sit
uated, where it was known that the
Spanish torpedo boat deStrOyerS were
lying. Two charges went there as no
reports were heard-a popularity of the
explosion of gun cotton in water.
Whether the destroyerS were demOlish-
> ed is not known, but the destructive
area of gun cotton is large and it
would not be surprising if it is subse-
quently ascertained that one or both
were destroyed. The third charge ex-
plOded with terrific violence on Cayo
Smith.
From where the fleet lay the entrance
to the harbor looked, in the black night.
like a door opening into the livid fire of
a Titanic furnace. A crater big enough
to hold church was blown out of the
side of Cayo Smith and was clearly
seen from the ships this morning.
Admiral Sampson issued the orders
for the bombardment last night. Cof-
fee was served to the men at half past
this morning and at the first blush of
the dawn the men were called quietly
to quarters. The ships steamed in five
knot speed to a 900 yards range, when
they closed up, broadside on, until
distance of three cable lengths Separas-
ted them. They were strung out in the
form of a crescent, the heavy fighting
ships in the center, the flagship on the
right flank, and the Massachusetts on
the left flank The line remained sta
tiOnary throughout the bombardment.
The Vixen and Scorpion took UP posi-
lions on opposite TANKS, close in shore,
for the purpose OF enflading any in
fantry that might fire upon the ships.
At 5:25 a. m. the New York opened
with a broadside from her main bat
terry, at the works on the east of the
entrance to the harDOr. All the Sn1pS
followed in red streaks of flames. The
fleet, envelOped in smoke, pelted the
hills and kicked up dirt and masonry.
1t was magnificent spectacle from
where the DauntlesS lay.
Though the gun captains had been
cautioned not to waste ammunition,
but to fire with deliberation, the fire
was so rapid that there was an almost
continuous report The measured
crash of the big 13-inch guns of the
battleships sounded above the rattle
of the guns of the secondary batteries
like thunder cIapS above the din of a
hurrincane. A strong land breeze off
the shore carried the smoke of the
ships seaward while 1T let down a
gunners.
In Is minutes one western battery
was completely wrecked. The Massa-
chuSetts tore a gaping hole in the en-
jectile, and the Texas dropped a shell
into the powder magazine. The explo-
sion wrought terrible havoc. The frame
was lifted, the sides were blown out
and a. shower of debris flew in every di-
rection. One timber, carried out of the
side of the battery, went tunbling down
the hill. loss of life must have been
great.
The batteries on the east of Moro
were harder to get at, but the New Or
leans crossed the bows to within 500
with her long S-inch rifles, hitting them
repeatedly, striking a gun Squarely
muzzle-on, lifting it off its trunnions,
and sending it sweeping somersaults in
the air.
Several times Admiral Sampson sig
nailed the ships temporarily to cease
firing in order to allow the smoke to
clear from the batteries. When the or
der came, at $50, to cease firing every
gun of the enemy had been silenced for
ten minutes but as the ships drew off
some of the Spanish courage returned
and a. half dozen shots were fired spite
fully at the Massachusetts, and Oregon,
falling in their wakes.
The only regret expressed Is that
Lieutenant Hobson and his companions
by their presence in Ell Moro, made it
sacred. Otherwise 1t would now be
pile of ruins.
The number of shots fired is not
known when this dispatch is sent.
Judged from a position near the flag
ship which during the bombardment
with several interruptions, fired POS
shots, IS from her S-fnch guns, 1874 from
her 4-inch guns and 80 from her six
Founders. probably no fewer than 5000
projectiles were fired. of a total weight
of half a million pounds.
A NEW EANp