Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1898-06-16
CARoLlNA'S HERO.
Exploit OF Lieut.. Victor Blue, OF tho
SnWRnee, on Cuba's Coast. ~

front IL the war and has hero whose
deed s@4;sas evidently as daring IS Hob
sons at Santiago, although it was
done in secret, on an obscure part of
the Cuban coast a. d in the darkness
of night.
Naval Lieutenant Victor Blue, of
Marion county, whose father was q
member of the historic Wallace House
OF tho Legislature of 1876, and who
is attached to the little war vessel
Suwanee, carried an unarmcd cutter
with crew of twelve men forty.fvo
miles, communicated with the insur-
. gent forces under General Gomez
and on his return not only escaped
Spanish gunboats, but captured
two Spanish yachts and destroyed an
important signal station. 1t is posi-
BILE that he may have had the honor
of being the first to hoist United
States flag in Cuba.
The newspaper correspondents
have missed Lieutenant Blues feat,
but it will inevitably figure in tho
official reports. The only account
that has boen received OF ii is from
letter written by him to q friend
IN Marion and ;.r'ntod in the Cnlnm-
bia State of yesterday. 1t gives in
tercsting details of The humors and
incidents of actual service.
Lieutenant Blue in his letter, dated
June I'd, says: This part of the
coast is dotted with thousands of
little islands called Gays, and a large,
deepwater bay separates the Gays
from the mainland of Cuba. 1t was
i'll these very Gays that the Spanish
pirates of former times used to
escape through the torturous and
narrow channels and hide their
stoled treasure in the many caves
that are found in the islands. While
having the experience which will
shortly relate, [ was forcibly re-
minded of the piratical adventures
which l delighted in reading when l
was boy.
1t was necessary for us to commu.
nicate with the insurgcnt gcneral-in-
chief, Gomez, whose army was on
the main land. The Spanish gun
boats had free access TO the deep
water bay between the mainland and
the Gays, and as our ship could not
enter this bay on account of the shoal
water in the Gays, the Spaniards
could patrol this bay and thereby
prevent. our having communication
with Gomez. | undertook the task
of running through the Spanish lines
with an armed boat crew in order to
reach Gomez's army. The boat crew,
consisting of myself in command and
twelve men, left the ship little
before Gindown on the 21st instant,
at Santa Maria cay, which is eight
miles eastward of Frances. Senior
Jova, Cuban commissioner and
Cuban pilot, was included in my
crew of twelve men. AS we left the
Suwanee on our journey of thirty
miles, the crew of the ship manned
the rigging and gave us three cheers.
Many men had volunteered for this
expedition, but | made judicous
selection, because | wanted none but
the best.
After l told the men that would
dispense with official etiquette, they
spun their yarns and cracked their
jokes with one another TO their
hearts content. When one of them
counted noses and said there were 13
in tho boat, | realized for the first
time that this had not occurred to
me when fitting the expedition. |
also realized that it was tho 8 isi OF
the month, another combination, but
knowing the superstition OF sailors, I
said nothing. After the remark was
made there was silence for minute
when enc, true TO his colors, spoke
ont that there are 13 stripes on our
flag, and what could be better
emblem of prosperity and good for
ture.
We finally reached Gomcz's out
posts at 100 A. NJ, after having
exchanged great many private
recognition signals (cach party wish
ing to make sure that the other was
not an enemy and were received
with open arms. 1t was a weird
sight, but one which caused onthu-
siastio applause when | stepped
ashore and planted the American
flag on the mainland of Cuba. 1t
was an enthusiastic sight to SEQ our
sailors mingle with the Cuban sol
diers in waving their hats and giving
hearty cheers for the stars and stripes
as 1t t|oatcd in the glare of tho camp
tlreS .hat lighted the dark forest. I