Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-08-20
DONS OF THE NAVY
A Chat With the Distinguished Span
ish Prisoners.
ADMIRAL CERVERA And HIS CAPTAINS
A Feeling of Relief That the War
is Over.
THE YOUNG OFFIC FER S

NO said Miss Janet Richards in reply
to an inquiry from The Star concerning 6
recent audience with Admiral Cervera, %
did not seek an interview with the ad
miral with any idea of writing it up Of
even talking of it for publication. 1t was
entirely informal and arranged for me by
mutual friends at Annapolis at whose home
We met the Spanish officers, thus avoiding
the troublesome red tape necessary for an
official interview. my object being merely
to prepare character sketches of the dis
tinguished prisoners. With this under
standing 1 met Admiral Ceryera and sew
eral of his officers. that I naturally feel
certain hesitancy in talking of them or,
at least, in stating what they said"
Asked which of the officers she met and
if she would give some of her impressions
of them. Miss Richards said:
As my Impressions were all most agree
able and as the war is now over, perhaps
no harm can come of stating some of them.
Those who called upon us were the adj
miral and his son, Lieut.. Angel Cervera
Captain Eulate and Captain Moreu of the
Nlzcaya and Colon. respectively, and sew
eral young Ieutenants. including the adj
miraIs nephew, Lieut.. Paredes and I.ieuts,
Mia and Cierva of the Colon.
The admiral and his son, ACCOMPANIED
py Father kautz, rector of St Mary's
Church ITO whom. by the way, we were
greatly indebted for the success of the
ElslO. called on us by appointment on Sun
day afternoon and remained for more than
an hour-the longest call our friends told
US. with which the admiral had honored
any one yet.
Admiral Cervera Talks.
We chatted together on many subjects
informally in French which. perhaps ac-
counted for the length of his STAY. as the
ADMIRAL speaks English with difficulty.
'noueh he reads and writes 1t with ease,
anu me day was certainly too warm for
one to struggle with an unfamiliar to,ora
AS II was, the admiral used a Iarqe -
rear vigorously and complained OF the cha
oteF oI american heat. which he declared
CO, ii -. more trying than that of either
humidity 'ie oppressive
ne was as gracious and cordial IN man
hen ia, galIe as unassuming as we have
49, isu 70 oeleve by the accounts of his
enthusiastic biograp pliers In 6oIro
bieb qIite imposing, being fully Six feet
fa1iaf M weighing easily two hundred His
siii1I, handsome face. framed bv orraI, 49,
f aiIu beard and animated bv the kirdas nan III
Iept 80, certainly suggested the bane,-o-
lara 15 10 saxon much more than the Snan-
~ III II would not BE- hard 10 beiiSa
LLIt report that his mother W. ~, ,t IeIIsF e
III though this was not mentidna5 it 81.
ne dld express his appreciatio,, 90
hIEd treatment he and his co. iaeioh OF the
80; tet as prisoners, and also tohd me - -
foII' - Ihe other Spanish officers at NJ
49,; y mere ne saw Captain Concas Of bic
5SI!4p' the Teresa. who Won rer,a - ms
DiouSht the 'caravels' to.tha IyorI5, ~ pei
Gu was badly wounded al the 10 Nl :
anG 'i ~ 5,a! IN speaking of our Ianenao a
J - M dlInculty in talking it tho aTn1iS !
declared that his ear could na ,nc adEnlral
S;T.s-isJ 10 me spoken language Tn
ia t%l,.9n, ne said. we pronounce evar,t
reuter-. each vowel and each conSono. Vnety
put few exceptions. and aIyraIi u, win
sahe rule but in your Language everS.h tlir
Is different Sc everything
o.. But If the admiral objects to English
hs she Is spoke he had nothing hut Iir,i
words Tor America and Americans IL Ai rn
~ ~ my suggestion that Spain and Amer
i - might ts understand each other better
airss,5t- ar me admiral declared that
to America. friendly
lou must remember he said .tba-o
are aiways the two clements in ever Co..,
try-the politicians and the naorya oC I'm
tween the two there is much difference ;
III answer to my allusiOn to the rumor
~. ne :. nhKea America so well. he might
utprecat0ry shrug: But why should 7
.-ddeinolSeIle. when my wife INV six chill
oteh, my relations. my wffe's relations all
my OLD friends. my professionally a word
everything Is in Spain? 'i u
-. ms ms seemed to dispose quite effectually
Speaking of the numerous alleged inter
views with him, the admiral said: of
course nave never said one word that
vas prlntedZpas un mot. du tout du tout,
more cecided sErug and emphatic accent. ;"
Lesson In Spanish.
Before he left. the admiral became so in
terested in my desire to pronounce SPANS h
names correctly that he gave me quite n
pa'nstaking little Spanish lesson
Holding the printed list of the names Of
the Spanish prisoners in one hand. and
pointing them OF with my red white and
blue pencil held in the other he had me
pronounce name after name noting the
slightest mistake and making me repeat
each name till rendered correctly His own
name he pronounced for us several times
which spelt Theoretically would be THAR
Fay-r3, the accent on the second syllable
In pure Spanish. # seems, the C and are
always pronounced Ike TIL in think Thus
NlZcaya j. Neeth-cah-ya the accent again
on the second syllable"
In speaking further Of her Spanish les
son Miss Richards said:
Tt seemed 50 very odd to be sitting in
such Informal style by the famous admiral
lea ling my lesson, as he patiently pointed
1t eff, WREN | recalled how formidable the
very name Of CeTvera and the Spanish
heet had seemed TO us but a few short
weeks ago, when our entire seaboard
trem bled lest they steal upon us unaware
and attack our great cities
And now. by the strange vicissitudes of
war, his proud feet lay wrecked beneath
the waves Of the Caribbean sea- while the
gallant leader of forlorn hope with the
seventy Captured officers of his command
now walked the grass-grown streets of
old Annapolis. like Othello, their occupa-
ton gone, the prisoners of the people they
came 10 destroy.
Whit They Passed Through.
There was something pathetic, indeed
almost tragic, in the thought these men
represented TO my imagination was
constantly reminded when with them of