Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1898-10-27
No answer.

other shell home ard trained ine piece
hgain.
"Show the night feet signal" Ere
mont said. and ii flashed again-two
white lights above 4 red one. We
were under the strangers quarter
now. close aboard. For cue Of MS there
pcdo must destroy the big ship in
evitably.
\ second after our signal burned the
strangers signal mast blazed and
there hung an answering signal but
not the right one. Instead Of two
white lights and q red one there
burned TWO red ones and white one.
For a moment it flashed through Ere
mont's mind that an enemy might be
attempting to use the American sig
mails. There was no time to think
about it.
There was a flash from the stran-
gers forward lighting top and she'll
whistled over Us. Some man in the
top had fred without orders. it seems,
but of tha; we knew nothing. We saw
only the flash of the gun and believed
that rifles and machine guns would be
riddHnr rs q second later. The big
guns could not be depressed enough to
bear GU Us, so close were we.
Fremont had been hailing at the
moment and his face had been turned
away from that top from which the
gun was fired.
Did that shot come from her?" he
shouted.
Yes. sir" said n jackie and in the
same breath.
For a second perhaps Lieut.. Ere
mont stood still and silent and his men
and those on the decks high above us
held their aim and their breath, and
waited for a word which would turn
loose a torpedo from the Porter and
hail Of fire from the flagship.
In that long second Fremont, hold
ing the great cruiser at his mercy,
even more than the cruiser held US at
hers. weighed the chances and gave
them one more chance 1t was to be
their last. I read il in the sudden
Strengthening of his form and the
menacing hail which hear yet:
t-ship-is-that?'
On the heels of that hail came an an
swer from the cruiser. and at the first
English word our men let go the
breath they had been holding in one
great sigh Of relief. for the answer
rang clear and loud:
This is the New York"
On the cruisers deck there was a
sound as of men shifting their feet,
and n confused murmur as they fell
away from their guns.
The Porter's commander spoke
again and this time there was no
menace in his voice, but wonder only:
rs that Capt. Chadwick"
YES" answered the New Yorl's
captain. as that the Porter?"
"Yes. sir"
"Why didn't you show the night feet
signal?"
1--WE did sir. twice. There was no
answer the first time. The second
time-iust now-the New York dis
played the wrong signal"
Capt. Chadwick thought that could
not be so. but everyone on the torpedo
boat knew it was. and after some more
explanation the Porter swung away
from the flagship and glided off into
the night.
As was customary, several captains
met the admiral's cabin on the flag
ship in the morning, and l was told
afterward that the night encounter
was the subject Of considerable talk.
1t appears that Admiral Sampson him
self had been awake, and | was in
formed that when some one said to
Lieut.. Fremont that the Porter should
have been more careful about the
night feet signal the admiral said,
gravely:
81 saw the Porter's signal displayed
and there was no answer from this
vessel"
There was an end to that argument,
at least. but a torpedo man from the
Porter and an officer of the flagship
asked each other what would have
happened If the Porter's hail had not
been answered just when it was.
do you know what our next order
would have been?" asked the flagship
man.
"No." said his friend from the Por-
ter; "what would ii have been?"
Full speed ahead and ram!" was
the reply.
The torpedo man laughed. You'd
never have rammed US" he said. and
indeed he was right. But for the dis
covery which came like a reprieve at
the last second of endurance the New
York was doomed. The Porter might
have been sunk; The flagship must
have been
Changed the Subject.